BRL-112 Solved Question Paper for the June 2026 term-end exam gives you complete, exam-length answers to all 8 questions IGNOU set in Buying and Merchandising-II, from merchandise hierarchy and mark-downs to floor stock planning, range planning and GMROI. Two answers are open on this page so you can judge the quality; the full file is shared on WhatsApp 9899436384.
BRL-112 Buying and Merchandising-II key facts, June 2026 paper
- Course code: BRL-112
- Subject: Buying and Merchandising-II
- Programme: Bachelor of Business Administration in Retailing, BBARIL, School of Management Studies
- Semester: Semester V core course
- Units: 14 units, not grouped into blocks
- Maximum marks: 100
- Duration: 3 hours
- Questions in the paper: 8 of 20 marks each; attempt any five, with no section restriction
- Internal choice: Q3 asks for any two of three distinctions and Q8 for any four of six short notes
- Word limits: none printed — the marks against each part are your only guide to length
- Sample answers shown here: 2 (Question 1 and Question 4)
- Questions in the paid file: all 8, including all six short-note options in Question 8; 6 are not answered on this page
- Exam session: June 2026 term-end examination
What the BRL-112 Solved Question Paper June 2026 covers
BRL-112 Buying and Merchandising-II is the Semester V retail core course of IGNOU's Bachelor of Business Administration in Retailing (BBARIL) that teaches the money side of merchandising: margins, mark-ups, mark-downs, stock control, range planning and performance measurement.
The IGNOU BRL-112 Question Paper for June 2026 ran for 3 hours and carried 100 marks. You had to attempt any five of the eight questions, each worth 20 marks, with no sections and no minimum from any group. Choice also sits inside two questions: Q3 asks you to distinguish any two of three pairs, and Q8 asks for any four of six short notes.
This session the examiner leaned on retail arithmetic and planning. Operating expenses versus operating profit, mark-up on retail versus mark-up on cost, mark-downs, front-end and back-end inventory, planning stocks on the floor and range planning all appear. The June 2025 paper, by contrast, opened with a theory question on merchandising philosophy.
Two things are worth knowing before you plan your five answers. First, the paper prints no word limits at all, only marks, so the marks split is your only guide to length — and five of the eight questions are split, including two unequal ones that mirror each other: Q6 is 8+12 while Q7 is 12+8. Second, this paper has an unusually settled question map, which the repeat table below sets out: the same topic has turned up at the same question number session after session.
8 questions · 20 marks each · attempt any five, no section rule · 180 minutes ÷ 5 = 36 minutes an answer · on IGNOU's usual scale of about 20 words a mark, a 20-mark answer is roughly 400 words, a 10-mark part about 200, an 8-mark part about 160, a 12-mark part about 240 and each 5-mark short note about 100
If you are collecting older papers for practice, start with our IGNOU Previous Year Question Paper collection, then come back to this June 2026 file for fully solved answers.
BRL-112 sample answers: merchandise hierarchy and mark-downs
Two June 2026 BRL-112 questions are solved in full below, Q1 on merchandise types and hierarchy and Q4 on mark-downs; the other six questions are answered only in the full file.
Both answers are split to match the 10+10 marks printed on the paper. Read them as you would read any answer in the full file: headings, a worked example where the topic needs one, and a short conclusion. Question wording follows the printed paper.
Question 1 Any 5 of 8 Unit 1 10 + 10 marks two parts Q1 has been merchandising basics in all 3 papers
1. What are the different merchandise types? Discuss the merchandise hierarchy. 10 + 10
Merchandise is every product a retailer buys and holds for resale. Because a store can carry thousands of items, buyers do not plan them one by one. They first group merchandise into types, which show how customers shop for it and how fast it sells, and then arrange it in a hierarchy, which shows who plans it, how much money it gets and how its results are reported.
Part A: Different merchandise types (10 marks)
1. Types based on how the customer buys
- Convenience goods: bought often, quickly and with little comparison, such as bread, milk, toothpaste and soap. They include staples, impulse goods (chocolates at the billing counter) and emergency goods (umbrellas when it starts raining). The retailer needs wide availability, high stock levels and fast replenishment.
