Do You Really Need a Merchandise Manager

- the product categories and sub-categories you offer;

- the amount of space given to each category in every catalog effort;

- the appropriate price point distribution;

- the total pages of each catalog;

- the way in which your catalog is organized; and

- the current trends that should be leveraged.

All of these issues should be addressed by a merchandise manager. I use the term “merchandise manager” figuratively. Given the size of your operation, the merchandise manager can take several forms. If you have a small operation, for example, you might have one chief merchant who also may be the president or a vice president of merchandising. Or your merchandise manager and buyer could be the same person. If that’s the case, such a person must play both roles distinctly.