Retail merchandising is another type of merchandising beside fashion merchandising and production merchandising. Retail merchandiser usually sells the products in fewer quantities to the ultimate consumers. S/he acts as the bridge between the wholesalers and final consumers.
The role of a retail merchandiser is as below-
Customer analysis
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Image of the retail store
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Merchandise transaction
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Display
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Promotion activities
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Sales evaluation
Customer analysis: In retail merchandising, merchandisers have to have a clear understanding of their consumers. So they have to make a study on the consumers –lifestyles, income, population, retail shop location etc.
Image of the retail store: Building a good impression of the brand to the target market is another important function of a retail merchandiser. Retail merchandiser should help the consumer to be introduced to the brand, product quality, guarantee, and some other after-sale services.
Merchandise transaction: In retail merchandising, merchandisers should conduct an analysis of the target market and arrange the products as per the consumers’ demand. S/he has to stock the products to deliver on time and make a good adjustment between the budget and demand.
Display: Based on the research work and understanding about the customer and their buying capacity, the retail merchandiser will decide the effective ways to display and attract the customers. Good display always enhances the sales of the store and a poor display may slow the sale of even good products.
Promotion activities: Sale promotions like advertising, publicity, visual displays, fashion shows, special events, personal selling, etc. are very much important to the successful sale of the products. Retail merchandiser must focus on this.
Sales evaluation: In retail merchandising, merchandiser evaluates the sales rate of the product after every season. This includes analysing the sales by product wise, style-wise, size and colour wise, unsold items, fast sold goods, price line-wise, etc. This analysis helps them to better understand sales performance as well as consumer’s choice & satisfaction.
