Merchandiser Job Description: What You Should Know in 2022

by Hiration

Are store layouts the only function in a merchandiser job description?

Not in the least.

Merchandiser job descriptions include responsibilities from coordinating with suppliers to obtain stock at profitable rates to forecasting sales for establishing store budgets.

With a projected growth rate of 10%, merchandising jobs are expanding and growing into various sectors like visual merchandising, retail merchandising, digital merchandising, and so on. If any, this is the right time to build your creative strategies and explore your merchandising skills.

Here are a few frequently asked questions about merchandiser job descriptions:

What Is Merchandising?


Everything you observe when you walk into retail stores, from the collection of products, the range of options to store arrangement is picked carefully by the merchandise associate. They work to create the perfect story with the store products to appeal better to customers.

It is a creative role that makes sure that stores are in line with customer ideologies and general festivities. The idea behind it is to increase sales and create a narrative that customers are happy to buy into.

Merchandiser Responsibilities


In a store setup, merchandisers play an important role in dictating monthly sales and customer satisfaction. They perform a plethora of tasks, ranging from coordinating with store members to ensuring constant availability of products.

Here is a detailed merchandiser job description:

  • Design store layout based on market trends and festivals to deliver maximum customer satisfaction
  • Develop merchandising strategies by coordinating with store stakeholders
  • Evaluate sales figures and develop strategies to increase sales based on market trends and consumer preferences
  • Derive valuable conclusions about product quality and changes depending on product sales
  • Oversee performance of products to determine the need for promotional offers, markdowns, or clearances
  • Supervise sales associates and ensure they are well trained in product knowledge and customer service
  • Manage inventory and ensure availability of stock at all times to maintain an optimum level of products in the storefront
  • Forecasting sales and profits to accordingly manage budgets for individual store activities
  • Coordinating with vendors and distributors to establish an amiable connection and establish profitable deals at sizeable quantities

Requirements


  • GED or Bachelor’s in Marketing or related field
  • Experience working in merchandising/ experience working in retail for fresher jobs
  • Exceptional communication and interpersonal skills
  • Compelling decision-making and active listening skills to ensure efficiency
  • Commercial acumen to minimize waste of resources

The requirements usually vary depending on various factors, including geographic location, company size, and position. Senior roles with leadership responsibilities usually require at least 5 years of merchandising experience.

Merchandiser Skills to Land Jobs


Almost every merchandiser job description has a standard skill set ranging from interpersonal skills to strategizing. The key here is to make sure you include all of these skills at length in your merchandiser resume.

Each of these skills materializes in different ways in a merchandising role. While all of these may seem two-dimensional, it is crucial to understand the full scale of these skills.

Merchandiser Strategizing


Undoubtedly, one of the most common and important skills on a merchandiser job description is where merchandisers release their creative prowess.

By dictating the consumer behavior, product demand, and general environment of the locality, they have to arrange store layouts that appeal to customers and increase sales.

Vendor Management


As a merchandiser, maintaining amicable relationships with vendors, suppliers, distributors, etc. is a golden skill. It is one of the most important responsibilities in a merchandiser job description, and usually, entails the duty of coordinating with them to establish profitable deals.

Vendors or distributors dictate the functioning of stores to a great extent, so it is important to secure good deals with minimal price and maximum quantity through negotiation.

Attention to Detail


Without a detail-oriented vision, it can be challenging for merchandisers to ensure the smooth functioning of a store. While there are employees to delegate work to, the overall image must be pruned to perfection, which requires great attention to detail.

It could be managing inventory to ensure appropriate stock levels, overseeing store layout to maximize sales, or establishing excellent customer service. The extensive nature of a merchandiser job description itself shows the importance of having an observant eye.

Also Read: Is attention to detail vital in a work environment?

Inventory Control


Nothing will repel customers like a store with zero stock of their favorite products. The onus is on the merchandiser coupled with retail associates to make sure that products are topped up regularly to appeal better to customers.

Once taken backstage, merchandisers coordinate with vendors, suppliers, or distributors to maintain regular stock levels of products at profitable rates. A commoner on merchandiser job descriptions, merchandisers are required to sustain friendly relationships with the suppliers to avoid delays or mishaps.

However, product demand fluctuates with market trends, festivals, and consumer behavior. In this case, it is important to order the right amount of products to prevent overflow of stock. All of these duties belong to the merchandiser, making it all the more vital for them to be detail-oriented.

Commercial Awareness


Instead of putting up unappealing, unnecessary, or outdated layouts, merchandisers should always be updated with market trends. By coordinating with customers and being on social media, merchandisers can get a fair idea of consumer behavior.

Doing so can help stores cut down on the usage of resources because of the targeted appeal of merchandising strategies. Most merchandiser job descriptions enlist commercial awareness in their requirements instead of job responsibilities as it is a crucial task.

Interpersonal Skills


On one hand coordinating with retail associates and on the other, with customers. Merchandisers with excellent interpersonal skills are guaranteed to get their ideas across in productive manners and understand the store environment a lot more effectively.

Through direct interaction with customers, merchandisers can get firsthand feedback on strategies and gain valuable insights as to possible updates. Merchandiser job descriptions usually call for soft skills like active listening and communication skills.

Also read: How to leverage interpersonal skills in a workplace

Jobs Within Merchandising


There are several avenues within merchandising that has to do with individual areas like coordinating with vendors, driving profits, and creating appealing store layouts. Here is a deep-dive into those roles, along with their job descriptions:

Visual Merchandiser Job Description


Of all the roles, visual merchandising is one of the more creative ones. The primary duty here is to create enticing displays based on social climate, trends, and so on.

