So you are walking through a department store and every aisle you turn down there is an amazing piece of clothing that just draws you in, you run over to the racks and find your size. You try it on and next thing you know you are in line for the cashier.
You might be out $50, but you are in the best mood; retail therapy at its finest.
Have you ever thought about how those must-have clothes actually made it to the store? With the work of a creative product development team, an analytical buying office, and a strategic upper management, together they have come up with the perfect product mix to put on the floor.
While this might sound simple like, “this is really cute, let’s put this shirt in every store,” that is not exactly accurate. A lot of data and strategic planning goes into the process of buying product for a department store.
I am working as a Merchandise Analyst Intern at a corporate buying office for a department store this summer. Initially, I knew there would be some number crunching, you know, like the retail math course I took in college, but I never really understood the depth of the data that is used to plan for product assortments in stores.
There is a lot of analytical thinking, trend forecasting, and intuition that goes into the job. I might just be an intern but I read data reports and crunch a large amount of numbers daily. While there is a lot of numbers and a lot of data to look at, like sales figures from this year and last year, inventory units, allocation plans, and open-to-buy numbers, there are a lot of fun things I get to do as an intern.
This week, I was able to sit in on meetings with our product development team in order to help set up our line review meetings. Line review is a meeting in which you present the upcoming season’s product lines to the upper management of your department.
Seeing every flip-flop and legging that will be in the stores for the spring 2013 season is incredibly exciting. You are able to voice your opinion about certain styles and colors and even present possible recommendations for product development. While they may not actually execute your idea, showing you are invested in the product and are interested in helping will get you noticed as an intern.
Imagine sitting in a room full of about 100 styles of flip-flops hanging on the wall; each brand coming alive with colors, prints, embellishments, and a creative design. It is amazing to see every brand hanging up on the wall together. It becomes so easy to see who that target customer is for each brand, whether she is sporty, classic, edgy, or trendy.
The important part is to not get wrapped up in the product. You really have to know your business. How much money can you spend for the season? Is this product a good quality for your customer? Will this style sell well? And you must also know when to simply say “no, that will not work for us.”
Sitting in a cubicle, looking at data on a computer screen all day might not sound exciting, but the end result is amazing: a full collection of product for you to shop, try on, buy, and love.
So next time you are out shopping at the mall, and you find that must-have shirt, pair of jeans, or clutch, just know all the hard work that went into making sure that product made it to the store for you. Now every time I shop, I am so thankful for the buying office that bought into my favorite trends.
Photo Credit:
http://corporatet2020.onsugar.com/Corporate-Training-conducting-investig…
http://thecontactlist.blogspot.com/2009/05/about-look-books-line-sheets….