| PLAN + PIVOT COLLECTIVE NEWSLETTER | FALL / 2026 |
|  | A NOTE FROM CAROLYN Hi, and welcome. About 18 months in, Julie and I have a real business on our hands, which still catches us off guard occasionally. As 2026 winds down and we start thinking about the new year ahead, we're formalizing things, starting with a quarterly newsletter. Life moves pretty fast, and if we've forgotten to say it, thank you for being part of this journey with us. XO, Carolyn | | ALLOW US TO REINTRODUCE OURSELVES We left corporate retail.
Sort of. Julie McCarter and I (Carolyn MacBain-Waldo) both lost our corporate jobs in the same stretch. Decades and decades between us at Gap, J.Crew, Abercrombie, Restoration Hardware, and Bath & Body Works, and then, suddenly... not. We decided not to spend the next 20 years of our professional lives like we'd spent the prior 20. Plan + Pivot Collective is what came out of that: merchandising, assortment strategy, and product development on one side; inventory management, pricing, promotions, and open-to-buy on the other. The art and the science. The right brain and the left brain. Business up front, party in the back. As a brand grows, there’s always more to manage, and it’s not realistic to have every kind of expertise in-house. That’s where we come in. We roll up our sleeves, work alongside your team, and help tackle what’s next; whether that’s one pressing decision or a bigger project. | | WORKING WITH US Finish strong. Plan ahead. We're all neck-deep in holiday right now. But 2027 is right around the corner, and a little planning now can make a big difference in Q1. THE NOW / HOLIDAY 2026 Holiday
Readiness Check Make the most of what you have now. We dig into pricing, promotions, inventory, cash, and margins to find the moves that matter through peak. |
| THE NEXT / 2027 New Year.
New Budget. Build a practical plan for Q1 and beyond: revenue by channel, inventory levels, open-to-buy, cash flow, and smart investments. |
| THE TOOLS / EVERY WEEK Measure What
Matters What gets measured gets done. Tired of hunting for answers? We build custom web-based dashboards for sales, marketing, inventory, and projects; focused on the KPIs that matter to YOUR business. |
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Whether you need a quick second opinion, a 2027 plan, or better visibility into the numbers, we'll meet you where you are. Curious about reporting? Ask us for a dashboard demo. | A QUICK THANK YOU Five stars, and we’re a little
choked up about it. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Thank you to everyone who has left us a review. We’ve read every one of them, usually out loud to each other multiple times. If we've worked together and you've got a minute, we'd be grateful for yours. LEAVE A GOOGLE REVIEW → | IN GOOD COMPANY A few things we've
been working on. A sampling of the clients we work with, across retail, digital products, and consumer brands. |  | WASHINGTON, D.C. · U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE Diplomatic Reception Rooms Assortment, vendors, and opening orders for a new museum retail space. | EXPLORE PROJECT → |
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|  | PRODUCT LAUNCH / PEOPLEFINDERS Stud or Dud For PeopleFinders, we built the pre-launch foundation: ICPs, brand positioning, UX audit and wireframes, voice and microcopy, pricing, and analytics. | EXPLORE PROJECT → |
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|  | FIRST NATIONAL RETAIL PLACEMENT Cricket’s Candy Creations We helped bring Cricket’s Candy Creations to Barnes & Noble; her first major national retail placement. | EXPLORE PROJECT → |
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| | THE USEFUL BIT The holiday readiness
checklist. This is the list we run with clients. Steal it. Check off what's handled. | PROMO & PRICING STRATEGY | □ | A Black Friday / Cyber Monday offer that's locked, and a calendar built through New Year's Day | | □ | Decision gates going into BFCM: what results trigger a call, what the call is, and who makes it | | □ | Promotions that move the customer into the product you want to sell, with a backup offer if a critical week comes in soft |
MARGIN & INVENTORY STRATEGY | □ | The Q4 question answered out loud: are you playing for maximum margin, or for clearing inventory? Everything else follows from that | | □ | Confidence in your costs going in, and a margin read you'd actually defend | | □ | Weeks of supply on top sellers as of this week, what's chaseable, and what's going to sit |
OPERATIONS | □ | Ship-by-Christmas dates set for every method, and posted where customers will see them | | □ | Inbound inventory timed to land before it matters, and the air-or-ocean call made both directions: air if you need units sooner, ocean if you're heavier than you planned to be | | □ | 3PL, warehouse, and customer service capacity confirmed for peak, plus your holiday return window decided |
SITE & MERCHANDISING | □ | Home and category pages merchandised to the offer | | □ | Gift guides, bundles, and price-point edits live | | □ | Assets built and scheduled, with search and nav pointing at what you want to sell |
So. How are you feeling? Nobody has these all 100% buttoned up in October. But if a few of them got you thinking that you might want another set of eyes, we're here and we're happy to help. TALK NERDY TO ME Ready for a second set of eyes? Bring us your biggest Q4 question. In 15 minutes, we'll help you identify where to focus next. |
| Plan + Pivot Collective Carolyn MacBain-Waldo & Julie McCarter |
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