What Is Fashion Merchandising? | Prévoir

A great design is only the beginning for any product. Fashion merchandising is the strategic and creative discipline that guides a single piece from a designer’s sketchbook to a customer’s closet. It’s the essential link between the art of design and data analysis, turning a collection into a business.

What Is Fashion Merchandising? 

"Fashion merchandising" means ensuring the right product is available at the right price, at the right time, and in the right place to meet customer demand. It’s not just about selling clothes, it’s about shaping a brand’s identity and financial health through strategic product decisions. 

What Does a Fashion Merchandiser Do?

Fashion merchandisers are analysts, strategists, and creative collaborators. Their job description includes forecasting trends, planning inventory, developing marketing strategies, and creating a story that sells.

Trend Forecasting

Before a single thread is sewn, a merchandiser is already looking to the future. Trend forecasting actually starts with looking backwards at how previous trends performed, then researching and analyzing current market trends. Tracking competitor movements and studying consumer behavior also helps provide a holistic prediction of which styles, colors, and silhouettes will be in future demand. 

Merchandise Planning and Assortment Building

This is where a collection is born. The merchandiser works closely with designers to decide on the breadth and depth of the collection (e.g., how many styles to include, in how many colors, and in what size runs). The goal is to create a balanced range that tells a story, meets sales targets, and strengthens the brand's identity.

Inventory Management and Allocation

A merchandiser's worst nightmare is deadstock (aka unsold inventory that ties up capital and cuts into profits). A key part of their job is managing inventory levels to maximize sell-through. This involves careful planning of initial buys and strategic allocation of products to the correct sales channels, whether it's specific retail stores or an e-commerce platform.

Price Planning

Merchandisers analyze the cost of goods, competitor pricing, and the perceived value of each item to establish a retail price that's attractive to the customer and profitable for the business. They also need to know when to discount an item, and by how much, to meet sales targets and minimize deadstock. 

Working with Collaborative Teams 

Just like any other profession, building cross-functional relationships and working in collaborative teams is imperative to ensuring the final product isn't only commercially viable but also on budget and true to the brand’s creative vision. These relationships happen both externally with designers and suppliers, and internally with marketing and finance departments, among others. 

What Makes a Good Fashion Merchandiser?

Successful fashion merchandisers are dynamic thinkers who can easily move between the creative and commercial sides of the business.

They're Both Artists and Data Analysts 

Great merchandisers know creativity and data, and how to marry the two without being gauche. They have a refined aesthetic sense but are equally skilled at interpreting sales reports, identifying patterns, and using those insights to guide their decisions. They use data to inform their intuition, not override it. 

They're Visual Storytellers 

Fashion is a visual medium. A strong merchandiser can see the collection as a whole, understanding how different pieces work together to create a powerful story. They think in terms of color palettes, silhouettes, and fabrics, and can translate those visual ideas into a commercially successful assortment.

They're Adaptable and Forward-Thinking 

The retail landscape is in constant motion. Successful merchandisers need to be naturally curious and adaptable to finding more efficient ways of analyzing data to improve decision-making, and better align with customer preferences. 

Takeaway 

In an industry defined by constant change, the fashion merchandiser is the link between creativity and data. They're the strategists who not only predict the future of fashion but also actively shape it. They turn a designer's vision into the pieces customers will love and wear for seasons to come, while pushing constant innovation within brand authenticity to keep them coming back. 

See Modern Merchandising in Action

Prévoir is the planning platform built for visual and intuitive merchandisers. Empower your intuition with data and build your next great collection with confidence.