- Shopping goods: the customer compares price, quality and style before buying, such as apparel, footwear, furniture and appliances. These need a deep assortment, trained staff, trial rooms and attractive display.
- Speciality goods: products with unique features or strong brand loyalty, for which the customer makes a special effort, such as a premium watch or designer bridal wear. They sell through fewer outlets at higher margins.
- Unsought goods: products the customer does not know about or does not normally think of buying, such as a fire extinguisher or a newly launched gadget. They need demonstration, personal selling and promotion.
2. Types based on demand pattern
- Staple or basic merchandise: steady demand through the year, such as white shirts, socks and rice. It carries low risk, is planned with the basic stock method and is rarely marked down.
- Fashion merchandise: high demand for a limited period because it follows a trend, such as this season's colours and prints. It earns higher margins but carries high risk, so it is bought in smaller depth and watched closely.
- Seasonal merchandise: demand peaks at fixed times, such as woollens in winter, raincoats in the monsoon and lights before Diwali. It is bought in advance and must be cleared before the season ends.
- Fad merchandise: a sudden, short-lived craze, such as a toy that goes viral. The buyer orders small quantities, reorders quickly and exits fast.
3. Other common groupings. Core range (lines carried continuously) versus fashion range (lines that change each season), national brands versus private labels, hard goods such as appliances versus soft goods such as textiles, and perishable versus non-perishable goods in grocery retail.
These types decide how much to buy, how deep to stock, what mark-up to take, how to display and how much mark-down risk to plan for. A hypermarket, for example, keeps rice on automatic replenishment all year but buys festive gift hampers once, in limited quantity.
Part B: The merchandise hierarchy (10 marks)
The merchandise hierarchy is the structured, top-down grouping of everything a retailer sells, from the broadest group down to the single stock-keeping unit. Each level is a planning and reporting unit with a person responsible for it, so the hierarchy links the assortment to the organisation chart and to the merchandise budget.
- Merchandise group or division: the broadest grouping, usually headed by a General Merchandise Manager, such as Apparel, Home or Food.
- Department: a set of related categories under a merchandise manager or senior buyer, such as Menswear within Apparel.
- Category or classification: items customers see as substitutes for one another, run by a buyer or category manager as a business unit, such as Men's Shirts.
- Sub-category or sub-class: a finer split by type, use or price, such as Formal Shirts and Casual Shirts.
- Style or item: one product line, such as a slim-fit cotton formal shirt from the store's private label.
- SKU (stock-keeping unit): the smallest unit, one combination of style, colour and size with its own barcode, such as that shirt in sky blue, size 40.
| Level | Department store example | Grocery store example |
|---|---|---|
| Division | Apparel | Food |
| Department | Menswear | Staples |
| Category | Shirts | Edible oils |
| Sub-category | Formal shirts | Mustard oil |
| Style or item | Slim-fit cotton formal shirt | Cold-pressed mustard oil, store brand |
| SKU | Sky blue, size 40 | 1 litre bottle |
Why the hierarchy matters
- Responsibility: every buyer knows exactly which categories and SKUs are theirs.
- Planning: sales, stock and mark-down budgets are set at division and department level and broken down to categories, which then guides open-to-buy.
- Performance: sales, gross margin, sell-through and GMROI are reported at every level, so a weak sub-category shows up quickly.
- Space and layout: departments get zones, categories get fixtures, and adjacencies follow the hierarchy.
- Assortment: width is decided at category level and depth at SKU level.
- Systems: POS and ERP codes follow the hierarchy, so data rolls up correctly.
Conclusion. Merchandise types tell the retailer how a product behaves in the market, while the hierarchy tells where it sits and who controls it. Used together, they let the merchandiser offer the right product, in the right quantity, at the right time and price.
