Mod 3 Merchandising

merchandising
The planning involved in marketing the right merchandise ,at
right place, at right time, at right quantity, at right price
Merchandiser
Merchandiser is the bridge between the industry and the
buyer. He have to look a after every job like buying the raw
material , making the garment , finishing the garment,
documentation and finally shipping.
Merchandising division
The Merchandising division is the central body which
coordinates between the various departments.

Role of Merchandising division

1.Planning
Planning to meet future customer demand
Analysing the history of sales
How much expected to sell
2.Buying
Buying depends on customer demand. The major concept of
buying is what is purchased must be sold.
Making the buying plan
Understanding the customers
To choose the resource to buy
3.Selling
If good Merchandise is bought as per customer need the selling
become easy.
Selling include communication and promotional activity
4.Standardisation and grading
Process of fixing certain norms for the product
5.Storing
Management and control of stocks
Mange stock distribution
6.Transportation
It means moving the stock .
It may be inside or outside of an organization.
It depends on time, size of order etc..
7.Market research
To gather the data of customers and potential customers.
It minimises the investment risk.
Apparel merchandising
Apparel merchandising is where apparel and business meet.
It involves marketing of apparels to various retail stores,
boutiques, wholesale stores

Duties of an apparel merchandiser

Internal and external communication
Sampling
Prepare internal order sheet
Trims and accessories
Preparing purchase order
Getting approval on labdips
Advising and assisting production
Advising quality department about quality level
Mediating production and quality department
Taking responsibility for inspection
Giving shipping instruction
Helping in documentation
Following shipment.
14.Internal and external communication
A Merchandiser has to communicate not only with the buyers
but also work others such as suppliers, factory owners , fabric
manufacturers etc...
Sampling
It is one of the most important task of apparel Merchandisers.
Here samples have to developed according to buyers
instruction .
Different types of sample should be developed such as proto
sample, photoshoot sample, sales man sample, size set sample.
Preparing internal order sheet
Apparel merchandiser has to prepare various types of internal
order sheet such as costing sheet, booking sheet.
Trims and accessories
After confirmation of export order a garment merchandiser
has to book all kinds of trims and a accessories.
Preparing purchase order
Different types of purchase orders to be prepared such as
fabric, sewing thread, trims and accessories
Getting approval on labdips
Lab dip is a specimen of dyed fabric or yarns prepared for color
approval. Prior to bulk fabric dyeing lab dip approval is taken
from the buyer.
Advising and assisting production and quality department
A garment merchandiser must have to make good relationship
between production and quality department for smooth and
fault free production . this also create a great impact on
shipping the product timely.
Taking responsibility for inspection.
Inspection should be done before shipping the product to the
buyer . Here Merchandiser plays an important role to inspect
the product by using strong quality departments or third party
quality inspector.
Giving shipping instruction and following shipments
It is the last and final task of an apparel merchandiser . Here
garment merchandiser advises various instructions to the
commercial departments about shipping of the garment export
order.

Responsibilities of a Merchandiser
Pre order responsibilities
Responsibilities after getting order
Responsibilities during production
After production responsibilities

Pre order responsibilities

Buyer communication
Enquiry and reply
Pre-costing and sampling

Responsibilities after getting order

Receiving PO and order sheet
Prepare time and action calendar (TNA)
Prepare all sample
Fit sample sending along with pattern & grading sheet for
measurement verification.
Color swatches received to prepare Lab-dip.
Lab-dip submission and receiving approval
Buyer communication
Raw materials like fabric, yarn, trims & accesso ries purchase
and tracking.
Ensure correct inventory for all items in advance of starting
production.
Fabric receive in store.
Bulk fabric inspection by inspection agencies.
Regularly follow-up for all required materials.

Responsibilities during production

Regularly communicate with the buyer, supplier or buying
agencies.
Production line planning.
Prepare packing list
Regularly follow-up production as preplan.
Follow up internal inspection

After production Responsibilities

Prepare all the required file before final inspection.
Preparation for final inspection.
Facing buyer audit
preparing shipping document.
Follow-up after sales/ shipment service.

Relationship between merchandiser and other

divisions
Sampling
Giving instructions to the sampling departments for preparing
samples such as
Proto sample
Fit sample
Size set sample
Sales man sample.

Production department
merchandiser makes a time and action calendar with the help
and production department.
techpack and other style details are submitted to the
production department
merchandiser coordinates daily with the production
department on the progress of the order .

Pattern Making and CAD Department

Once tech pack is received pattern maker makes a pattern and
gives to the CAD department.
CAD department makes marker and calculates consumption per
garment this consumption merchandiser takes for costing.
Quality Department
merchandiser should be aware of the company quality
standards along with the quality limits given by each buyer.
He/ She must give instructions to this dept. regarding
inspection and quality audits.
Packing Department
merchandiser instructs and co-ordinates with the packing
department to pack the goods as per the style, ratio and carton
quality and size, marking as per the details received from the
buyer.
Accounts Department
garment merchandiser should provide a copy of the purchase
orders raised against a particular buyer to the accounts
department

Merchandising calendar
In a garment industry a lot of activities had to be done after
receiving the order.
Many activity had to be scheduled, lots of activities are
dependent on other .
Some activities can be done simultaneously .
To handle this complexity we need a plan which defines the
responsibility of every action , time and resource need for every
activity.
That is why merchandising calendar is used.

