Today, work as a merchandiser is one of the most accessible for those people who are interested in successful startups, as well as subsequent career growth. At the same time, it is worth noting that specialists of this profile are very popular these days, as the retail sector is developing continuously. However, many people do not even know what kind of profession this is, what are the responsibilities of the merchandiser and what he does at all.
Who is it?
The word merchandise itself in translation from English has several meanings, as it is a product, merchandising and even all kinds of paraphernalia. The responsibilities of the merchandiser are specialization in goods, therefore such specialists are present in all organizations. In the CIS countries, this profession is the same as in the West. These are employees who are directly responsible for sales promotion. In other words, the main responsibilities of the merchandiser include maximizing sales in various retail outlets.
What is his job?
Contrary to the popular opinion, working as a merchandiser does not mean fulfilling duties in the form of putting goods on the shelves of the supermarket. In fact, increasing sales and promoting sales are the result of an integrated approach to these processes, which includes a number of actions.
Therefore, the responsibilities of the merchandiser include the following:
- The study of demand from customers for certain goods, including also how the demand changes depending on the characteristics of the target audience, seasonality and a number of other factors.
- Direct participation in the assortment policy of the company in that part of the outlet for which this employee is assigned. In other words, the duties of the merchandiser include the formation and subsequent maintenance of the assortment, control over balances, stocks and other issues.
- Issues related to the organization of the design of the trading floor, including ensuring the arrangement of equipment, sound, optimal lighting.
- Ensuring extremely free movement of buyers on the trading floor assigned to the employee, as well as the ability to select the necessary goods without involving sellers or with minimal help (a thorough analysis of the display of goods, as well as full control over compliance with accepted standards).
- Competitiveness analysis in the promotion of a similar product.
- Providing reports on the results of using various marketing tools, as well as careful control over the growth of sales of goods.
Such a list of responsibilities can be expanded or concretized depending on which goals are set for the company or a particular store, as well as which company has a pricing, trade and assortment policy. In other words, considering the job responsibilities of the merchandiser, you can only determine them approximately, since the functionality may vary even between several colleagues working in the same company, but located at different facilities.
Merchandiser in the supermarket
Supermarket and hypermarket are the most popular and at the same time the most promising formats of work in the retail sector. Indeed, it is in such self-service stores that merchandisers are most often in demand.
In this case, everything is quite logical, since it is under these conditions that the correct fulfillment of the duties of the merchandiser is one of the key guarantees that sales will increase and various products will be more effectively promoted in the current market.
For comparison
In small retail outlets where full self-service is not provided, the product display technology is not something special, and this is due to the fact that the main goal of adhering to a particular technology is the psychological effect exerted on the buyer. For example, the duties of a merchandiser (for resumes this is especially important) include the location of expensive goods at the visitor’s eye level, the constant provision of the effect of having an assortment, as well as many other tasks, and it’s almost pointless to spend money on a professional specialist in this field with a different sales format .
Merchandiser in the online store
Quite often, at various specialized sites, you can see various announcements that a person is currently wanted who will work as a merchandiser in an online store. At the same time, many people have a completely logical question: "What are the duties of a merchandiser of a store of this format if this specialist serves the retail zone?"
In fact, if we consider the initial name of the profession and its meaning, then, of course, it is impossible to find an application for this employee, but in such a situation, employers simply replace concepts, and in reality, a marketer is required to work. Of course, in principle, these specialists have roughly similar responsibilities.
For this reason, if you are interested in such a position, you should pay attention to the sales format that is declared by the employer, since the duties of a merchandiser at a point of sale differ significantly from what functions this specialist performs in an online store.
Merchandisers Supervisor
For the uninitiated, the profession of supervisor is even more unusual than the merchandiser. However, in fact, they are directly related to each other, because the supervisor is the person who establishes what is the responsibility of the merchandiser, and who controls the implementation of these duties.
Supervisor job in the majority of cases it is analytical, that is, it is engaged in the careful collection of information regarding sales growth in those outlets that are within its competence. Obligations related to the transfer of such information already lie directly with the merchandisers who service specific points.
However, despite the fact that the supervisor essentially holds a leadership position, he does not have the right to accept or dismiss specialists, as well as impose any disciplinary sanctions on his subordinates. In other words, if a certain specialist does not correctly perform the duties of the merchandiser of the store, then in this case he can only report this problem to the responsible persons. The functions of the supervisor are limited solely to the systematization of the information provided to him, the subsequent transfer of the results of the analyzes to higher management, as well as the provision of his own conclusions and certain recommendations in terms of how to organize work and stimulate sales in the future.
It often happens that the duties of supervisors also include the development of a planogram, that is, how the layout of goods should look like on store shelves.But this does not happen so often and as a whole is contrary to the main meaning of this post, since such actions involve a professional approach and are a direct responsibility of the merchandisers themselves.
What are merchandisers?
Considering the main responsibilities of the merchandiser, it is impossible not to say that depending on the instructions and the place of work of such specialists they are divided into two main categories:
- Mobile.
- Stationary.
What are their differences?
The differences between these specialists are obvious and directly follow from the title of this post. Thus, a mobile, or, as it is also called, a visiting, merchandiser is not assigned to any particular retail outlet, and it must consistently visit various stores in the distribution network in order to alternately carry out the working functionality in each of them. A stationary merchandiser, on the contrary, constantly serves a particular store. Of course, it is possible to move a specialist from one point to another, but this will also be permanent.
There is also another variety that combines the attributes of each category at the same time - this is a universal merchandiser. Such a specialist has a rather flexible work schedule, which provides for the fulfillment of the duties of employees of each category, depending on what task he is currently facing.
Summary and further work
As mentioned above, the duties of a merchandiser in supermarkets and their development is a good option for a career start, and at the same time, this position does not provide for any specialized education. Quite often it happens that when inviting specialists to this position, employers may not even pay attention to the presence or absence of work experience, and therefore there is always a sufficient number of people who want to get this position.
In order for you to correctly compose a resume that would ultimately really interest the employer, you need to know what are the main requirements put forward to applicants. Of course, their list can vary quite a lot, but the main points are the following:
- Stress resistance.
- Endurance.
- The disposable appearance.
- Activity.
- Ability and willingness to be responsible for the decisions you make.
Do you need any skills?
If we talk about some specialized skills, then, in principle, you do not have them, but if in the form “Responsibilities of the merchandiser”, for the resume provided, you will note, for example, the ability to engage in competitive analysis, as well as knowledge of technologies the calculation of goods, then in this case you will have a much greater chance that in the end you will get this job.
How to create a resume?
In those cases when the merchandiser is your desired position, whose duties also include maintaining the assortment and managing balances, it will also be important to have experience in working with specialized software, through which various inventory items are recorded.
If you have such a skill, then in this case you should definitely indicate it in the column “Merchandiser Responsibilities”. For a summary, such information will be a significant plus. If you do not know anything from this area, then do not embellish your own skills and knowledge, as otherwise you may be fired at the very beginning of your probationary period.