Question 4 Any 5 of 8 Unit 5 10 + 10 marks numerical Q4 is the pricing slot in all 3 papers
4. What is the importance of Mark-downs in merchandising? How do they impact discounts and reductions? 10 + 10
A mark-down is a permanent reduction in the selling price of merchandise below its original retail price. If a kurta tagged at ₹1,200 is re-tagged at ₹900, the mark-down is ₹300. Retailers measure it in two ways:
Mark-down % of net sales = Mark-down amount ÷ Net sales × 100 · Off-retail % = Mark-down amount ÷ Original retail price × 100
The first figure is used for planning and control; the second is the one the customer sees on the tag.
Worked example. 50 kurtas are reduced from ₹1,200 to ₹900 and all of them sell. Total mark-down = 50 × ₹300 = ₹15,000. Net sales = 50 × ₹900 = ₹45,000. Mark-down % of net sales = 15,000 ÷ 45,000 × 100 = 33.3%. Off-retail % = 300 ÷ 1,200 × 100 = 25%.
Mark-downs usually come from buying errors (wrong styles, sizes or quantities), pricing errors, selling errors such as poor display, the end of a season, competitor prices, or shop-soiled and broken-size stock.
Part A: Importance of mark-downs in merchandising (10 marks)
- Clears slow-moving and end-of-season stock before it loses all value, which matters most for fashion and seasonal goods.
- Turns dead stock into cash and frees open-to-buy, so the buyer can bring in fresh merchandise.
- Frees selling space and keeps the assortment looking new to regular customers.
- Builds footfall: end-of-season sales pull in price-conscious shoppers, many of whom also buy full-price items.
- Meets competition when a rival store is selling the same item cheaper.
- Corrects buying and pricing mistakes, and mark-down records become feedback for next season's buying plan.
- Clears damaged, shop-soiled or broken-size stock that would not sell at full price.
- Supports sales targets when planned promotional mark-downs are used at the right time.
Good merchandisers plan a mark-down budget inside the merchandise plan instead of cutting prices at random. Timing matters too: an early mark-down usually needs a smaller price cut than a late one, because the goods still have some selling season left.
Part B: Impact on discounts and reductions (10 marks)
Retail reductions are everything that lowers the retail value of stock without a matching sale at full price: mark-downs, employee discounts, special customer discounts and shrinkage (theft, damage and errors). A mark-down changes the price of the goods for every buyer, while a discount is given at billing to a particular customer or group, such as a 10% staff discount, and the price tag stays the same. Both are recorded as reductions.
- Mark-downs raise total reductions. In most stores they are the largest single part of reductions, so a heavy mark-down season pushes the reduction figure up sharply.
- They cut gross margin. If the kurta cost ₹700, the margin at ₹1,200 is ₹500; at ₹900 it falls to ₹200, a drop of 60% on every piece sold after the mark-down.
- They must be built into the initial mark-up. With net sales of ₹10,00,000, expenses of ₹3,00,000, profit of ₹1,00,000 and reductions of ₹1,00,000, the initial mark-up = 5,00,000 ÷ 11,00,000 × 100 = 45.45%. If reductions rise to ₹2,00,000, it becomes 6,00,000 ÷ 12,00,000 × 100 = 50%.
- They can stack with discounts. A 10% staff discount on the marked-down kurta takes the price from ₹900 to ₹810, so the two reductions compound. Many retailers therefore bar extra discounts on sale goods.
- They shape customer expectations. Frequent mark-downs teach customers to wait for the sale, which lowers full-price sell-through and forces still more discounts the next season.
- They affect book inventory. Under the retail method every mark-down must be recorded; if it is missed, book stock is overstated and the gap later shows up as false shrinkage.
- Mark-down cancellations reduce net reductions. When a sale ends and the price goes back up, the cancellation is set off against the original mark-down.
Initial mark-up % = (Operating expenses + Profit + Reductions) ÷ (Net sales + Reductions) × 100
Conclusion. Mark-downs are a necessary tool for clearing stock and keeping the assortment fresh, but they are also the biggest driver of retail reductions. Planned well and taken early, they protect margin; taken late or combined with uncontrolled discounts, they erode it.