Role of merchandising calendar

It helps to steamline the preproduction activities
Easy understanding the order of activities
Clear understanding of timelines given by buyers
Clear idea about minor and sub activities that needed to
perform during processing at different level
It gives status of order
Clear idea about delay and deviation
Gives date at which raw material needed to be sourced
Reduce the risk of delivery delay.
Garment presentation professional perspectives
Garment presentation include the presentation of merchandise
and store displays
Arrangement of products for display

Importance of garment presentation

Improve business productivity
Generate faster turn over rate
Sell More of most profitable merchandise
Increase the amount of average transaction
Create demand to make the customer buy the product

Process flow in an apparel industry

1. Design/ Sketch
2. Basic Block
3. Pattern Working
4. Sampling Garments
5. Approved Sample
6. Costing
7. Production pattern
8. Grading
9. Marker Making
10. Fabric Spreading
11. Cutting
12. Sorting and Bundling
13. Sewing
14. Ironing and Finishing
15. Inspection
16.Packing
17. Despatching

Industrial Engineering
Industrial engineering is the Engineering approach applied to all
factors, including the production, distribution , human factors..

Duties of an industrial engineer

Production flow system: inorder to schedule work accurately
someone need to know how long it takes to go through each
operation.
Machine and adjustments: try to simplify the work by ensuring
proper preventive maintenance
Operator performance : Try to simplify the work by improving
the operator performance.
Operator training: ensure proper training for the operator to
improve performance
Fair payments to employees : need to compare the
contribution of each employees and ensure fair payments.
Quality control: ensure good quality control by proper
standardisation of machines.
Benefits of Industrial engineering.
Work simplification
Increase productivity
Increase profit
Increase in earning

Duties of costing engineer

Measure : order to manage resources, they need to be defined
and measured.
Control:With the scope of the project defined and the
resources allocated accordingly, it is now up to the cost
engineer to control the resources.
Improve:Looking back at a project it is important to learn from
mistakes and to incorporate the lessons learned from working
methods and to communicate these findings.
There are a lot of things have to be considered while go into
pricing of a single garment, such as cost of raw material, cost of
dyeing, knitting, weaving, printing, transportation, packing,
banking charges, trims and accessories.
It is the duty of costing engineer to decide the cost of garment
with the involvement of merchandiser and top management.
The following things are taken into consideration whole
determining the cost of garment.
Type of fabric
Types of tests done
Costs of logistics
Profit of organisation
Value added services
There are some other details that go into the cost of garment
Fabric consumption
Amount of fabric required per garment
Weaving or knitting cost
In woven fabric the EPI and PPI is taken into account.
For knitted fabric cost is as per gsm
Dyeing cost
Use of particular dye, certain chemicals, shade percentage will
impact dyeing cost
Cost of trims and accessories
This include cost of sewing thread, zippers, labels, buttons,
elastics, cartons.
Value added services
Washing, printing, embroidery etc . There are many other
finishes that improve the value garment.

Selection and appointment is foreign agents

Selling a product through overseas is a very successful strategy.

Sales agents are available on commission basis for any sales
they made.
The key benefit of using an overseas sales agent is that you get
the advantage of their extensive knowledge of the target
market. Sales agent also provide support to an exporter in the
matter of transportation, appointment with the government
has when required. It is therefore one should very carefully
select overseas agent.
merits
Sales agent avoids the recruitment training time and payroll
cost of using own employee to an entire overseas market
An agent is a better option to identify and export opportunities
in an overseas market
An agent already have solid relationship between work
potential buyers, hence it saves time of exporter to build
contacts
An agent allowed exporter to maintain more control over
matters such as final price and brand image compared with
other intermediate option of using a distributer.

demerits
After sales service can be difficult when selling through an
intermediary
There is a risk of exporter to loose some control over marketing
and brand image
Important points to be considered while appointing sales agent
Appointing right sales agent not only enhance the profit of an
exporter but also avoid risk associated with a sales agent.
So it become important for an exporter to take into
consideration following important points before selecting a
sales agent for his product

Size of the agents company

Date of foundation of agents company
Company ownership and control
Companies capital, funds available and liabilities.
Age and experience of companies senior executives
Sourcing
The term Sourcing refers to number of procurement practices
aimed, finding ,evaluating and engaging supplier for acquiring
goods and services.
merchandiser must ensure that all approval related to the
fabric and trim within the allotted time.
Important material that have to be sourced in an apparel
industry are fabrics ,trims and accessories ,cartons, tape,
hangers etc..

Sourcing objective
To save cost and to be ahead of competition it is important to
source at low price ,best quality ,at right quantity ,at right time.

Importance of sourcing
selection of supplier
to get best quality material
to buy the material at low price
to get right quantity material
to make the material reach in proper time
evaluation of the performance of the supplier.
Sourcing process
purchase requisition
supplier selection
request for quotation
price determination
purchase order creation
receiving the goods
invoices
supplier performance.