Planning which products to offer, in what quantities and at what price, and how to present them for sale.
Merchandising connects product decisions with the commercial conditions under which products are sold. A team may plan the assortment, set sales and stock targets, review prices and promotions, and adjust the offer as customer demand changes. The work can cover a season, a category or a group of selling locations, with actual results compared against the plan. Visual merchandising concentrates on product presentation and displays within this wider activity. A job’s responsibilities therefore matter more than the title alone when judging whether its emphasis is commercial planning, presentation or a combination of both.
In job listings
Chanel’s Head of Merchandising posting in Toronto assigned responsibility for defining and executing merchandising strategy across its markets. Choosing the assortment meant balancing the brand’s direction, customers’ experience in store and sales performance. It illustrated merchandising as a product and business responsibility extending beyond the arrangement of displays. Search local jobs for “merchandising”.
