How often you asked a question, who is such merchandiser and what he is engaged in. Actually not everything is as difficult as can seem.
The merchandiser is a representative of the company who specializes in promotion of goods and upholds a positive reputation of the promoted brand. It is a creative profession which allows to realize the potential and to have new opportunities for development of career.
Even the person without experience can become a merchandiser, and already in a couple of years receive necessary skills for further development of a profession. Quite often employers prefer to hire the people who got economic education. But is also such which specially take students and beginners, it is easier for them to impart, the companies, necessary for successful work, skills.
Practically in each company specializing in wholesale and retail trade there is such position. Any goods need to be advanced, and it – what work of the merchandiser consists in.
What belongs to the merchandiser's duties?
Work of the merchandiser – rather specific, and his functions directly depend on specifics of the enterprise and the sold products. So, the merchandiser of supermarket not just is engaged in the calculation of goods on shelves, but also improves sale and increases sales volumes. In general, the whole complex of actions belongs to functions of the merchandiser. It:
- Studying demand for goods, definition of target audience, analysis of indicators of seasonality and other factors.
- Formation and maintenance of the range of the outlet assigned to the merchandiser, management of a stock and the remains of goods.
- Organization of registration of outlet (sound, lighting, arrangement of goods, etc.).
- Ensuring unlimited movement of buyers on the hall, a possibility of the choice of necessary goods without the assistance of the seller.
- Analysis of competitiveness of goods, improvement of its advance.
- Drawing up reports following the results of sales, introduction of offers on increase in sales.
What functions of the merchandiser?
As the merchandiser enters:
- work with consumers and customers for achievement of optimum sales volumes and the solution of the problems connected with quality of goods;
- the organizational actions directed to promotion of goods, such as presentations of products, tastings, advertizing campaigns;
- maintenance of the relations with already existing and potential clients, tracking their orders;
- search of new clients.
What does the merchandiser have to know?
The merchandiser has to know:
- bases of the organization of work for formation of demand and increase in sales volumes;
- current legislation which is responsible for business activity;
- bases of management and marketing, types of advertizing and methods of the organization of advertizing activity;
- the principles of the organization of trade space and sales, psychology of buyers, methods of assessment of efficiency of placement of goods on racks;
- main qualitative and consumer properties of traded goods;
- prices of goods, fundamentals of market economy, psychology sociology, ethics of business communication.
Besides obligatory knowledge, the merchandiser has to have such skills as sense of duty, observation, creative thinking, skill to communicate, persuasiveness, self-confidence. In many cases these traits of character can outweigh experience and to become decisive for the employer.