Exam-hall note on length. Both answers above are fuller than you can write in 36 minutes, because the full file doubles as a study resource. With no word limit printed, size your answer by the marks: a 10-mark part is about 200 words. For Question 1, two classification bases with four examples each and the six hierarchy levels will earn both parts; the hierarchy table is worth drawing because it says a lot in little space. For Question 4, keep the two formulas and one worked example — the arithmetic is what separates this answer from a general one — and cut the list of impacts from seven points to five.
Questions answered only in the full file
The six questions below appear as printed in the June 2026 paper; their answers are not shown on this page.
2. Discuss the objectives of the buying process in detail. Elaborate the buying behaviour of retailers. 10 + 10
3. Distinguish between any two of the following: 10 + 10
(a) Operating Expenses and Operating Profit
(b) Net Sales and Cost of Merchandise Sold
(c) Mark-up on Retail price and Mark-up on Cost price5. Discuss how to determine the inventory at the front level and back end with the help of suitable examples? 10 + 10
6. (a) What is the importance of planning stocks on the floor? 8
(b) Describe the two methods of planning stocks on the floor. 127. Describe the term ‘Range Planning’ in detail. What is the importance of market information and market surveys in range planning? 12 + 8
8. Write short notes on any four of the following: 4 × 5 = 20
(a) Visual Merchandising Communication
(b) Space Efficiencies
(c) ‘Sales Per Square Feet’ in space planning
(d) Brand and Store Performance Index
(e) Product Development
(f) GMROI (Gross Margin Return on Inventory)
Which five to pick. With no sections and no minimum from anywhere, you are free to choose purely on strength. Two of the eight are easier than they look. Question 8 is the safest on the paper: six options, four to write, five marks and about a hundred words each, so two weak topics out of six cost you nothing and you never have to sustain a long argument. Question 3 is next: three distinctions printed, two to write, and each one is a two-column comparison rather than an essay. Between them those two questions can carry 40 of your 100 marks with the least risk.
Watch the unequal splits if you take Q6 or Q7. They mirror each other — Q6 gives 8 marks to the first part and 12 to the second, while Q7 does the reverse — so the heavier part is in a different place in each. Reading the marks before you write is the whole trick on this paper.
BRL-112 Buying and Merchandising-II unit wise syllabus
BRL-112 has 14 units on eGyanKosh, running from the retail merchandising process to two application units on grocery and apparel retail.
The unit titles below are taken from the official eGyanKosh BRL-112 Buying and Merchandising-II collection. The topics column shows what IGNOU has actually asked from each unit in the June 2025, December 2025 and June 2026 papers, mapped by our team, and the last column shows where each June 2026 question came from.
| Unit | Unit title | Topics examined from this unit | June 2026 question |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Process of Retail Merchandising | Merchandising philosophy; key elements of merchandising; merchandise types and hierarchy | Q1 |
| 2 | The Process of Buying | Objectives of the buying process; organisational buying; Buying Behaviour Model | Q2 |
| 3 | Margins and Profitability | Direct versus indirect expenses; operating profit; net sales and contribution | Q3(a), Q3(b) |
| 4 | Mark-Ups: A Merchandising Tool | Mark-up on retail versus on cost; types of mark-up; mark-up in retail pricing | Q3(c) |
| 5 | Retail Pricing and Mark-Downs | Mark-downs and profitability; merits and demerits; effect on discounts and reductions | Q4 |
| 6 | Stock Management | Book inventory; inventory valuation methods; front-level and back-end stock | Q5, Q6 |
| 7 | Preparing a Merchandise Plan | Meaning of a merchandise plan; factors considered while preparing it | None |
| 8 | Open to Buy and Unit Planning | Open to buy; unit planning | None |
| 9 | Range Planning and Product Development | Core and fashion ranges; range board; product development versus sourcing | Q7, Q8(e) |
| 10 | Presenting the Product | Visual merchandising communication; layout and adjacencies; planning stocks on the floor | Q6, Q8(a) |
| 11 | Merchandising Performance Parameters | Space efficiency; sales per square foot; GMROI | Q8(b), Q8(c), Q8(f) |
| 12 | Performance Reports | Types of performance reports; store-level parameters; brand and store performance index | Q8(d) |
| 13 | Application of Buying and Merchandising in a Grocery Retail Store | Food and grocery retail in the US versus India; supermarket merchandising for the mass market | None |
| 14 | Application of Buying and Merchandising to Apparel Retail Operation | Applying ranges, mark-downs and stock planning to a fashion store | None |
BRL-112 sets its units as one flat list of 14 rather than in blocks, which is how the whole BRL series is organised. Which unit a topic sits in is our own mapping from the unit titles.
