OTB is the budget a buyer still has left to spend for a given period, after existing commitments are deducted from the total plan.
Oct 5, 2026
Open to buy starts from a planned spend for a season or a month, then subtracts what is already on order and what is already in stock. What remains is what the buyer can actually commit in an appointment, however much they like the collection.
It is the buyer’s counterpart to ATS: a live figure that moves every time an order is placed, a delivery lands, or a plan is revised. A buyer who has lost track of it will either underspend the season or overcommit and cancel later.
Most orders that shrink between the appointment and the confirmation shrink because of OTB, not because the buyer changed their mind. The budget was already committed and the buy had to be cut to fit it.
Reps who ask early sell better, because they can shape the offer around the money that exists: fewer styles bought in depth rather than a broad buy that gets trimmed, or a later delivery window falling into the next budget period.
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