What is Merchandising

In Europe, the term merchandising is commonly used within the trading industry and indicates all marketing and sales related activities, around POS (point of sale ! design, creation, promotion, care and training of the sales staff" In #sian countries, such as $angladesh and India, this term is more synonymous with activities right from sampling or idea conception to dispatching of the shipment" It is a %o& description that involve leading and working, with different departments within the organi'ation, suppliers and &uyers to deal with timely deadlines and accepted (uality levels" In the Supply )hain, merchandising is the practice of making products in retail outlets availa&le to consumers, primarily &y stocking shelves and displays" $asically a merchandiser is someone who is continuously involved in &usiness promotion &y &uying and selling of goods"

Merchandising in Apparel Industry

*arments merchandisers on the apparel production involve in the value chain, analyse and measure the material input re(uirements, overall production costs (including )utting + ,aking charges" manpower salaries, production schedule, deliver process, logistical re(uirements, etc" -he .,erchandising. is known to the persons specially involved in garments trade" -he term merchandising has &een derived from the merchandise" ,erchandise means goods that are &ought + sold" -he term .,erchandising. may &e defined as person who merchandises the goods, specifically for e/port purposes" *arments merchandising means &uying raw materials + accessories, producing garments maintaining re(uired (uality level and e/porting the garments within schedule time" -wo main activities in merchandising are! Estimation (cost and material , Specification (measurements and types of materials "

Activities of Merchandising Profession

,erchandisers are some of the most powerful employees within an apparel company, and they have large &ottom0line and personnel management responsi&ilities" -he merchandisers practically com&ine four &road areas! purchasing, production, marketing and sales, with their creative and imaginative talents" #pparel merchandising professionals are involved in the following activities! 1 Order collection from foreign &uyers 1 2egotiation with &uyers 1 -ransferring specifications of products from the &uyer3s designer to manufacturer 1 -ranslating4)onverting design specifications to manufacturing re(uirements 1 ,aterial sourcing and selection of fa&rics and accessories 1 Estimation of all cost elements

1 5elivery4shipment of goods from manufacturer to the hands of the &uyer (for ultimate sales to retail consumers 1 #rranging and ensuring payments from &uyer to manufacturer 1 5evising good marketing strategies to increase sales 1 ,aintenance of relationships with &uyers and suppliers 1 #nticipation of customer preferences

Essentials for a Merchandiser

,erchandising is a very comple/, &ut most important part of apparel &usiness" -hus, he must possess some (ualities! a 6ery good idea a&out the apparel market, its stakeholders, transportation alternatives, communication networks and sources of supply" & Should have good writing and speaking capa&ility in English" c Should possess e/cellent negotiation skill (negotiation with &oth &uyers and suppliers " d ,ust have good mathematical and analytical power" e It is &etter to have good word processing, spread0sheet calculation capa&ility" On the company side, it is &etter to have e0commerce facility and E7P software, along with cost accounting module" f Should have risk0taking mentality" g Should have knowledge on apparel production and scheduling" h Should have commercial &anking knowledge" i Should have knowledge on freight forwarding and logistics"

Merchandiser is a Bridge between Buyer and Seller

,erchandiser is he who &uilds up relationship with the &uyer and acts as a seller" 8e4she plays a vital role in an organi'ation in a sense that he &ears more responsi&ility than other in regards to e/ecution of an order" -he responsi&ilities which he4she &ears on the %o& are as follows! 1 8e represents as a &uyer to the 9actory" 1 8e represents as a seller to the &uyer" 1 8e inspects :uality as a &uyer (from the &uyer3s point of view " 1 8e negotiates a price for the sellers" 1 8e looks at the deal from seller3s point of view" 1 8e looks into the &usiness to flourish more in the future" 1 8e tries to offer the deal more competitive without compromising the (uality" 1 8is o&%ect is to satisfy the &uyers to progress more of the future &usiness"

1 8is aim is to impress the &uyers &y means of! 7ight Products 7ight :uality 7ight :uantities 7ight -ime

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1. Good relation with buyer should be maintained: 1 # merchandiser must maintain a good relation with &uyer at all times" 1 # &uyer should &e considered as a well0wisher for the company" 1 # merchandiser should &ehave well with the &uyer while there is a possi&ility of getting order" 1 Even if there is no order, he should communicate regularly with the &uyer &y mailing him4her" 2. Submitting Company Profile: 1 #rrange an evaluation of the factories &y the &uyers whom he4she is working with &y su&mitting them the company profile" 3. Getting Inquiry Sheet: 1 -he first step of merchandising starts from o&taining an in(uiry sheet from the &uyer" 1 -he &uyer sends an in(uiry sheet to the merchandiser to give the over0all idea a&out his re(uire garment product" 1 # merchandiser must have to review the tech0pack4order sheet very well" 1 On receipt of in(uiry, he must check garment style, (uantity, delivery, target price (if any , type fa&ric, re(uired accessories, si'e range, type of wash4dry process, em&roidery4print etc" 1 If any clarification needed, he must communicate with &uyer with immediate effect" 1 9or the first developing &uyer, check ;4) terms, shipping terms, sample re(uirements, testing re(uirements or any other details" . !abri" Consumption Cal"ulation: 1 -he merchandiser provides the measurement sheet to the pattern section to make a pattern set of a particular garments" 1 -hen pattern set is provided to the marker man to make a marker" -his marker is made only for fa&ric consumption calculation" -his is made normally for I do'en of shirt"

1 <ith the change of measurement after sample comments, merchandiser must have checked the fa&ric consumption" #. Pri"e quotation: 1 9irst, the merchandiser should have good sourcing with the fa&ric and trims supplier and he has to collect the fa&ric and trims price from them" 1 On receipt of any in(uiry, price must &e (uoted within = working days" 1 8e4she should contact with ,erchandising ,anager &efore (uoting price" 1 -hen he will prepare a Price (uotation or )osting Sheet and send it to the &uyer &y E0mail" 1 <hile (uoting garment price, if possi&le fa&ric swatch4wash panels should &e sent to &uyer, 1 <hile (uoting garment price, if mention the price validity as yarn or accessories price changes time to time $. Pri"e negotiation with buyer: 1 # mutual understanding is placed &etween &uyer and merchandiser a&out the price of the product" 1 <hen the price negotiation is completed, then the order is confirmed" 1 Send &uyer an email mentioning negotiated price with the changes that are accepted during negotiation" It will work as document for further reference" %. Cautions: Some cautions should &e taken during order confirmation 1 Inform &uyer if apprehend not a&le to achieve crocking, shrinkage, washing effect etc" 1 Ensure minimum (uantity for solid or dyed fa&ric" 1 Should also take care a&out matching 4 non0matching of yarn dyed plaids4checks" 1 Should &e clarified a&out the way of special printed fa&ric like &ird, ship, tree, &oat etc" 1 ,erchandiser must tell a&out the unachieva&le thing to &uyer in the &eginning" E/! stripe matching"

Conclusion'
9or a good merchandising, professional must &e resourceful, creative, confident, imagination and full of new ideas" In order to succeed in this field, an apparel merchandiser should have &etter %udgment and must &e willing to take risks"

%eferences' () www"google"com *) www"apparel0merchandising"com +) www"onlineclothingstudy"com ,) www"en"wikipedia"org4wiki4$uyer>(fashion -) ,erchandising in #pparel Industry, from 5irectorate of )ontinuing Education $?-E