Merchandising connects product selection to customer engagement and influences sales and loyalty through sourcing, pricing, and assortment placement. Merchants collaborate with planning and inventory teams to forecast trends and position stock. Economic headwinds, geopolitical risks, inflation, and supply chain disruptions have become ongoing challenges that demand resilience. Consumer uncertainty requires expanding the meaning of consumer-focused beyond transactions to deep consumer intimacy. Merchants must immerse in whole-person needs and desires and shift from static plans to real-time adjustments and rapid test-and-learn approaches. Successful merchants combine human understanding with technology, sustainability, experience creation, and strategic partnerships.
Merchandising is the heart and soul of retail-the bridge between product selection and customer engagement,shaping both sales and brand loyalty. From sourcing at the right price to planning where and how to sell, merchants partner with planning and inventory teams to forecast trends and position stock. Historically, success was measured by margins, turns, and sales. Merchants won by reading seasonal trends, cultivating supplier relationships, and interpreting market dynamics.
With more than half (54%) of consumers viewing uncertainty as the new normal ( Accenture's Latest Consumer Pulse Survey), retailers must build resilience and expand what "consumer-focused" means. It's no longer just selling products-it's building true consumer intimacy. This demands that merchants immerse themselves in the whole person: their needs, their desires, their and their world. Because consumer behaviors shift quickly, static plans give way to real-time adjustments and rapid test-and-learn-ready to pivot when the unexpected happens.
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