Chapter 11 - Merchandising

Question 1

Define Merchandising.

Answer 1

Is the planning to have the right merchandise at the right time, in the right quantity and at the right price to meet the needs of company’s target customers.

Question 2

Define Accessories.

Answer 2

Accessories: A range of products that are designed to accompany items of clothing to complete an overall look. They are usually intended to be decorative.
Common examples include ties, belts, bags, scarves, hats and jewellery.

Question 3

Define Base Fabric.

Answer 3

Base fabric: All fabric, woven and knitted, needs to be approved for quality before it is used in garment construction. Fashion buyers give approval at two different stages referred to as “base” and “bulk” fabric approval. Base fabric is approved for stability and suitability for end used before the fabric is committed for further development

Question 4

Define Bulk Fabric.

Answer 4

Bulk fabric: Refers to the completed fabric that is used in the make-up of garments. The fabric dyed to a specific colour, will often contain printed designs and possess certain “finishes” which provide it with specific benefits.

Question 5

Define Buyer.

Answer 5

Buyer: A buyer for a fashion retail brand will be involved in a more complex buying process involving design, sourcing and production.

Question 6

Define Buying Team.

Answer 6

Buying team: The team of individuals that is responsible for planning and buying a specific range of merchandise within a fashion company. Usually, it consists of a buyer and merchandiser, together with their individual support staff. Normally a buying team will be product or garment specific although sometimes a team may be responsible for a range of products.

Question 7

What is a Category?

Answer 7

Category: Sometimes called as “product group”, it is used to group together garments or similar lines into one group. It ensures that a fashion retailer is able to quickly see how one type of group of lines is performing as a whole. It helps in the monitoring of sales performance and for overall stock control.

Question 8

Define CIF.

Answer 8

CIF : Carriage, Insurance and Freight: The term refers to the agreement on the delivery of foreign goods that is included within the cost price. The cost price paid by the buyer includes transport of merchandise by vessel to a country specified by the buyer. It is up to the seller to arrange insurance and delivery of the merchandise within the price they agree.

Question 9

CMT: “Cut, Make and Trim”. Generally used in the production of more complex or tailored garments, where a clothing manufacturer receives fabric owned by the retailer or another party to make up into a finished garment. The price paid for the process is only for the cutting, making up and provision of items used to trim the garment.

Answer 9

CMT: “Cut, Make and Trim”. Generally used in the production of more complex or tailored garments, where a clothing manufacturer receives fabric owned by the retailer or another party to make up into a finished garment. The price paid for the process is only for the cutting, making up and provision of items used to trim the garment.

Question 10

What is Color Way?

Answer 10

Colour way: A colour option of a product style.

Question 11

Define COO.

Answer 11

COO – Country of Origin: Most products have the country in which they were manufactured recorded on a label attached to the garment. This is not, however, a legal requirement in the United Kingdom and most European countries.

Question 12

Define Cost Price.

Answer 12

Cost price: The price paid for a product before a mark-up is added to achieve a selling price. Generally, the cost price of a fashion product bought for resale by a retailer includes all tickets, hangers, protective covers and packaging. Transport to the retailer will be included according to different cost terms.

Question 13

Define Couture.

Answer 13

Couture: Derived from the French word for “dress-making”, it generally refers to extremely individual and unique hand-made garments made in the studios and workrooms of international high fashion designers.

Question 14

What is a Designer?

Answer 14

Designer: A person who is involved in a creative process, turning customer needs into value outcomes. Outcomes may range widely according to the specific role of the designer, but could include manufactured products, corporate logos or packaging.

Question 15

What is a Distribution Centre?

Answer 15

Distribution centre (DC): A facility which redistributes products to retail outlets having received them as deliveries from suppliers.

Question 16

Define Fit.

Answer 16

Fit: Refers to the suitability of the shape and size of a garment to a person. Principally concerned with comfort and appearance, although the latter can be very much influenced by styling trends.

Question 17

What is a Ft Model?

Answer 17

Fit model: A model, who tries on fit samples in order that garment technologists and buyers can make appropriate adjustments to prototype garments as part of the quality control process.

Question 18

What is FOB?

Answer 18

FOB – Free on Board: This is a cost-price term which does not include complete delivery to the buyer in the cost price. The cost price includes delivery onto a vessel at a port in the country of manufacture. Subsequent insurance and transportation of the merchandise from the port to the final destination is the buyer’s responsibility. Many fashion retailers prefer to use FOB as they can control the cost and lead-times associated with shipping to their country.

Question 19

What is Forecast?

Answer 19

Forecast: A view of where the business will be in the future based on the best known historic and current information. It can be applied to subjective issues such as fashion trends, but is more usually applied to the forward view of likely sales or stock levels. Forecasting is a regular merchandising task that helps to ensure that the business has the right balance and level of stock delivered in readiness for anticipated sales.

Question 20

What is Forward Buying?

Answer 20

Forward buying: Relates to the process of buying ahead to meet anticipated future sales and stock levels. The degree to which a buyer forward buys depends very much upon the length of the manufacturing process from conception to delivery.

Question 21

Define Hanging Stock.

Answer 21

Hanging stock: Most garments delivered to a fashion business arrive from the manufacturer on hangers. This enables them to be immediately put out on the sales floor. This eases handling when delivering into the distribution centre and then on to the shop. It has the advantage of reducing garment creasing prevalent with boxed deliveries.

Question 22

Define Inventory.

Answer 22

Inventory: A detailed list of stock or goods held. Inventory is sometimes used instead of the word “stock”.

Question 23

Define Lead-Time.

Answer 23

Lead-time: The period of time from design conception to delivery into retail stores. The definition of a lead-time may vary according to the particular stage in the supply chain which is being considered. For example, some buyers may refer to a manufacturing to store delivery lead-time, while another may refer to the shipping lead-time.