As a visual merchandiser, it would be your duty to drive up the sales purely by creative efforts. You will not be directly coordinating with customers, but you will employ psychological tactics through store designing to do the work.

Here are a few roles you must undertake in a standard visual merchandising job description:

  • Create store layout themes for each social event and celebration while promoting seasonal products
  • Make window displays of trendy items to welcome customers
  • Evaluate trends and update product arrangements accordingly
  • Manage store exterior and interior by coordinating with store managers
  • Execute merchandising strategies within budget constraints and allocate budgets for each season or theme
  • Appeal to customers from each demographic by conducting thorough research

You will find such basic roles in every visual merchandiser job description, however, there may be more responsibilities depending on the size and popularity of the company.

Also read: How to draft an impeccable visual merchandising resume?

Digital Merchandiser Job Description


Focused more on the outreach portion of merchandising, a standard e-commerce merchandiser job description consists of duties around boosting sales and innovative online marketing.

Being a digital merchandiser means that you take company products and spin an enticing narrative to drive conversions. Basically everything that happens post-production to sell the goods digitally fall partially into the hands of the digital merchandiser.

Site merchandisers are exposed to company data and customer purchasing behaviors to identify trends and trigger the same reactions for all further products.

Here is a standard site merchandiser job description:

  • Bolster web store sales through thorough market research and promotions
  • Track KPIs such as conversion rates of each project while analyzing website performance for company dashboards
  • Maintain website health and liaise with IT team to resolve issues and ensure smooth functioning
  • Collaborate with cross-functional teams to create product descriptions, illustrations, and FAQs to influence purchases
  • Analyze customer interactions and identify improvement opportunities for products and the brand website
  • Execute high-quality photoshoots for products to represent products to customers and stakeholders

Digital merchandiser job descriptions may vary from brand to brand, but ensure that you have the basic skill set and zeal to learn for thriving in such roles.

Fashion Merchandiser Job Description


Now, for the fashion enthusiasts.

What is a retail merchandiser?

To put simply, fashion merchandisers handle the fashion aspect of merchandising, from managing the purchasing of garments to liaising with in-house designers.

Retail merchandisers are regularly updated with fashion trends through social media platforms and fashion weeks or runways. Such data helps them initiate production of garments that are compliant with trends, thereby driving up sales.

They target trends during the peak time and make sure that their product would be those that customers actually prefer using. Fashion merchandisers are heavily involved in production and distribution of clothing and accessories.

It can be an exciting career as a standard retail reset merchandiser job description includes:

  • Identify fashion trends and customer behavior of all demographics to create appropriate clothing
  • Collaborate with designers to create apparels that encapsulate brand image
  • Liaise with vendors and supplies to obtain high-quality materials while negotiating prices and maintaining amiable relationships
  • Oversee inventory in all store locations and ensure constant availability of stock
  • Represent the brand to take part in fashion weeks, fashion shows, and other events to build relationships and identify clothing trends in the industry
  • Track performance of individual pieces and collaborate with marketing team to drive sales through promotion based on trends

A standard fashion merchandiser job description may include more duties from a visual merchandiser job description, especially when it comes to store layouts.

Create an ATS Compliant Merchandiser Resume


Before you apply for jobs, it is fundamental to update your resume to match your current skill set and prepare yourself with merchandiser interview questions. Not only that, it is bad practice to send the same resume to all hiring managers. Instead, you must customize your resume to fit the merchandiser job descriptions like a glove.

The Applicant Tracking System is the software that sifts through resumes to weed out suitable candidates for reducing the number of unqualified candidates. If you are aiming higher as a merchandiser at a top-profile store, you would need to perfect your merchandising resume.

Resume Structure


The key here is to make sure that your resume is not too cramped, has optimal whitespace, and is fairly divided into respective sections to enhance readability.

Use a one-inch margin, font size of about 10-12 points, and make sure that your resume is spaced at around 1-1.5. Additionally, refrain from using double-column resume templates to avoid overlap of information or confusion for the ATS.

Also read: What is the ATS scanner, and why should I care?

Keywords from JD


A merchandiser job description is multi-purpose when it comes to preparing for job applications. In addition to comprehending job requirements and responsibilities, you can make your merchandiser resume a lot more ATS compliant with it.

Every job description has those keywords that hiring managers specifically look for. In merchandiser job descriptions, it could be Commercial Awareness, Interpersonal Skills, Merchandising Strategy, etc., which you can include in your resume.

Instead of simply stating them in your key skills section, try to weave these keywords into your work experience and summary sections to increase your chances of getting shortlisted.

Key Takeaways


From overseeing inventory to ensuring every product layout is perfect, merchandiser job descriptions cover an array of tasks, creative and technical. For the same reason, they are also a great starting point to improve your skills or increase your chances of getting shortlisted.

Here is what you can take away from this blog:

  • Merchandiser job descriptions include responsibilities like budgeting and forecasting sales to ensure minimal loss of resources.
  • A marketing or business degree, or at the very least, a GED is required to apply for merchandiser jobs.
  • Skills such as merchandising strategy, vendor management, commercial awareness, attention to detail, etc., take the center stage in merchandiser job descriptions.
  • Creating an ATS-compliant resume by staying updated with resume standards and extracting valuable keywords from the merchandiser job description can increase your chances of getting shortlisted.

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