Merchandises products and implement merchandising plans in a retail environment.
Works closely with store sales staff to improve the consumer buying experience by providing support for merchandising plans. Monitors inventories and sales and generates reports for product lines. Troubleshoots delivery or vendor issues and develop solutions to ensure product availability. Coordinates maintenance of pricing, markdowns, on-order, and merchandising guidelines and product knowledge information with sellers.
Salary.com identifies five increasing levels of proficiency for each skill/competency. Some jobs require only a relatively low level of proficiency in each skill/competency, while other jobs will require a more advanced level of proficiency in the same skill/competency. These levels rate the degree of proficiency (skill level, expertise) we expect the incumbent to perform in the given skill/competency for the given job. Note that we intentionally do not associate timeframes or years of experience in performing the skill/competency because that can be misleading. Proficiency levels identify what the incumbent knows and can do rather than how long they have been doing it. Also, note that the proficiency levels are cumulative, e.g., a level 4 proficiency implies the ability to perform all the behaviors at the lower levels.
Check each Merchandiser skill and competencie below to view definitions.
Skill definition-Applying comprehensive knowledge of retail principles, inventory management, pricing strategies, and consumer behavior to effectively manage and operate retail businesses.
Level 1 Behaviors
(General Familiarity)
Describes the application of upselling, cross-selling, and closing sales techniques in retail operations.
Level 2 Behaviors
(Light Experience)
Conducts research on current and upcoming distribution channels tailored to a specific product category.
Level 3 Behaviors
(Moderate Experience)
Analyzes consumer buying patterns and trends to predict product and service demands.
Level 4 Behaviors
(Extensive Experience)
Creates and leverages KPIs to assess the effectiveness of retail sales strategies and promotional methods.
Level 5 Behaviors
(Mastery)
Designs and executes customer segmentation and personalization techniques to deliver tailored marketing promotions.
Skill definition-Utilizing visual merchandising techniques to place and display complementary products next to each other to enhance shopping experience and sales.
Level 1 Behaviors
(General Familiarity)
Describes the types of cross merchandising strategies depending on branding, senses, and displays.
Level 2 Behaviors
(Light Experience)
Collects feedback from customers to help the management in refining cross merchandising approaches.
Level 3 Behaviors
(Moderate Experience)
Suggests cross merchandising ideas to optimize product displays and increase average transaction value.
Level 4 Behaviors
(Extensive Experience)
Recommends color schemes and lightning to accentuate cross-merchandised items and attract buyers.
Level 5 Behaviors
(Mastery)
Develops strategic plans involving store layout and customer traffic flow to increase product visibility.
Skill definition-Designing, executing, and optimizing systems, tools, and processes to ensure the smooth and efficient operations of marketing activities.
Level 1 Behaviors
(General Familiarity)
Explains roles and responsibilities performed under marketing operations function.
Level 2 Behaviors
(Light Experience)
Conducts basic research to support the deployment of our marketing projects.
Level 3 Behaviors
(Moderate Experience)
Partners with other teams in establishing and maintaining marketing operations standards.
Level 4 Behaviors
(Extensive Experience)
Monitors emerging market trends to strategize ways to increase our market share.
Level 5 Behaviors
(Mastery)
Develops and executes innovative strategies to optimize the costs of our marketing activities.
Skill definition-Developing and implementing promotional activities to attract and increase the awareness of customers in buying products.
Level 1 Behaviors
(General Familiarity)
Explains the principles of promotion and its importance to the marketing efforts.
Level 2 Behaviors
(Light Experience)
Logs schedules for promotions in target accounts.
Level 3 Behaviors
(Moderate Experience)
Helps senior management in developing promotional plans based on the product or service features.
Level 4 Behaviors
(Extensive Experience)
Leads the execution of promotional initiatives in accordance with the key metrics.
Level 5 Behaviors
(Mastery)
Develops effective and innovative strategies for project promotion.
Skill definition-Ability to plan and organize activities, tasks, and resources to achieve business goals and objectives within timeframe and budget.
Level 1 Behaviors
(General Familiarity)
Discusses the importance of scheduling, which includes achieving a good work-life balance.
Level 2 Behaviors
(Light Experience)
Records employee availability to increase attendance at scheduled meetings.
Level 3 Behaviors
(Moderate Experience)
Prepares staffing forecast dashboards as well as comparative data on results versus forecasts.
Level 4 Behaviors
(Extensive Experience)
Manages travel arrangements or schedules, such as booking flights and making hotel or restaurant reservations.
Level 5 Behaviors
(Mastery)
Creates strategies and objectives to improve the functional infrastructure of general workforce scheduling.
Skill definition-Knowledge of and ability to apply a set of quantifiable measurements to determine how effectively an individual, team or organization is achieving a business objective.
Level 1 Behaviors
(General Familiarity)
Describes the concepts and purposes of Key Performance Indicators (KPI).
Level 2 Behaviors
(Light Experience)
Gathers internal and external benchmarks for KPI development.
Level 3 Behaviors
(Moderate Experience)
Interprets and analyses KPI data to recommend courses of action.
Level 4 Behaviors
(Extensive Experience)
Evaluates ongoing productivity; recommends corresponding modifications on KPIs as indicated.
Level 5 Behaviors
(Mastery)
Establishes organizational Key Performance Indicators (KPI) frameworks and management processes.
There are 11 hard skills for Merchandiser, Retail Industry, Cross Merchandising, Retail Pricing, etc.
3 general skills for Merchandiser, Marketing Operations, Promotion, Inventory Control.
10 soft skills for Merchandiser, Scheduling, Key Performance Indicators (KPI), Attention to Detail, etc.
While the list totals 24 distinct skills, it's important to note that not all are required to be mastered to the same degree. Some skills may only need a basic understanding, whereas others demand a higher level of expertise.
For instance, as a Merchandiser, he or she needs to be proficient in Scheduling, be proficient in Key Performance Indicators (KPI), and be proficient in Attention to Detail.
