Merchandising Course Outline

1. Fashion Merchandising:

   • Introduction: This section provides an overview of fashion merchandising, covering its significance, functions, and impact on the fashion industry.
   • Merchandise Department: Explores the role and structure of a merchandising department in a fashion business, focusing on its responsibilities in sourcing and managing products.

2. Fashion Buyer:

   • Qualities of a Successful Buyer: Discusses the traits and skills necessary for a successful fashion buyer, such as attention to detail, trend awareness, and negotiation skills.
   • Buyer Rights: Covers the rights a buyer holds in the procurement process, including decision-making power, supplier negotiations, and product selection.

3. Fashion Forecasting:

   • Forecasting Fashion Trends: Explains how fashion trends are predicted and analyzed using tools like market research and consumer behavior studies.
   • Market Reports: Describes the importance of market reports in forecasting and decision-making for fashion businesses.

4. Visual Merchandising:

   • History: Provides a historical context of visual merchandising and its evolution.
   • Window Display: Focuses on the design and purpose of window displays in attracting customers and showcasing fashion products.
   • Shelves in the Clothes: Explains the strategic placement of clothes on shelves to maximize visual appeal and sales.
   • Cross-Mix Merchandising: Describes how different products are displayed together to increase sales and cross-sell.
   • Props: Discusses the use of props in visual merchandising to enhance the aesthetic of product displays.
   • Colour: Examines the role of color in visual merchandising, including how it influences customer perception and purchasing decisions.
   • Lighting: Looks at how lighting affects the visibility and attractiveness of products in a retail environment.
   • Graphics & Signage: Explores the use of graphics and signage to communicate branding and sales information.
   • Shop Interior: Covers the importance of store interiors in creating a welcoming and effective shopping experience.
   • Senses Seduction: Focuses on how to engage the senses (sight, smell, touch) to influence customer behavior.
   • Stocking Basics: Discusses the fundamentals of stock management and organization for visual appeal.
   • Repetition: Explains how repetition in displays creates familiarity and encourages consumer confidence.

5. Design Principles and Elements:

   • Design Elements: Focuses on the core components of design, such as line, shape, texture, and space, that contribute to creating fashion pieces.
   • Principles of Design: Discusses the rules that guide the arrangement and organization of design elements, such as balance, contrast, and harmony.

6. Color Theory:

   • Historical Background: Traces the evolution of color theory in fashion design.
   • Color Abstractions: Explores how color is perceived and interpreted, including cultural associations.
   • Complementary Colors: Focuses on pairs of colors that create visual harmony when used together.
   • Warm vs. Cool Colors: Discusses the psychological effects of warm and cool colors in fashion and design.
   • Achromatic Colors: Describes colors without hue, such as black, white, and gray.
   • Tints and Shades: Explains how colors are lightened (tints) or darkened (shades) to create variations in design.
   • Split Primary Colors: Introduces the concept of using primary colors in variations to create more complex color palettes.
   • Color Harmony: Discusses the art of creating color schemes that are visually pleasing and functional.
   • Current Status: Looks at the role of color in contemporary fashion trends.
   • Basic Techniques for Creating Color Schemes: Provides guidelines for developing effective and attractive color schemes for designs.

7. Retail:

   • Types of Retail Outlets: Examines different retail formats, such as department stores, boutiques, and e-commerce.
   • Retail Pricing: Discusses strategies for setting prices, including competitive pricing, cost-plus pricing, and psychological pricing.
   • Second-Hand Retail: Explores the second-hand retail market, its growth, and its role in sustainable fashion.

8. Consumer Behavior:

   • Black Box Model: Explains a model for understanding how consumers make purchasing decisions.
   • Information Search: Describes the process consumers go through when seeking information about products.
   • Evaluation of Alternatives: Discusses how consumers assess different options before making a purchase.
   • Purchase Decision: Analyzes the factors that influence a consumer's final decision to buy.
   • Other Influences: Explores external factors, such as social influences, culture, and family, that affect buying decisions.
   • Buyer Decision Processes: Breaks down the steps a consumer follows in the buying process.

9. Packaging and Labelling:

   • Purpose: Discusses the functional and marketing purposes of packaging and labeling, such as protection, branding, and information.
   • Packaging Types: Explores various packaging styles, including primary, secondary, and tertiary packaging.
   • Symbols Used: Focuses on the use of symbols and logos in labeling for brand recognition and compliance.
   • Label: Examines the components and purpose of a product label, including brand identity and legal requirements.
   • Specialized Labels: Discusses specific types of labels, such as care instructions or sustainability labels.
   • Label Stock Types: Looks at the different materials used for labels and their suitability for various products.
   • Label Attachment: Explores methods for attaching labels to products, such as adhesive, stitching, or tagging.

