What is Garment Merchandising?
First, we should know the duties and responsibilities of an apparel merchandiser in the garment industry. A garment merchandiser is an assigned person who has to accomplish managerial tasks in the garment industry. He works as a bridge between the buyer and the garment industry. He is the key responsible person in the garments industry to make sure of on-time shipment. A garment merchandiser has to purchase raw materials to develop a sample and then dispatch it for approval. Once sample approval is done, procure bulk material to start production to deliver the finished goods to buyer’s destination. Today we are going to deliver the roles and responsibilities of a merchandiser.
Garment Merchandiser Duties and Responsibilities:
Garment merchandising is not an easy task. Many adverse situation may arise in their task. Merchandiser has to face those troubles with confidence. An garment merchandiser has to do several tasks in the garment industry. He has to do the following tasks gradually:
- Develop good relationships through Communication
- Sample Development
- Product costing
- Check consumption and BOM Preparation
- Prepare Purchase Order and Action Calendar
- Material in-housing
- Getting approvals on lab dips
- Arrange pre-production Meeting
- Follow up production
- Focus on product quality
- Pay attention to inspections
- Prepare shipping documents and do ex-factory
- Close the deal
All the above responsibilities of a garment merchandiser are explained in the following:
- Develop good relationships through Communication:
A merchandiser is known as a key player in the garments industry. Thus he has to solve any problem by developing good relationships through internal and external communication. A merchandiser has to frequently contact the buyers, factory owner, production people, quality controller, nominated lab, commercial team, shipping agent, fabric and trim manufacturers etc.
- Sample development:
A merchandiser is an assigned person to develop samples according to the buyer’s instructions. He has to develop many samples such as proto samples, fit samples, photo-shoot samples, salesman samples, pre-production samples, size set samples, etc. A merchandiser has to do different sorts of tasks but it is one of the most important tasks among all other tasks for all apparel merchandisers.
- Product costing:
Once finished sample development a merchandiser has to prepare product costing to submit a quotation to the buyer. A merchandiser should try to minimize product costs to get bulk orders. Besides this, they have to make different sorts of internal and external Excel files to ease their task. An garments merchandiser has to prepare various types of internal order sheets such as costing sheets, booking sheets, etc.
- Check consumption and BOM Preparation
Merchandiser has to check sample consumption physically and prepare BOM sheet according to bulk order quantity to make purchase order. Please double-check the consumption sheet carefully otherwise it will create big trouble in the production period. You may face material shortage or surplus problems that will bring big anarchy to you.
- Preparing purchase order and Action Calendar
An garments merchandiser has to prepare time and action calendar to accomplish the bulk order smoothly and hit the delivery date. Besides this, they have to make different sorts of purchase orders to submit to fabric and accessories suppliers. A merchandiser has to place purchase orders with fabric and accessories suppliers and communicate with them to expedite the material delivery date.
- Material in-housing:
Merchandiser has to work with the material sourcing and commercial team to in-house all raw materials according to time and action plan to start production line on time. Single item missing may hamper the production plan and delay the delivery date.
- Getting approvals on lab dips:
Before starting bulk production merchandisers have to do lab dip at buyer nominated lab by maintaining the buyer’s recommendation. To start garment production all raw materials should be approved by the buyer end. It is one of the mandatory tasks of an garments merchandiser.
- Arrange Pre-Production Meeting
A merchandiser has to arrange a pre-production meeting before starting garment production. Merchandiser has to deliver buyer buyer-approved PP sample and all relevant documents to the production people to insert the item into the production line. He has to keep close relations with the production and quality department to get prompt feedback as well as fault-free production.
- Follow up production
A garment merchandiser has to visit the production line daily and make a good relationship with the production people for smooth production. They have to check product quality randomly and follow up daily product output to hit the ex-factory date.
- Focus on product quality
High-quality product gets more attention from the customers and enhances order volume. To get fault-less production merchandiser has to work with production and quality people simultaneously. Factory quality team should arrange an internal quality inspection before doing buyer quality inspection. Merchandisers should assist the quality team to get fault-free production.
- Pay attention to inspections:
Before ex-factory products have to be inspected by the buyer quality or buyer-nominated third-party quality inspector. Factory should have a strong quality team to follow the buyer’s instructions properly. Merchandisers play a vital role during product inspection by applying their wisdom and experience to get quality passes and ready for shipment.
- Prepare shipping document and do ex-factory
Garment ex-factory is the last and final step for the garments merchandiser. Merchandiser has to work with the commercial team simultaneously by maintaining the buyer’s instructions and preparing shipping documents to do shipment successfully. Once shipment is done commercial team has to send the shipping document to the buyer’s address to release the goods and urge to get payment.
- Close the deal
It is the last and final task of an garments merchandiser. Shipment delay or quality problems may arise after shipment. So merchandiser has to face it strongly through logical evidence. Besides this merchandiser has to compile all relevant documents and keep the original sample to handle any repeat orders.
You may like: Factory Merchandiser Job Responsibilities
