What does a Merchandise Planner do?

A merchandise planner develops a store’s merchandise strategy, deciding what to buy, when to buy it, and how to display it. This position requires excellent communication and business skills and offers opportunities for advancement, particularly in companies with multiple locations. Although some employers accept associate’s degrees, most employers require a bachelor’s degree in merchandising or a related field. To ensure that the applicant is familiar with the retail environment, three to five years of retail experience is usually required.

The merchandise planner must keep up with current trends and have a thorough understanding of the market. The planner must consider the demographics of a store or chain of stores in addition to following fashion and ensuring she knows what kinds of products will be in demand. Clothing shipped to a New York City branch of a store, for example, may be different from clothing shipped to a Midwestern city like Minneapolis, because the fashions will be different.

Merchandise planners collaborate with merchandise buyers to determine what is available and make ordering decisions. To ensure that items arrive on time, they decide how much to order and when to schedule deliveries. They can also plan out the layout of aisles and items in the store and organize store displays. The goal is to entice customers with the store’s layout, such as placing related items close together to encourage people to buy them.

The merchandise planner must monitor sales trends at individual stores in order to identify strong and weak points and make appropriate changes to the merchandise at that location. Different branches may sell different combinations of items, so it’s critical to be able to move merchandise quickly enough to meet demand. For example, one store may consistently sell out of sunglasses while another has a low demand. It would be impractical to send the exact same merchandise to each store.

The merchandise planner at major retailers can be both a trend setter and a trend follower. They collaborate with trend spotters and designers to identify new trends and move quickly on them. Customers will feel like the store is on top of the latest trends, which will lead to increased loyalty and help the store get a leg up on the competition. For example, the merchandise planner may get an advance contract on scarves, knowing that everyone will want them in six months, driving up the price and potentially outstripping production capacity. Because of their original agreement with the manufacturer, their store may be able to offer scarves when others are unable to, and at a lower price.