Question 24

What is Mark-Down or Mark-Up?

Answer 24

Mark-down/Mark-up: Indicates a price movement either downwards or upwards. Prices are reduced to make slow-selling merchandise sell more quickly, while price increases tend to reduce the rate of sale. Fashion businesses alter prices regularly to ensure that stock sells out at the planned rate. Fashion businesses keep an on-going record of all mark-downs/make-ups taken throughout the course of the season/year. It is normally expressed as a percentage.

Question 25

Define OOS.

Answer 25

OOS: Abbreviation for Out of Stock; item not available for sale at this time.

Question 26

Define Reserve Stock.

Answer 26

Reserve stock: Merchandise that is stored in an area inaccessible by customers.

Question 27

Define Silhouette.

Answer 27

Silhouette: The outline shape of a garment.

Question 28

What is SKU?

Answer 28

SKU: Abbreviation for stock keeping unit. Some SKU’s have more than one facing. Each SKU is associated with a different product on a planogram (POG) and is a number assigned by the retailer to keep track of the type, colour and size of a product.

Question 29

Define Tech-Pack.

Answer 29

Tech-pack: Commonly known as technical specification sheet or order information sheet or spec. sheet. It is the collected data of a particular order with a full detailed description of that order. These details are either received from the buyer or developed by the merchandiser.

Question 30

Define UOM.

Answer 30

UOM: Abbreviation for unit of measurement.

Question 31

What is UPC?

Answer 31

UPC: Universal Product Code – Standard for encoding a set of lines and spaces that can be scanned and interpreted into numbers to identify a product. A sequence of numbers and bar code on the back of each product.

Question 32

Define Visual Merchandising.

Answer 32

Visual merchandising: The creative display of goods in-store and in windows. Historically, the term was specifically associated with window display. Atmospherics and visual marketing using sound and interactive technology have increased the overall sophistication of visual merchandising.

Question 33

What are the qualities of a Merchandiser?

Answer 33

1. ANALYTICAL
2. CREATIVE
3. VERBAL
4. INTUITIVE

Question 34

What are the responsibilities of a Merchandiser?

Answer 34

• Identify and analyse the requirements of the customers and materialise the product as they expect by proper communication with each and individual department of the apparel industry.
• It is the sole responsibility of the merchandiser to ensure the exact quality and timely delivery of the product to the customer.
• Merchandiser should understand the existing infrastructure, quality norms and capabilities of the plant. This will help the merchandiser to cost the product compatible.
• After accepting an order, it is essential for the customer to review the capacity of the company, hence they ask for samples and prototype. It is the job of merchandiser to convince the customer and get the order.
• Creating a TNA (Time and Action) calendar for fixing schedules for various activities like cutting, sewing, dispatch, etc. and each and every small action need to be carried out as his/her special roles.
• The delivery at the right time, at the right place and a right cost is the mantra of the merchandiser. So he or she needs to update the order status regularly to view at any point in time daily to have a better hold on the schedule.

Question 35

Explain the types of Merchandisers.

Answer 35

1. FASHION MERCHANDISER
   Fashion Merchandising: The planning process to have the right merchandise and the right time at the right time with the right sales promotion to serve their target customers and achieve maximum profits.

Fashion Merchandiser: A person who facilitates conversion of inspiration to design, uses technology to conceptualise the planning, production and distribution of products in the fashion industry to meet the needs and demands of the target customers.

Role: The buyer might have visited different countries and various fashion shows across the globe and brought his inspirations in terms of pictures and garments.
ii) The buyer might have given a broad trend or theme to the merchandiser and designer to develop a garment.
In both the cases, at a given situation the designer can work on developing different aspects of forecasting process, developing mood board, silhouettes, colour board and requirement. But it is merchandiser’s role to coordinate with the designer about the needs and requirements of the buyer based on his previous experience. Hence, the influence of the merchandiser in the apparel designing plays a vital role in the acceptance of the developed design.
iii) The manufacturing company itself may own some brand. So, for their market, while designer develops products, the merchandiser’s role is essential in exploiting the firms target sector and marketing region. This will help them in developing prototypes at the design development stage.

2. PRODUCTION MERCHANDISER
   Act as link between production unit and buyer merchants and ensures that the production takes place as per the schedule and requirements of the buyer.

Role:
i) Proto sample order enquiry
This is the first stage in which the buyer will enquire with the merchant about the new order.
ii) Forwarding tech pack
When the order enquiry has been done, then the buyer will send a “Tech Pack” or technical specification sheet to the merchant.
iii) Product development
* It is one of the important jobs of the merchandiser. Once the ‘Tech Pack’ is received, the merchandiser will arrange the tech pack details in a format by dividing various styles and its details of the garment.

3. RETAIL MERCHANDISER
   - Involves in launching the fashion from designer’s show room to retail store to customer.
   Ensure adequate amount of merchandise that can be sold customer’s perceived price and generate profit for the company.

Role:
i) Customer analysis
The retail merchandiser perform the customer analysis with respect to the stores location and analyse the potential for the brand in their sector. The general analysis in terms of following factors is performed.
ii) Image of the retail store
The retail merchandiser will understand their target customers and try to work for developing some reputed image of the retail outlet in the consumers mind.
iii) Merchandise transaction
The merchandisers’ another responsibility is to buy the merchandise and stock merchandise for different seasons. It requires a lot of planning for budget, selection of merchandise and selection of suppliers. Also, it is important to decide on the quality of the goods to be ordered. After the goods are received and checked, then it should be marked or tagged and kept in stock for sales.

Question 36

Mention the selling seasons.

Answer 36

Spring – February to April
Summer – May to July
Autumn – August to October
Winter – November to January