Facts on Fashion Merchandising
Fashion merchandising is the business side of the fashion world, involving the marketing and selling of clothing and accessories. Like fashion design, fashion merchandising is a highly competitive field with only a limited number of jobs.
Function
Fashion merchandising comprises deciding on or purchasing items for sale in retail stores, determining prices, and developing advertising and marketing to ensure that the clothing and accessories sell.
Types of Jobs
Buyers attend trade and fashion shows to view and select items for sale, while purchasing managers decide how much of each item a retailer should buy and at what price the clothing must be sold at to maintain a profit. Visual merchandisers develop in-store displays on mannequins and other fixtures to attract customer attention and fashion marketers develop advertising campaigns to bring shoppers into the store.
Features
Fashion merchandising requires research to stay abreast on modern trends and the tastes of the public. This involves interviews, surveys, and other types of studies, often performed by retailer fashion marketers or outside market research firms.
Education
Because of the competitive nature of fashion merchandising positions, a bachelor's degree in fashion merchandising, business administration, or marketing is usually necessary to work in the field. Master's degrees in business are becoming increasingly important for those who wish to hold upper-level purchasing-manager positions at large companies.
Compensation
As of December 2009, annual salaries in the field of fashion merchandising averaged $56,000, according to Indeed.com.
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