10. Pricing:

• Influencing Attributes: Identifies factors influencing product pricing, such as demand, competition, and costs.
• Pricing Approach and Strategies: Discusses different pricing strategies, including value-based pricing, cost-based pricing, and dynamic pricing.
• Cost Sheet Analysis: Analyzes how cost sheets help businesses determine the profitability of products.

11. Fashion Industry:

• Fashion: Provides an overview of the fashion industry, its key players, and market dynamics.
• Fashion Industry: Focuses on the broader aspects of the fashion industry, including its economic impact and global reach.
• Social Media and Fashion Industry: Explores the role of social media in shaping fashion trends and influencing consumer behavior.
• Advertising through Apps: Discusses how apps are used for fashion marketing, providing a platform for promotions and advertisements.
• Successful Campaigns: Looks at case studies of successful advertising campaigns in the fashion industry.

12. Fast Fashion:

• Category Management: Explores how brands categorize and manage fashion products for efficient production and sales.
• Quick Response Method: Discusses the fast fashion supply chain model, which aims for rapid design, production, and delivery.
• Supply Chain, Vendor Relationships, and Internal Relationships: Explores the relationships between fashion brands, suppliers, and internal departments for smooth operation.
• Design Lawsuits and Legislation: Looks at the legal issues surrounding fast fashion, including intellectual property rights and design patents.

13. Target Market:

• Target Markets: Discusses how fashion businesses identify and segment their target audience.
• The Psychology of Target Marketing: Explores the psychological factors that influence how consumers are targeted and marketed to.
• Benefits of Mass Marketing: Explains how mass marketing allows brands to reach a wide audience efficiently.

14. Market Segmentation:

• Criteria for Segmenting: Discusses how markets are segmented based on demographics, psychographics, and behavior.
• Methods for Segmenting Consumer Markets: Explores segmentation strategies like geographic, demographic, psychographic, and behavioral segmentation.
• Psychographic: Focuses on segmentation based on consumer lifestyles, values, and interests.
• Supplier Segmentation: Explains how suppliers are categorized to meet the needs of different market segments.
• Positioning Strategies: Looks at how companies position their products in the market to appeal to specific customer segments.

15. Product Lifecycle:

• Product Management: Discusses the stages of product management from development to decline in the product lifecycle.

16. Fashion Reflects Lifestyle:

• Goals and Change: Explores how fashion is influenced by lifestyle goals and societal changes.
• Types of Style: Analyzes different types of fashion styles and their cultural significance.

17. Distribution:

• Physical Distribution, Marketing Logistics, and Supply Chain Management: Focuses on the movement of goods from production to consumers, including logistics and inventory management.
• The Physical Distribution Concept: Introduces the concept of physical distribution in retail and its role in delivering products efficiently.
• Supply Chain Management (SCM): Explains how supply chain management integrates various activities to streamline operations.
• Materials Management: Focuses on the process of planning and controlling materials flow in the supply chain.
• Order Processing: Describes the steps involved in processing customer orders.
• Inventory Management: Discusses methods and strategies for managing stock and minimizing waste.
• Production Control and Materials Requirement Planning: Explains the systems for managing production schedules and materials.
• Just-in-Time (JIT) Logistics Systems: Discusses JIT as a method for reducing inventory costs and ensuring timely delivery.

18. Vendor Management:

• System of Vendor Evaluation: Explains how vendors are evaluated based on their performance, quality, and reliability.
• Parameters for Evaluation of Vendors' Performance: Identifies the criteria used to assess vendor performance, such as delivery time and product quality.
• Social Audit: Discusses the process of assessing vendors' social and ethical practices.
• Total Evaluation: Explores the overall evaluation of vendors based on various performance metrics.
• Guidelines for Purchases through Tender and Negotiations: Discusses the process of purchasing through tenders and negotiations.
• Purchase Review: Focuses on the importance of regularly reviewing vendor relationships and purchasing strategies.

19. Export and Import:

• Export: Provides an overview of the export process, including its legal, financial, and logistical aspects.
• Ways of Exporting: Explores different methods of exporting goods, such as direct selling, joint ventures, or partnerships.
• Making the Export Decision: Discusses how businesses decide which markets to target for exporting.
• Import: Focuses on the process of importing goods and the legal requirements involved.
• Export Documentation: Explains the documentation needed for exporting, including customs forms and invoices.
• Incoterms: Discusses international commercial terms (Incoterms) used in global trade to define responsibilities between buyers and sellers.

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