Merchandise Planner
What the work is
Plans, organises and controls merchandise by analysing sales data and market trends to forecast product demand.
Would you enjoy the work?
These are the main tasks in the official description. Mark how each one sounds to you.
- Analyses sales data and market trends to create merchandise plans on forecast product demand
- Manages financial planning, forecasting and open-to-buy budgets
- Collaborates with buying and marketing teams to develop and manage product assortments and promotional strategies based on market analysis and financial planning
- Manages inventory across stores to ensure optimal stock levels, minimise excess inventory and prevent stockouts
- Monitors sales performance and adjusts merchandise plans as needed
- Conducts financial analysis to track profitability and make recommendations for improvement
Try it
A simulation and a case study from this kind of work, set in a fictional community theatre with a box office, plus the buying office of a regional department store. They are fictional.
The kind of days you could have
Good days
- A sold-out show starts on time and the audience leaves smiling
- A booking that looked impossible finally clicks into place for a family
- Ranging the new season's products and watching them sell out
Hard days
- A noisy audience member who is spoiling the evening for everyone else
- Standing for hours on a night when the crowd is big and the doors are busy
- Choosing what to buy months ahead, and finding out later you guessed wrong
Written by Career Calling as a general guide. Real roles vary by employer and place.
Work a mission
Step into a simulated workplace in this field, with a brief from your manager.
Description and tasks: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Occupation Standard Classification for Australia, 2024, Version 1.0 (opens another site), occupation 619932, used under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. The skill guide above is our plain English summary.