Fashion Merchandising online short course

Fundamentals: Basic notions, main interlocutors (including Design, Production, Finance, Commercial, Marketing, and C-Level teams), and the collection calendar.

• What is fashion merchandising and why it matters
• The role of the merchandiser in fashion organisations
• Merchandising vs buying vs planning
• How merchandising connects product, brand and sales strategy

Creating the Collection Brief, conducting competitor analysis and range planning, and defining the sample set.

• Building a commercial product assortment
• Category planning and option count
• Price architecture and product pyramids
• Seasonality and drop planning

Managing the sample set, showroom setup (physical and virtual), master order/merch push, and collection presentation..

• How to work with sample set
• Showroom set up
• Virtual showroom set up
• Marketing push
• Collection presentation

Post-Sale campaign: Production and delivery monitoring, store and e-commerce setup, final analysis, and the end of the product lifecycle.

• Production & delivery monitoring
• Store & Ecommerce set up
• Analysis
• Managing slow movers, best sellers, replenishments
• Differences between retail and eCommerce merchandising
• Product ranking, drops and visibility online
• Aligning merchandising with digital marketing

Overview of tools for research and benchmarking (e.g., Wgsn, Edited, Retviews) and case studies on best practices.

• Essential tools such as Excel and BI dashboards
• AI tools for price and benchmarking
• Case studies of luxury brand
• Final exercise explanation

Here is a glossary of the essential Fashion Merchandising terms and acronyms covered in the masterclass:

Key Metrics & Financials

• Collection Efficiency: The percentage of developed prototypes (SKUs) that are actually produced. The target is typically 70%; falling below implies waste, while nearing 100% suggests a lack of creative risk.
• Landed Cost: The total cost of a product delivered to the warehouse, including production, transportation, and duties.
• Marginality: The difference between the production cost and the retail price (excluding VAT). It is the primary profitability driver that covers all operational costs (rent, staff, marketing).
• MOQ (Minimum Order Quantity): The lowest quantity of a product or material (like fabric) that a supplier requires to accept an order.
• Sell-in: Sales made to retailers or third-party distributors (B2B sales).
• Sell-out: Sales made to the final consumer (B2C sales).
• Sell-through: The percentage of inventory sold to customers compared to the amount delivered to the store. This is the primary trigger for reorders or markdowns.

Product & Collection Structure

• Carryover: Core “bread and butter” items that are repeated every season (e.g., a classic white sneaker). They provide financial stability.
• Collection Brief: The strategic document outlining the financial targets, product needs, and price architecture for the design team before development begins.
• Master Order: A theoretical “ideal order” created by merchandising to guide sales teams on what a perfect store assortment should look like.
• Sample Set: The physical prototypes used to present and sell the collection to buyers. Not every developed SKU becomes a sample due to cost.
• SKU (Stock Keeping Unit): A specific product identification code that defines a unique combination of Style + Material + Color + Size.

Industry Terms

• Full Canvas vs. Fused: Jacket construction terms used in benchmarking. Fused uses glue (cheaper/stiffer), while Full Canvas uses a stitched internal layer (more expensive/better drape).
• Virtual Showroom: A digital platform (e.g., Joor, NuOrder) used to sell collections remotely, allowing retailers to view product data and place orders without visiting physically.