Andrea Lawson Gray

What makes a merchant great? According to marketing expert Andrea Lawson Gray, there's a lot more to it than just "shopping." Lawson Gray, president of San Francisco-based Aesthetics Marketing, says there are seven skills that separate the gurus from those who merely create a "me-too" product mix. Her "Seven Habits of Highly Effective Merchants" are: 1.Indexing. HEMs (Highly Effective Merchants) use many different methods to measure merchandise success, including benchmarking (both by item and by classification); analysis of space versus number of items per classification; demand versus profitability; and margin analysis. 2.Source to a Plan. HEMs source great products based on sound