Career as Production Merchandiser / Apparel Merchandiser / Fashion Merchandiser

A Production Merchandiser / Apparel Merchandiser/Fashion Merchandiser at Apparel manufacturing division has to coordinate with the other departments to complete its job and to following the production activities. Factory merchandiser uses different formats and documents to coordinate within the factory, like Bill of material (BOM), production file, tech pack etc

Function of Production Merchandiser /Apparel Merchandiser/Fashion Merchandiser

Production Merchandising is a function of multiple activities performed by a person. Merchandising involves the planning and execution of the export order with the right place, at the right time, in the right quantities, at the right price. It is concerned with all the activities necessary to provide buyers with the merchandise they want to buy and when and where they want it and at prices, they can afford and are willing to pay. Hence it involves making execution plans, understanding the buyer's need for quality and cost, follow up of running order, effective communication with the buyer. The term ‘Merchandising’ has always been a magic word and hot pick of the cake in the field of apparel and fashion merchandising. Most of the persons who want to pursue a career in the apparel field want to become a merchandiser is discussed below.

Over the years the growth of the merchandising process  has increased as a discipline in the apparel export industry, there have been many responsibilities added to the profile of the apparel merchandiser. This has led to a change in the skills required for the job and evolution of the discipline of export merchandise. On one hand, the merchandiser had the job of getting orders and execute them; execution of Orders includes multiple processes and responsibilities.

Product Development/Sampling

Product development is the business policy of the organization which includes the development of the new designs as per clients' requirements against their comments on the existing sample or buyer’s tech pack. Production merchandisers must keep updates to buyers from time to time about the product development done by the organization. Motivate the buyer to give the design development to the organization instead of doing themselves. Whenever buyer visits to the organization, presentation of new color, prints, embroidery patterns, and desk loom developments are done by production merchandiser. By presenting new products as per international trend forecast and buyer’s brand DNA Merchandiser try to convince the buyer to select the designs from the presentation. Good Samples presentation and convincing ability of production merchandiser help to brings more business as the buyers generally place the order once satisfied with the quality and responsiveness of the sampling.

Fit Sample, Size Set, Pre-production Sampling

Sampling is one of the main processes in Apparel manufacturing and it plays a vital role in attracting buyers and confirming the order. Post Order Merchandiser has to submit Fit, Sample, Size set samples & Pre-production sample for technical and quality clarity. The role of merchandiser plays a crucial role as the follow up of the samples is an important aspect. The buyer passes some comments to the merchandiser after submitting the sample. These comments are needed to understand and communicate with the sampling department. Get changes from the sampling and resubmit to the buyer. Follow up with the buyer to get approvals of the sample.

Costing

Costing is a very dynamic process, and it is the most important function performed by the merchandiser. Merchandiser should know about costing and its calculations. While calculating the cost of the garment, merchandiser keeps the following things in mind.

·           Fabric Rate

·           Fabric consumption

·           Trim's average and rate

·           Cutting, Making & packing

·           Value-added services: printing, embroidery, washing

·           Lab Testing recommended as per country/Buyer’s need

·           Transportation and logistics cost

·           Minimum Overheads

·           Profit of the manufacturing organization

·           Currency exchange rate

The role of the merchandiser does not end only after calculating the cost, but after quoting the cost merchandiser need to negotiate with the buyer on the cost of the Apparel and close billing rate.

Planning (Time and action calendar)

Production merchandising is an interdependent activity. Successful merchandising is the outcome of effective preparation and follows up of time and action calendar by all (warehouse, cutting, embroidery stitching, washing, and finishing) departments. TNA is an effective way of coordinating and following up on important milestones in preproduction processes to ensure timely delivery within the stipulated delivery date. Production merchandiser prepares the TNA by keeping things in mind like production capacity, lead time of buyer, holidays, etc.

Communication

Communication is the most important aspect of any export order process. In production merchandising most important communication is quality manual, purchase order, lab dip, bit loom, Strike off, samples approval, tech pack, inspection report, packing list, Invoice. The buyer communicates each aspect of on-going and future style with merchandiser only. Merchandiser must be able to communicate with the buyer and with internal departments effectively. Nowadays the most effective mode of communication with foreign clients is mail, What’s app calls on Skype.

Coordination

Coordinating with other departments is one of the major responsibilities of a production merchandiser. One needs to coordinate with all the departments within the organization and outside the organization to run the export order successfully. A production merchandiser has to coordinate with the other departments to complete its job. The factory merchandiser uses different formats to coordinate within the factory-like BOM, production file, tech pack. Some of them need to create by factory merchandisers some of them are provided by the buyer. Internal and external coordination is needed from the merchandiser. Merchandiser provides status through formats to the buyer like production status report, packing list, TNA, etc.

Sourcing

The right product at the right price at the right time in the required quality and quantity is the key responsibility of a merchandiser. For Fashion & Apparel, Home Furnishing, textile industry fabric and trims are the raw material which needs to be outsourced. Not only does the fabric have to be appropriate and suited to the garment design, but it must also be made available at the precise time when it is needed. Thus, lead times play an important role in sourcing and placing orders for the materials required for the production. As soon as the fabric is in the stores, then only the sourcing of the threads, button, lace, tapes start because the color of the accessories must match the buyer’s requirements. Merchandiser must make sure that all approvals related to fabric and trims should be coordinated with buyers in the given timeframe.