Four of the fourteen units produced nothing in June 2026: Unit 7 on preparing a merchandise plan, Unit 8 on open to buy and unit planning, and the two application units, Unit 13 on grocery retail and Unit 14 on apparel retail. Units 7 and 8 matter most, because they had supplied questions in both earlier papers and were then dropped — see the repeat table below. Units 13 and 14 are a different case: they have produced no question in any of the three papers we have, so on this short record they look like reading material rather than examinable ground, but with only three papers that is not something to rely on.
For unit-wise notes that follow this same 14-unit order, ask us for the BRL-112 Study Material along with your solved paper.
BRL-112 question paper pattern and marks distribution
The BRL-112 Question Paper for June 2026 had 8 questions of 20 marks each, of which you attempt any five, for a total of 100 marks in 3 hours.
Every question carries equal marks, but the internal splits differ, and those splits tell you how long each part of your answer should be. The table below maps every June 2026 question to its marks split and to the choice it gives you.
| Q | Topic asked | Marks split | Choice inside the question |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Merchandise types and merchandise hierarchy | 10 + 10 | None |
| 2 | Objectives of the buying process; buying behaviour of retailers | 10 + 10 | None |
| 3 | Operating expenses versus operating profit; net sales versus cost of merchandise sold; mark-up on retail versus on cost | 10 + 10 | Any two of three pairs |
| 4 | Importance of mark-downs; impact on discounts and reductions | 10 + 10 | None |
| 5 | Determining inventory at the front level and back end | 10 + 10 | None, examples required |
| 6 | Planning stocks on the floor: importance and two methods | 8 + 12 | None |
| 7 | Range planning; market information and market surveys | 12 + 8 | None |
| 8 | Short notes from VM communication, space efficiency, sales per square foot, brand and store index, product development, GMROI | 4 × 5 | Any four of six |
| Total | 8 printed, attempt any five | 5 × 20 = 100 | 3 hours, about 36 minutes an answer |
Five of the eight questions are split in two, and two of those splits are unequal in opposite directions, so the heavier part sits second in Q6 and first in Q7. Only Q8 breaks into more than two parts.
The same 8-question, any-five format was used in the June 2025 and December 2025 BRL-112 papers. If you are tracking the whole programme, our BBARIL Question Paper page groups the other Semester V retail courses in one place.
Most repeated BRL-112 topics across IGNOU papers
Six BRL-112 themes were set in both of the earlier papers we could find and came back again in June 2026: mark-ups, the buying process, operating expenses, merchandising basics, range planning and performance measurement.
We counted only official IGNOU question papers published on ignou.ac.in. BRL-112 is a newer code and we could not find a paper earlier than June 2025, so this table rests on two earlier sessions plus the current one, not five years. The last column shows separately whether June 2026 repeated each theme.
