Reminder: The Six$-$Month Merchandise Plan is used to relate sales to inventory levels to purchases and to reductions. When the plan becomes the working document for monitoring and adjusting the monthly merchandising activities in the store or department, the buyer has a merchandising tool$-$in order to operate a more profitable business. The plan not only drives sales and the purchases and markdowns of merchandise but also impacts other budgets in the store, such as the promotional and visual merchandising budgets as well as operational activities.