Merchandising
Merchandising is a specialized management function in the fashion industry. It is the company that takes the world of fashion from the design of showrooms to retail sales areas and into the hands of consumers. Merchandising is the process of planning, developing and presenting product lines to identified target markets in terms of price, assortment, styling and timing. Merchandising is about following every process from raw material to finished product and providing all the logistical support.
Apparel Merchandising
A dream job these days is to become an apparel retailer. Apparel merchandising is the techniques used to sell products to consumers. It is directly related to negotiating existing orders, buying and selling products by maintaining communication between buyers, suppliers and factory management. Find a job in merchandising with all the necessary skills to work as an apparel merchandiser in a clothing factory or department store.
A merchandiser is involved in cost calculation, order receipt to shipment and payment process. A merchandiser must have good knowledge in cost calculation, pricing, negotiation, booking, sample development and textiles especially fabrics.
Apparel Merchandising Process
An apparel industry or a buying house is unimaginable without merchandising, department/division and a team to communicate with suppliers and customers. In apparel and textile industry, merchandising teams play a crucial role in generating, executing and closing export orders. The objective of this project is to know the process of merchandising as a practice and the duties of the merchandiser such as price negotiation with the buyer, sample making, production follow-up, quality report, final inspection, shipment and organization of commercial activities. Merchandising work as a working method, shipping terms, commercial invoice, letter of credit, merchandising qualifications and other things like cost, expenses, accessory care instructions etc. We can simply say that a person who does apparel merchandising is called a merchandiser. We can define an apparel merchandiser as follows: An apparel merchandiser is a person who is engaged in sourcing, costing, arranging, organizing and promoting the sales volume of all products in the apparel sector. It can also be said that a person who sells goods or merchandise abroad can be called a merchandiser. A merchandiser is responsible for meeting the requirements of the buyer and is also responsible for supplying the required goods at the right time and in sufficient quantity. The merchandiser is the bridge between the buyer and the manufacturer. He ensures the timely delivery of the right product and timely procurement of materials enables a company to keep in mind the latest market trend of a product and meet the market and customer demand. According to merchandising concept, time management is a task of managing one’s time properly so that one can focus on value adding activities. Merchandising is an important function in RMG field. No apparel industry can function smoothly without merchandisers and no apparel industry can exist without buyers. That is why customer satisfaction is so important. A customer visiting the country and buying products from our apparel industry. If the customer is satisfied at the time of placing the order with the help of merchandiser and management, he will come again to place the order. Another condition of the buyer is timely delivery of the goods. Retailers take this situation seriously as buyers will not come to the apparel industry if they do not receive the product on time. Therefore, merchandisers manage and take care of all types of work from placing the order to shipping the goods and always want to satisfy the customer as apparel industry depends on customer satisfaction.
For every merchandiser, recording all the data and documents is essential. After the garments are shipped, the “merchandiser” should keep all the documents safe because all the related documents provided by the buyer are valuable and necessary. If the buyer wants to repeat the order, the merchant should follow the previous instructions. Therefore, a good, efficient and smart merchandiser should keep all the data and documents for future business development and discipline. If ei and accessory details.
Organogram of Garment Business Department of Factory
Director of Merchandising
↓
Merchandising Manager
↓
Assistant Manager
↓
Senior Merchandiser
↓
Merchandiser
↓
Assistant Merchandiser
↓
Trainee Merchandiser
Product package terms:
Buyer’s Name
Order Amount
Delivery date.
Size and color break down.
Fabric GSM (specify percentage)
knitting pattern
Fabric GSM
Measurement sheet with pictorial details
Detailed stitching
Details of folding and finishing accessories
Print details
Washing details
Order execution:
Buyer search
Tech-pack accepted
Image of style.
Style name and number
Fabric details
Details of trim and accessories.
Graded Spec/ PAF
Construction details.
Washing method
Cost:
The known formula for use is used for the cost of different parts of the garment. The formula is:
(Length + Allowance) * (Width + Allowance) *Number of parts / Fabric cut width /36 *Number of garments + Wastage in percentage (%) = Result in yards.
SGL has a system of fabric usage with regular markers as mentioned below:
Cost and pricing
The largest cost component of any garment is the fabric. Merchandiser takes formal commitment from fabric suppliers while taking price quotation regarding finished width, shrinkage, stretch etc. of fabric.
All trim and accessories are priced by the group buyer. Buyers communicate directly with suppliers to quote prices. By adding washing cost, test cost, CM of garments, buying house commission merchandiser prepares garment price. CM costing done by standard group SMS (standard minute value) costing system.
Cost and pricing
Price offer: A buyer always gives a target price for the garment and the factory has to match the price as much as possible.
Bargaining: Buyers don’t have much time to haggle back and forth and bring the price down to an acceptable level. Standard Group tries to quote the right price in one shot and make it right.
Purchase Chart Received: The buyer confirms the factory with a purchase chart to confirm the order. In the buy, the chat shows how many styles the buyer is going to offer in a season, the number of garments, the color of the garment, the LIC to which country the garment will go.
