Seven Habits of Highly Effective Merchants

4.Build Great Vendor Relationships. HEMs make vendors their partners. They build better vendor relationships so they can benefit from really strong relationships with their suppliers.

5.Build Great Merchandising Departments. HEMs know how to create and manage the sample room—the "war room" of catalog merchandising, where samples are stored during the selection process. HEMs also have refined the "sample-up" process, the system by which items are requested from vendors for catalog consideration. Finally, they know how to build efficient communications with the creative team to ensure that the catalog photos and copy promote the best product features and benefits.