What is merchandising?
After 3 years studied about garment management, i found a specific skill in garment process that i'm interested in. That is merchandising process, a process which plan and count every needs end to end in production after a buyer gives orders for some apparels. A merchandiser counts the fabric needs, buttons, zippers, threads, decide the production time (how long the industry will finish the order), decide when the product must be shipped, count the cost end to end until decide how much apparels per box and how much boxes per container (for Shipping). A very complicated job, isn't it?
According to Mr. Ars Khan's opinion, these are a merchandiser's key responsibility:
- Product Development
- Market and product Analysis
- Selling the concept
- Booking orders
- Confirming Deliveries
- Designing and Sampling
- Costing
- Raw Material
- Flow Monitoring
- Production Follow Ups
- Payments Follows
- Internal & external communication,
- Sampling
- Lab dips
- Accessories & trims
- Preparing internal order sheets
- Preparing purchase orders
- Advising and assisting production,
- Advising quality department about quality level
- Mediating production and quality departments
- Giving shipping instructions and following shipping,
- Helping documentation department
- Taking responsibility for inspections and
- Following up the shipment.
During the 1980s, textile and apparel is one of
the industries that experience demands for frequent change, this is called
quick respond (QR) business systems (Lowson, King & Hunter, 1999). Every
product with rapid change has the greatest need for merchandising processes
(Kunz, 1995). Because of this rapid change, for the effective and efficient
production process, every part of textile and apparel trade from the beginning
until the final process need to be planned carefully. Accepting orders from
buyer and counting the goods-need of the line such as buttons, zippers,
fabrics, threads, is the merchandisers’ responsibility. All of those
explanations about how apparel industries work and merchandising process have
similar work space, that’s why apparel often regarded as synonymous with
merchandising.
Why is merchandising is necessary in nearly every business venture?
Merchandising is the process of planning,
developing, and presenting product lines for identified target markets. Merchandising
was recognized as a key business function as early as at 1924 (Copeland, 1924).
Without merchandising process, all details of every business venture will not
managed well. If an industry cut out this process, an effective selling
probably not accomplished because there aren’t a process that identified the
target markets. According to merchandising definition from P.H. Nystrom (1932),
merchandising takes the role as a careful planning, capable styling and
production or selecting and buying and affective selling. Every Industry needs
merchandising process, even the groceries company. They need someone to decide
how much the fertilize must be added to the plants, how much space will be
devoted to fresh, canned, frozen, and ready-to-eat food, etc. Merchandisers
continue to play an important role in the exchange process by providing
products for consumption, and they must still understand customer demands,
analyze sales trends, and select and present salable products (Fiorito &
Fairhust, 1993; Solomon,1993). Well organized and well managed schedule and
supply fundamentally affect the other operation constituents’ work of speed.
That’s why every business venture really needs this management process.
XOXO -unemenel-
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