| Topic | Unit | June 2025 | Dec 2025 | Earlier papers (of 2) | In June 2026? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mark-ups: types, retail versus cost | 4 | Q3 | Q4 | 2 | Yes, Q3(c) |
| Buying process and Buying Behaviour Model | 2 | Q6(b) | Q2 | 2 | Yes, Q2 |
| Direct, indirect and operating expenses | 3 | Q2 | Q3(a) | 2 | Yes, Q3(a) |
| Merchandising philosophy, elements, types | 1 | Q1 | Q1 | 2 | Yes, Q1 |
| Range planning, ranges, market study | 9 | Q7 | Q6(a), Q7(f) | 2 | Yes, Q7 |
| Performance parameters and reports | 11, 12 | Q8(a) | Q8 | 2 | Yes, Q8(d) |
| Merchandise plan, open to buy, unit planning | 7, 8 | Q5 | Q7(a), Q7(b) | 2 | No |
| Mark-downs and profitability | 5 | Q4 | Not asked | 1 | Yes, Q4 |
| Inventory: book stock, front and back end | 6 | Not asked | Q5, Q7(d) | 1 | Yes, Q5 |
| Net sales, gross margin, cost of goods sold | 3 | Not asked | Q3(b), Q3(c) | 1 | Yes, Q3(b) |
| GMROI and space efficiency | 11 | Q8(a), Q8(b) | Not asked | 1 | Yes, Q8(b), (c), (f) |
| Visual merchandising communication | 10 | Not asked | Q6(b) | 1 | Yes, Q8(a) |
| Product development versus sourcing | 9 | Not asked | Q7(e) | 1 | Yes, Q8(e) |
Twelve of the thirteen themes came back. That is the highest reuse rate we have measured on any IGNOU course, and on a three-paper record it means past-paper practice is worth more here than reading the units end to end.
Only one theme was skipped, and it had a perfect prior record. The merchandise plan, open to buy and unit planning group was set in both earlier papers — as Q5 in June 2025 and as Q7(a) and Q7(b) in December 2025 — and then disappeared from June 2026, with Units 7 and 8 giving no question at all. On this evidence it is the single clearest December 2026 target on the course, and because open-to-buy is an arithmetic topic it is worth practising with a pen rather than only reading.
The question numbers barely move. Reading across the table, the same topic keeps appearing at the same position:
- Question 1 has been merchandising philosophy, elements or types in all three papers.
- Question 4 has been the pricing question every time, alternating between mark-downs in June 2025, mark-ups in December 2025 and mark-downs again in June 2026. If that alternation holds, December 2026's Question 4 should be mark-ups.
- Question 3 has been the distinctions question in December 2025 and June 2026, and operating expenses was its part (a) in both.
- Question 2 has been the buying process in December 2025 and June 2026.
- Question 5 has been inventory in December 2025 and June 2026.
- Question 7 has been range planning in June 2025 and June 2026.
- Question 8 has been the short-note question in all three papers.
Seven of the eight positions have therefore carried the same topic in at least two of the three papers. With only three papers on record that is a pattern, not a guarantee, but it does mean you can walk in with a good idea of what most question numbers will ask — and it makes a two-question strategy possible: prepare Unit 1 and Unit 5 well and Questions 1 and 4 are likely to be answerable before you read them.
For a wider question bank built on these patterns, see our IGNOU Solved Guess Paper section.
How our BRL-112 answers are written and checked
Every BRL-112 answer is written by Prateek Talwar, Academic Head, with our retail subject team, sized to the marks split printed on the paper, and reviewed by Sheetal Kirola before it goes into the file.
Our team starts from the official June 2026 question paper, maps each question to its unit, and studies how the same topic was asked in June 2025 and December 2025. Because this paper prints no word limits, the marks split does all the work: a 10+10 question gets two balanced parts, while the 8+12 and 12+8 questions get a short part and a fuller one in the right order.
Calculation topics are worked through in rupees, step by step, and checked twice. Mark-down percentage, off-retail percentage, the initial mark-up needed to cover reductions and the gap between mark-up on cost and mark-up on retail all appear as full arithmetic rather than as formulas alone, so you can see each step and reproduce it. Theory answers follow the pattern you saw above: definition, headed points, an Indian retail example and a short conclusion.
Question text is reproduced from the official IGNOU June 2026 BRL-112 paper, including its numbering and the marks printed against each part.
