Tag: Merchandise Planner

Want a Career as a Merchandise Planner?

Posted on | by Aisling Rafferty

Thinking about a Career as a Merchandise Planner? Excel’s Retail Head Office Consultant Sarah Hurley takes you through everything you need to know…

Merchandise Planning is a relatively new function within Irish buying offices but is just as exciting, fast-paced and rewarding a career as Retail Buying. Merchandise Planners are high in demand. They have a unique skillset and niche expertise and are rewarded with competitive salaries and benefits, a broad career path and numerous choices and plentiful job opportunities with the biggest retailers.

What is a Merchandise Planner?

Merchandise Planners operate a crucial function within a retail Head Office. They work side by side with Buyers to plan, execute and deliver ranges.

What do they do?

People often explain merchandise planning as getting the right merchandise, in the right place, at the right time, in the right quantities at the right price to maximise sales and to minimise markdown. With the buyer, they will look at past performance and future trends, to predict what items will sell best and plan accordingly.

Right Merchandise – Styles, brands, colours, sizes

Right Place – Which store, depending on their budget and location

Right Time – Having merchandise in stores at the right time in the season i.e. ready for Christmas or ‘Back to School’

Right Quantities – Enough for the stores to make their budgets but not have to markdown stock at the end of the season

The Right Price £££– Those that will attract customers in over the competition yet generate a reasonable return on investment for the retailer i.e. profit

What do you need?

Merchandise Planners are in demand because they have a unique blend of skills-

Analytical skills – enjoy analysing data and using this to identify trends and potential risks and opportunities

Communication skills – Must be able to communicate this data and trends to people and build great relationships with suppliers and in-store teams.

Quick thinking– Retail is incredibly fast-paced and merchandise planners need to be quick thinking to spot trends, evaluate large amounts of data and make sound decisions. Things can change very quickly and there are always deadlines to meet.

Commercial Awareness – you need to understand what is going on in the marketplace, your competitors and be able to spot gaps and opportunities

How do you get started?

Most Merchandise Planners come from either a fashion buying & merchandising course or a business/finance related degree and have a mix of both retail and office based experience. Graduates will start their careers as an Allocator or Assistant Merchandiser and work their way up. Opportunities exist within the fashion and non-fashion retail and open up a broad and varied career path.

How to become a Merchandise Planner

Posted on | by Aisling Rafferty

Do you get annoyed when you walk into a shop and can’t find a pair of jeans in your size? Merchandise Planners or Merchandisers are responsible for ensuring that the right amount of stock and enough of each size is available for the store in question. They must recognise the selling potential in products that buyers want to sell in the department. A Merchandise Planner will plan sales in accordance with this to drive profit. Find out more about what they do here.

The aim ultimately is to achieve better sales results than the previous year. Merchandisers essentially hold the purse strings of a department, responsible for having the right stock, in the right place at the right time to maximise sales and to minimise mark down. With the buyer, they will look at past performance and future trends, to predict what items will sell best and plan accordingly. Because of this Merchandisers need to be highly numerical, commercially minded and analytical. They must possess the ability to work in a fast-paced and ever-changing retail office environment.

As a merchandiser you’ll be an integral part of driving the bottom line results and sales by making commercial decisions about stock positioning and quantities. With your numerical expertise, ability to analyse sales data and ability to work closely with stores, suppliers and distribution teams in the business, you’ll ensure the best sales performance is consistently achieved.

Merchandise Planners will think and solve logically – they will have reasoning and an ability to come to commercial and financial decisions based on accurate information accumulated from analysing reports and figures.

Merchandiser’s skill-set

  • Identify trading priorities, opportunities and challenges
  • Relevant work experience and/or business related degree/course
  • Ability to analyse & interpret data
  • Commercially aware with a trading focus
  • Good communication and organisational skills
  • High proficiency using Microsoft Office programs – Excel in particular

As a recruiter, the type of people we put forward for trainee merchandising roles ideally would have the following key things on their CV….

  • A Fashion buying & merchandising course or a business/finance related degree – there are a lot of these available so shop around. Some are affiliated with the major retailers so it can be a good way to gain an internship and perhaps a job. Do your research and explore which is the best one for you. Try and speak to ex-students if you can and see what they are up to post course.
  • Retail experience (even if part time during school or college)
  • Office experience – this can show your IT skills, using internal systems, proficiency using Microsoft Office programs – Excel in particular – can you use Pivot Tables and VLOOKUPs?

 

What is a Merchandise Planner?

