Merchandising, in common parlance, is defined as the process with the help of which products and services are promoted and advertised. Product merchandising is often considered to be a sub-branch of
promotional advertising and is associated with retail sales. Some people might argue that merchandising is visual and on-the-spot
advertising that is closely related to marketing. There can be several alternative merchandiser job descriptions and definitions. The following paragraphs give a brief insight about some of the skills and qualifications that are required to become a really good merchandiser. In addition to that, this article also presents some of the important merchandiser responsibilities and duties. More on
advertising techniques.
Who is a Merchandiser?
A 'merchandiser' is associated with the
retail industry. The specialty of merchandisers is that they have a great sense of
marketing, promotion and advertising techniques. Imagine that you are window shopping with a group of friends and you come across a showroom displaying a lovely dress. You like the dress and walk into the shop to inquire. The price is within your budget, color of the dress is of your choice and the store has a stock of dresses that are perfectly of your size. This chronology of events is not merely a coincidence but works out because of the presence of a merchandiser.
A merchandiser is an employee of a retail shop who is an expert in bringing about the chronology of events. Let us again take the above example. The merchandiser studies the fashion trends and recommends designs to the purchase department of the store. Next, the merchandiser analyzes the structure of the market and decides the age group that would prefer that kind of dress. Then the merchandiser states the amount of stock that is to be kept for individual sizes as well as colors. The next major duty of the merchandiser is to set up the whole shop in such a manner that consumers get attracted to it. The set up of the shop is also done according to the market trends. In addition to these duties, a merchandiser also sets the cost bracket for particular goods.
An important step in such a set up is inhouse advertising. When you walk into the store, you will notice almost countless inhouse advertisements. The merchandisers generate and copywrite these advertisements. A more comprehensive definition of a merchandiser - a merchandiser is a promoter of a retail establishment who attracts consumers and caters to their demand, thereby maximizing sales.
Merchandiser Job Description
The job description of merchandiser differs from company to company. It has been observed that retail industries hire few merchandisers who usually work in the headquarters and occasionally visit the
retail stores of companies. In some cases, merchandisers need to travel long distances in order to audit the non-regional and off-shore stores.
The educational qualification of a merchandiser differs from industry to industry. For example if you want to work in a
fashion related retail chain, then you require a fashion designing degree. If you want to work in a banking or finance retail establishment, then you will require a degree in finance. In some cases, such as consumer retail chains or even food chains a degree in marketing or advertising also works fine. There is basically no hard and fast rule regarding educational qualifications.
As mentioned above, there are some very versatile duties that a merchandiser needs to execute. Some important duties that are included in the merchandiser job description include, tracking consumer demands and trends, establishing a generalized requirement for stocking, auditing quality, suggesting changes (changes may be suggested even before manufacture), setting up marketing mechanism, setting up the entire shop, improvisations within the shop, auditing consumer response, improving costing of every product, etc.
These responsibilities are onstage responsibilities, apart from which a merchandiser is also required to keep an eye on the
fashion trends, estimating the entire market and ongoing developments, keeping an outlook for recent developments in the industry and estimating trend projections.
Malaysia ma 1200-1500 mil jaty ha.
Malaysia ma 1200-1500 mil jaty ha.
