📅 Financial Planning

Open-to-Buy Planning

Manage purchasing budgets by category, brand, or season

Category budgets
Planned vs actual tracking
Markdown planning
Season-based plans
Budget alert thresholds
Finance team export

Get Started Free →See Pricing

OPEN-TO-BUY PLAN — Q3 2026

Auto Parts

Budget: 200MSpent: 142MLeft: 58M

71% of budget used

Motor Oils & Fluids

Budget: 80MSpent: 61MLeft: 19M

76% of budget used

Filters (Air/Oil/Fuel)

Budget: 50MSpent: 48MLeft: 2M

96% of budget used

Bearings & Seals

Budget: 120MSpent: 35MLeft: 85M

29% of budget used

Key Capabilities

What Open-to-Buy Planning does for you

Open-to-Buy (OTB) planning gives buyers a financial framework for purchasing decisions. Define how much you can spend per category, track actual purchases against the plan, and prevent over-buying.

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Category-Level Budgets

Set purchasing budgets by product category or brand for each season or financial quarter.

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Planned vs Actual

Real-time comparison of your planned spend versus what you have actually ordered — updated as POs are created.

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Markdown Planning

Factor in planned markdowns and promotions to calculate the true open-to-buy budget available.

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Season-Based Planning

Create separate OTB plans for each season — Pre-Thingyan, Mid-Year, Year-End — with different budgets.

How It Works

From setup to insight in minutes

Follow these steps to get Open-to-Buy Planning running in your account.

STEP 01

Define Season & Budget

Create an OTB plan for a season (e.g., Pre-Thingyan). Set a total purchasing budget and break it down by product category.

STEP 02

Planned vs Actual Tracking

As purchase orders are created, planned spend updates in real time so you always see how much budget remains.

STEP 03

Include Markdown Deductions

Enter expected markdown values for clearance items to correctly calculate the net open-to-buy available for new purchases.

STEP 04

Prevent Over-Buying

When a buyer creates a PO that would exceed the category budget, InvenPro alerts them — before the commitment is made.

Who It's For

Built for teams like yours

Real scenarios where Open-to-Buy Planning makes a measurable difference.

🗓️

Seasonal Buyer Team

Give each category buyer their own OTB budget for the season. InvenPro tracks their spend and alerts them when approaching the limit.

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Finance-Controlled Purchasing

Finance sets the total purchasing budget at the start of each quarter and OTB ensures buyers cannot exceed their allocation.

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Multi-Category Retailer

Balance purchasing spend across Auto Parts, Lubricants, and Filters categories to ensure no single category over-consumes budget.

FAQ

Common questions about Open-to-Buy Planning

What is Open-to-Buy?

OTB is the purchasing budget available for new orders. Formula: OTB = Planned Sales + Planned Markdowns + End-of-Period Stock Target − Beginning Stock − On-Order.

Can I set budgets by brand as well as category?

Yes. OTB plans can be structured by product category, brand, vendor, or any combination — depending on how your team buys.

What happens when I exceed the OTB budget?

InvenPro shows an alert when a PO would exceed the budget, but does not block the order — it is advisory. Enterprise plan can enforce hard blocks.

Can OTB plans span multiple seasons?

Yes. You can create separate OTB plans for each season or financial period. Historical plans are archived for year-over-year comparison.

Plan Availability

What's included in each plan

See which Open-to-Buy Planning capabilities are available on Free, Pro, and Enterprise.

Feature	Free	Pro	Enterprise
Basic budget tracking	—	✓	✓
OTB season planning	—	✓	✓
Category-level budgets	—	✓	✓
Markdown planning	—	✓	✓
Budget alert thresholds	—	✓	✓
Hard budget enforcement	—	—	✓

Compare All Plans →