Posted on | by Aisling Rafferty

There is a surplus of jobs to candidates as the demand for Merchandise Planners is higher than ever. A Merchandise Planner is a highly skilled and niche job, that offer well-paid and rewarding career paths. Establishing a career as a Merchandise Planner affords you the opportunity to be immersed in a competitive and progressive industry. Merchandise Planners are imperative to the functionality of the Fashion Industry. Their premise in a company or organisation is to ensure that the logistics in place drive profit. They are highly numerical, data driven, deciphering highly complex reports and quantitative figures and determining business based decisions on all of these facets. Another noteworthy point is the confusion between Visual Merchandisers and Merchandise Planners which we recently covered here.

Merchandise Planners have an enviable skill set. There is often misconception that to work in fashion you must be predominately creative. Merchandise Planners think and solve. They are commercially minded and analytical. While Retailers needs creativity, they also need profit and that is driven and determined by a Merchandise Planner. They will ensure that stock is in the right place at the right time. They will be astute and apace with cultural trends and demographics. They can determine in advance what stock will be needed and where it will sell best.

A store located in a young, urban and creative city will sell alternative stock than a rural location with a median population that is considerable older. The Merchandise Planner will ensure that the correct type and quantities of stock are in place in both locations to optimise sales and profit.

Merchandise Planners are high in demand. They have an amalgamation of many skills and are rewarded with competitive salaries and benefits, some which include.

  • Constant job openings with the biggest retailers, all year round
  • Paid travel and mileage
  • Being appreciated for their niche expertise
  • Broad career path and numerous choices
  • Attractive salary scale

What you need to become a Merchandise Planner

Third LevelPreferred.
Degree TypeIdeally within Business, Supply Chain and/or Finance
Key SkillsAnalytics ability, Reporting, Data analysis and proficiency, ordering systems, advanced Microsoft Office especially Excel, Negotiation. Numerical skills, Understanding of Retail Maths and how to convert to profit
SalaryEntry Level: €24,000

Median Level: €50,000

Top level: €90,000

Experience1-3 years within Retail

 

Have we got you curious? We’ve written this blog on steps to become a Merchandise Planner and outlines exactly what we look for when receiving applications for the ongoing Merchandise Planner jobs we have available. Want to work in an International buying office with the world’s biggest retailers. Merchandise Planners are just as crucial to the operation as Retail Buyers.

 

Merchandise Planners and Visual Merchandisers: The Difference

Posted on | by Aisling Rafferty

Excel Recruitment are the leading Retail Recruitment Company in Ireland. We receive applications from all levels of professionals in the Retail and Fashion industry from Sales Assistants to CEO’s daily. One thing we have noticed over time is the confusion some people have surrounding Visual Merchandisers and Merchandisers (also called Merchandise Planners). Our Digital Marketing Manager Clare, together with our Head Office and Merchandising Recruiter Sarah, have compiled this blog for easy understanding and to eradicate any confusion that surrounds the two roles. We have jobs for all levels of Merchandise Planners, full remuneration packages and flights if applicable which you can view here www.excelrecruitment.com

What is the difference between a Visual Merchandiser and Merchandiser?

People often understandably confuse the term Merchandisers with Visual Merchandisers. They are both roles that are generally found in a Retail Head Office.

Merchandisers (also can be called Merchandisers Planners) need to be highly numerical, commercially minded and analytical. They must possess the ability to work in a fast paced and constantly evolving environment.

Visual Merchandising on the other hand, is a highly creative role where their main remit is to develop, deliver and communicate visual concepts and strategies to promote retail brands, products and services in-store, in catalogues or online. They also tend to work in a pressurised work surrounding and can often be found on the shop floor ensuring displays, photographics and fixtures etc. are correctly executed.

  • Merchandise Planners will think and solve They make business decisions based on facts accumulated from analysing reports and figures. They will have reasoning and an ability to solve complex based on accurate reasoning.
  • Visual Merchandisers will act, develop and deliver visual concepts that are in line with company strategies which in turn will drive sales. They work alongside Buyers, Merchandisers and Marketing to ensure that the key messages for a brand or product are clearly executed to drive sales in store and online.

In a nutshell…

Merchandisers/Merchandise Planners are responsible for having the right stock in the right place at the right time to maximise sales and to minimise mark down.

Visual Merchandisers are concerned with promoting the identity of brands and new products both instore and online in order to boost sales.

Potential candidates should ensure they understand the difference between visual merchandising, retail merchandising and shop-floor merchandising before applying to jobs. The latter two are concerned with volumes and allocation of stock and its location and functional arrangement on the shop floor, rather than the visual and creative impact a visual merchandiser makes. There are interfaces between the roles and teams may work closely together to achieve maximum sales and profitability.

Excel Recruitment want to hear from Merchandise Planners across all level from Trainee to Senior roles. View all our jobs here: www.excelrecruitment.com or attach a CV to info@excelrecruitment.com

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