I tittled my first entry of this blog "Let's talk about Merchandising..." and I guess that some (or many) of the readers who gently took the time to read my thoughts, questioned if all that was really about Merchandising. The term Merchandising is used in very different areas and that's why it can create some sort of confusion. For example:
-Merchandisers (not Merchants) are the ones that work on the retail floor setting the store, loading product on the shelves, folding clothes at the tables, etc..
-Visual Merchandisers are the ones that make sure that the external look of the store is compelling. Normally they organize the floor lay out, take care of the windows and make sure overall the store look sellable.
-Merchandising is also what the Walt Disney organization masters: sell the intellectual rights generated by their movies and characters to companies that manufacture and commercialize products. They are a well-oiled machine to licensed their 'brands' and collect massive fees for that (Did you know that the top sold wedding dresses in the US are licensed by Walt Disney and inspired in their princess characters...?). Professional sports clubs (NFL, NBA, European Soccer clubs...) generate extra incomes thru the commercialization of products (mainly apparel) bearing their logo; they call this Merchandising revenues.
Nothing wrong in any of the points above, however my use of the term MERCHANDISING is way more holistic; a modern approach to a function that I firmly believe should be elevated in any consumer company that operates in multiple channels of distribution and geographies. The main role of the Merchants in any organization will be to create the maximum number of different premium consumer experiences in the marketplace. They will sit between the production and sales team and determine the assortments that need to land in the different countries and channels of distribution to enable the strategic targets of the company. Easy to say, very difficult to accomplish.... I will touch on all this in my next entries.