BRL-112 solved file index for June 2026
The BRL-112 solved file answers all 8 June 2026 questions; 2 are shown on this page and 6 are in the full file only.
| Q | Question topic | Marks | Unit | Answer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Merchandise types and hierarchy | 10 + 10 | 1 | On this page |
| 2 | Buying process objectives and retailer buying behaviour | 10 + 10 | 2 | Full file only |
| 3 | Operating profit, cost of merchandise sold, mark-up bases | 10 + 10 | 3, 4 | Full file only |
| 4 | Mark-downs, discounts and reductions | 10 + 10 | 5 | On this page |
| 5 | Front-level and back-end inventory | 10 + 10 | 6 | Full file only |
| 6 | Planning stocks on the floor | 8 + 12 | 6, 10 | Full file only |
| 7 | Range planning and market surveys | 12 + 8 | 9 | Full file only |
| 8 | Six short-note options from VM communication to GMROI | 4 × 5 | 9 to 12 | Full file only |
Because Question 8 is answered for all six options, the eight questions come to thirteen written answers in the file. Units are our best match between each question and the eGyanKosh unit titles. Questions 3, 6 and 8 draw on more than one unit, which is why their short notes and distinctions need careful planning in the exam hall.
Programmes that include BRL-112 Buying and Merchandising-II
BRL-112 is studied in IGNOU's BBA in Retailing (BBARIL), offered by the School of Management Studies, as a Semester V course.
It follows BRL-107 Buying and Merchandising-I from the first semester and sits alongside BRL-111, BRL-113, BRL-114 and BCOS-185 in the 2025-26 Semester V assignment set. Read more about the programme on our IGNOU Bachelor of Business Administration (Retailing) page.
Do not confuse BRL-112 with BRL-010. Students on the older BBA (Retailing) scheme study a course with the same title under code BRL-010, which uses a 2-hour, 50-mark paper. BRL-112 is the newer BBARIL code with a 3-hour, 100-mark paper and 14 units on eGyanKosh. The topics overlap, but the question length and the marks differ, so a BRL-010 solved paper will not match your exam. Check the code on your hall ticket before you order.
Get the full BRL-112 Solved Question Paper on WhatsApp
Message WhatsApp 9899436384 to get the IGNOU BRL-112 Solved Question Paper for June 2026 with answers to all 8 questions.
You have already read 2 of those answers above. The other 6, covering the buying process, operating profit and mark-up bases, front and back-end inventory, floor stock planning, range planning and all six short notes, are in the full file.
Send “BRL 112 June 2026” and our team will reply with the details. If you are preparing other Semester V retail courses in the same session, mention their codes in the same message.
BRL-112 Buying and Merchandising-II FAQs
How do I get the full BRL-112 Solved Question Paper for June 2026?
Send a WhatsApp message to 9899436384 saying “BRL 112 June 2026” and our team will share the complete file. It contains answers to all 8 questions in the June 2026 paper. Two of them, Q1 on merchandise types and hierarchy and Q4 on mark-downs, are already on this page, so the file adds the remaining 6 answers, including all six short notes in Q8 and all three distinctions in Q3.
How many questions are in the BRL-112 June 2026 question paper?
The BRL-112 June 2026 paper has 8 questions and you must attempt any five. Each question carries 20 marks, so the paper totals 100 marks over 3 hours, about 36 minutes an answer. There are no sections, so you can pick your five purely on strength. Q3 lets you pick any two of three distinctions and Q8 asks for short notes on any four of six topics, so there is choice inside questions too.
How long should BRL-112 answers be if the paper prints no word limit?
Use the marks as your guide. IGNOU papers that do print limits work out at roughly 20 words a mark, so a 20-mark question comes to about 400 words, a 10-mark part about 200, an 8-mark part about 160, a 12-mark part about 240 and each 5-mark short note about 100. Watch Q6 and Q7, where the splits are unequal in opposite directions: the heavier part is second in Q6 and first in Q7.
Which five BRL-112 questions should I attempt?
Question 8 and Question 3 are the two lowest-risk choices on the paper. Q8 gives six short-note options and you write four at five marks each, so two weak topics out of six cost you nothing and no answer has to run long. Q3 prints three distinctions and you write two, each a straightforward two-column comparison. Between them those two questions can carry 40 of your 100 marks. Add Q1 and Q4, which have carried the same topics in every paper on record, and you have four of your five answers from predictable ground.
Which BRL-112 topics are repeated most in IGNOU papers?
