Our retail analysts
Michelle Charnock
Simplifying the path to success, with Open-to-Buy plans built around your store and a coach who listens first.
25+
Experience
Industries Served
POS Experience
Background
Michelle brings three decades of retail experience to every client she coaches. As a diversified executive, she has worked across nearly every stage of the product journey: from the first design concept through sourcing and production, all the way to delivery of the finished product into the warehouse. Her career spans softlines and hardlines, wholesale and retail, and regional and worldwide brands and stores, both domestically and internationally.
That breadth gives Michelle a rare, complete view of how a retail business really works. Her expertise covers planning, sourcing and production, buying, merchandising, textiles and inventory management. She understands the decisions made long before merchandise reaches the sales floor, and she knows how those decisions affect a store’s cash flow, margins, and sell-through. Few coaches can speak to the full lifecycle of a product the way Michelle can.
Even with that depth of experience, Michelle believes great coaching starts with listening. Before the M1 1st Merchandise Plan is built, she takes the time to understand each retailer’s business: the customers they serve, the products that sell, the relevant seasons/events, and the owner’s goals. Clients don’t get a generic template. They get a strategy built around their store and informed by decades of knowing what works.
At the center of Michelle’s work is an Open-to-Buy, the roadmap that tells a retailer how much inventory to buy, when, and in which classifications. Drawing on her background in planning and inventory management, Michelle turns what can feel like a complicated financial tool into something clear and usable. Her clients describe their OTB as a plan that “makes total sense,” one they can follow with confidence and adjust as their business changes monthly.
Michelle’s approach is about simplifying the path to success. She breaks big goals into manageable steps, helps owners focus on the numbers that matter most, and makes sure they understand the reasoning behind every recommendation. The result goes beyond better inventory decisions. Clients come away more confident in running their business day to day and better equipped to plan for the future.
“I am so happy with this program. My coach, Michelle, has gone above and beyond to learn about my business and has set up an OTB that makes total sense. She has been excellent to work with and the first coach I have used that has helped me simplify reaching goals and given me confidence in running my business.”
THE WORKING RELATIONSHIP
What can I expect from Michelle?
A partnership built on trust and honesty.
A great client relationship means they know I am going to coach them on what they need to hear, not just on what they want to hear.
A real partner in your business.
I want to be a real partner in their business and understand the “everyday” the way they do—their customers, their inventory, their margins and their challenges.
Always curious.
I stay curious. Every meeting is an opportunity for me to learn something new about their business that allows us to make smarter decisions that will impact their store in the future
Let's Chat
No pitch, no obligation.
Just an honest conversation about where your business is today and what's possible when you have the right data and someone who actually cares about your success.