We've been going to market for 10 years. Atlanta, Dallas, Vegas. We've written orders on napkins, lost track of which vendor quoted which price, and come home to a pile of POs with no idea where to start.
So here's the checklist we wish someone had handed us on day one.
Two weeks out
Decide what you have to spend before you see anything. An open-to-buy by category, written down, is the only thing that survives a showroom. Pull last season's orders and put them beside the sell-through: which vendors moved, which are still on the rack at markdown, which sizes you ran out of first.
Book the appointments you know you want and leave real gaps for the floor. The best new line you carry next year is usually one you walked past on the way to an appointment.
Before you go
Look at your sell-through from last season. Which vendors moved? Which ones are still sitting there? Set a buying budget by category and try to stick to it. Make a list of vendors you want to revisit and block time to walk the floor for new brands.
Check your vendor list and make sure contact info is current. You'll be glad you did when you're chasing down a late shipment three months from now.
Pack for paperwork. A tablet or a phone with room on it, a charger, and the habit of photographing every order before you leave the booth. The showroom's copy of your order is not your copy.
While you're there
Take photos of everything. The PO, the line sheet, the showroom setup, your handwritten notes. Future you will be grateful. Write clear orders with quantities, costs, and ship dates. Ask every single vendor: "When does this actually ship?" Write it down.
Ask three more things and write those down too. The minimum for a reorder. What happens to a backorder: does it ship later, or is it cancelled. And whether anyone else in your town carries the line. A vendor will tell you at the booth. Nobody remembers to ask in October.
Total the day before you sleep. Not to the dollar. Enough to know whether tomorrow is a buying day or a walking day.
When you get home
This is where most teams lose a full week. You've got 20+ POs from different vendors and each one needs to get into your system. Typing. Copying. Reformatting.
Upload each PO to Invoe and it pulls everything out for you. Set your arrival dates, and you'll get alerts when something's late. When shipments show up, receiving takes minutes. Your Shopify store stays current without anyone opening admin.
Whatever system you use, do two things in the first week. Put every order in one place with its ship date, so you can see the season arriving in order. And decide who receives. One person opening boxes against the order is how a short shipment gets caught. Three people putting stock straight on the floor is how it does not.
Six weeks later
Go back to the ship dates you wrote down at the booth and check them against what has actually arrived. The vendor that promised February and has gone quiet needs an email now, while there is still a season to sell into. The order you cancel in March has already cost you the space you held for it.
Then keep the notes. Which vendor shipped on time, which one shorted you, which line sold through by the first markdown. That is next season's list, and it is worth more than anything you will hear on the floor.