Mark-ups, the buying process and Buying Behaviour Model, direct and operating expenses, merchandising basics, range planning and performance parameters each appeared in both earlier BRL-112 papers, June 2025 and December 2025, and again in June 2026. Mark-downs, inventory, net sales and gross margin, GMROI, visual merchandising and product development each appeared once before and returned this session. Twelve of the thirteen themes we track came back in June 2026.
Which BRL-112 topic was skipped in June 2026?
Only one: the merchandise plan, open to buy and unit planning group from Units 7 and 8. It had been set in both earlier papers, as Q5 in June 2025 and as parts of Q7 in December 2025, and then produced nothing in June 2026. That gives it the clearest claim on your December 2026 revision time, and because open-to-buy is an arithmetic topic it is worth practising with a pen. The two application units, 13 and 14 on grocery and apparel retail, have not produced a question in any of the three papers we have.
Do BRL-112 questions appear at the same numbers each session?
On the three papers we have, most do. Question 1 has asked about merchandising philosophy, elements or types every time; Question 4 has been the pricing question every time, alternating between mark-downs and mark-ups; Question 8 has been the short-note question every time; and Questions 2, 3, 5 and 7 have each repeated their topic in two of the three papers. Three papers is a short record, so treat this as a pattern rather than a rule, but it does mean you can predict most question numbers before you turn the page.
Are the BRL-112 answers written to IGNOU's 20-mark length?
Yes. Each BRL-112 answer follows the marks split printed on the paper, so a 10+10 question gets two balanced parts and an 8+12 question gets a shorter first part and a fuller second part. Answers use headings, points, an Indian retail example and a conclusion. The two sample answers on this page show the exact length and style used across the full file.
Does the BRL-112 solved file show mark-up and mark-down calculations?
Yes. Where a BRL-112 question involves retail arithmetic, the answer works through it in rupees. The Q4 sample on this page calculates mark-down as a percentage of net sales, the off-retail percentage, the effect on gross margin and the initial mark-up needed to cover reductions. The full file treats the mark-up on retail versus mark-up on cost distinction in Q3 the same way, step by step.
Is BRL-112 the same as BRL-010 Buying and Merchandising-II?
No. Both courses share the title Buying and Merchandising-II, but BRL-010 belongs to the older BBA (Retailing) scheme and uses a 2-hour, 50-mark paper. BRL-112 is the newer BBARIL code with a 3-hour, 100-mark paper and 14 units on eGyanKosh. The topics overlap, but question length and marks differ, so use the file that matches your course code.
Can the BRL-112 June 2026 solved paper help me for December 2026?
Yes. Twelve of the thirteen themes we track returned in June 2026, and most question numbers have carried the same topic session after session, so a fully solved recent paper is strong practice for December 2026. Read each answer once for content, then try writing it yourself in the 36 minutes you would get in the exam hall. Add Units 7 and 8 to your list, since they are the one gap this paper left.
Who wrote and reviewed the BRL-112 solved answers?
The BRL-112 answers were written by Prateek Talwar, Academic Head of Unnati Educations, with the retail subject team, and reviewed by Sheetal Kirola before release. Every calculation was worked twice and had to agree, and each answer is mapped to its eGyanKosh unit so you can verify it yourself.
About the authors
This BRL-112 solved paper was written and reviewed by the Unnati Educations retail management team, which has prepared IGNOU answer sets since 2016.
- Prateek Talwar, Academic Head, Unnati Educations. He wrote all thirteen answers for this paper, including all six short-note options in Question 8. He has worked on IGNOU management and commerce material for over nine years and has prepared term-end answer sets across the BRL, BCOM and BBA course lists.
- Sheetal Kirola, Reviewer. She checked every answer against the fourteen eGyanKosh units and both earlier official BRL-112 papers, and re-worked each calculation in the mark-down answer independently — the mark-down percentage, the off-retail percentage, the gross margin drop and both initial mark-up figures — so that no number goes into the file unverified.
Our answers are written from the official IGNOU course material and past question papers, not copied from other websites. Question text is reproduced from the official IGNOU June 2026 BRL-112 paper; the answers are our own. If you find an error on this page, message us on WhatsApp and we will correct it and reissue the file.