How to become a Merchandiser

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£30,000/y

avg. starting salary

Wish you could shop for a living? Let us show you the merchandise… A Merchandiser’s main role is to make sure the right products and offers are available in their stores when demand is highest, in order to make maximum returns for their business. Working closely with Buyers, Merchandisers help devise sales strategies and develop offers in order to make sure their goods are always in demand. Typical duties for a Merchandiser include:

Analysing past sales figures to work out trends and anticipate demand
Ordering and managing stock levels to ensure demand is always met
Devising new promotions and sales strategies to push the products
Providing assistance to Visual Merchandisers to help make sure the layout complements any current promotions
Delivering training materials to help staff get up to speed with any new lines that are introduced

To be successful as a Merchandiser, you will need to know the industry you’re in inside-out. Having an in-depth understanding of what your customers want and when they want it can go a long way in determining your success, and very often that can only be found through on-the-job experience. You will also need to be creative, able to solve problems and work well under pressure. And by under pressure, we mostly mean Christmas. Other key skills include:

Excellent business acumen
Enthusiasm and self-motivation
The confidence and conviction to stand by your ideas
Excellent organisation and interpersonal skills
Prioritisation and delegation skills

"I work as a Merchandiser for a large supermarket (mentioning no names). It’s incredibly busy, and my daily tasks can change in an instant, especially if we’ve seen something make a difference on a small scale and we want to ramp up the volume. I find my work very exciting and rewarding, and if you’re someone that likes seeing what you do make a real, quantifiable impact, a career in Merchandising might be right for you."

Get qualified

It is not a necessary requirement to have a degree to become a Merchandiser. However, having some qualifications specific to the industry will certainly help you stand out from the crowd.

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