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Merchandising director skills for your resume and career
Updated January 8, 2025
3 min read
Below we've compiled a list of the most critical merchandising director skills. We ranked the top skills for merchandising directors based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 8.5% of merchandising director resumes contained apparel as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a merchandising director needs to be successful in the workplace.
15 merchandising director skills for your resume and career
1. Apparel
Apparel is anything worn especially formal clothes; outerwear; garments; attire; raiment worn on an important occasion to protect, wrap, adorn or beautify the body. Apparel also refers to clothing of a specific type that is sold in stores. Product categories include everything from basic items like underwear, badges, jewelry to luxury items. The general classification of clothing is as follows: men's wear, women's wear, children's wear, and others.
Here's how merchandising directors use apparel:
- Directed operational initiatives in the dynamic seasonal environment of the apparel industry.
- Manage licensing relationships across categories including Intimate Apparel and Accessories.
2. Gross Margin
Here's how merchandising directors use gross margin:
- Evaluated existing product and new development against gross margin objectives.
- Realized record-breaking year in 2000 with an 11.5% comparable store sales increase and 90 basis point improvement in gross margin.
3. Direct Reports
Here's how merchandising directors use direct reports:
- Direct reports include category managers and several pricing analysts.
- Directed a team of six direct reports and eight indirect reports to attain budgeted sales and profits results for three quarters.
4. Product Development
Product development is the complete procedure of creating a product from concept until release of the final product. Product development has many stages after which a product is released into the market. Identifying the need, creating the opportunity, conceptualizing a product, and providing a solution, all are different stages of product development.
Here's how merchandising directors use product development:
- Provided merchandising, new product development, presentation and profitability for direct mail and e-commerce food gift business.
- Managed product development, design, vendor sourcing and catalog production while maintaining proper inventory for catalog merchandise.
5. Product Categories
Here's how merchandising directors use product categories:
- Led marketing and pull-through activities for non-food product categories, including paper and disposables, supplies and equipment, and chemicals.
- Developed a new and comprehensive Daily Sales tracking report used to monitor financial KPI's across multiple product categories and channels.
6. Merchandise Sales
Here's how merchandising directors use merchandise sales:
- Created and reviewed merchandise sales, inventory and margin plans at Brand, Summary and Class levels, including in-season re-projections.
- Designed and coordinated implementation of inventory control initiative resulting in 32% increase in merchandise sales and 12% inventory reduction.
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Here's how merchandising directors use e-commerce:
- Implemented unique e-commerce and in-store merchandising strategies while maintaining brand integrity for multiple client accounts.
- Coordinated and executed all online promotions with e-commerce partners.
8. Develop Team
Here's how merchandising directors use develop team:
- Coach and develop team to be buying expert.
9. Market Trends
Here's how merchandising directors use market trends:
- Provided training in market trends to sales reps to enable them to provide reasons to buy to the dealers for product.
- Analyzed market trends and expanded product lines with new products related to existing products.
10. Product Assortment
Here's how merchandising directors use product assortment:
- Provided Sales with tools to sell the line at market, including all product attributes and product assortments.
- Work with cross-functional partners to develop seasonal strategies, sales materials, and product assortment.
11. Inventory Management
Here's how merchandising directors use inventory management:
- Consolidated purchasing operations following acquisition of 8-store retail chain and outlined the requirements for the inventory management component of the MIS.
- Managed 3PL account for Direct to Consumer channel ensuring satisfactory inventory management and customer experience throughout the ordering process.
12. Business Strategies
Here's how merchandising directors use business strategies:
- Collaborated with licensors to develop and execute new business strategies for increased product distribution.
- Developed and implemented business strategies for regional operations.
13. Level Analysis
Here's how merchandising directors use level analysis:
- Lead high level analysis of business opportunities related to financials and distribution to maximize business results.
- Led high-level analysis of business opportunities related to financials and distribution to maximize business results.
14. Assortment Planning
Here's how merchandising directors use assortment planning:
- Designed and executed assortment planning matrix integrating store profiles with product attributes in order to facilitate improved allocation and reduce markdowns.
- Created comprehensive fixture modeling and assortment planning application for the effective production and delivery of merchandise.
15. Store Operations
Here's how merchandising directors use store operations:
- Process output used throughout Finance, Accounting and Store Operations to plan company performance and store labor.
- Promoted to Manager of Store Operations responsible for developing and implementing store plans for over 700 stores.
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List of merchandising director skills to add to your resume
The most important skills for a merchandising director resume and required skills for a merchandising director to have include:
- Apparel
- Gross Margin
- Direct Reports
- Product Development
- Product Categories
- Merchandise Sales
- E-Commerce
- Develop Team
- Market Trends
- Product Assortment
- Inventory Management
- Business Strategies
- Level Analysis
- Assortment Planning
- Store Operations
- Pricing Strategy
- Strategic Direction
- Financial Objectives
- POS
- Trade Shows
- Product Mix
- Retail Sales
- Sales Growth
- Market Research
- Retail Store
- Product Knowledge
- B Testing
- Visual Presentation
- Gross Profit
- Inventory Control
- Vendor Relations
- ROI
- Sketch
- Store Management
- OTB
- Product Placement
- Product Line
- Jewelry
- Store Design
- Category Management
- Revenue Growth
- KPI
- Brand Development
- Store Locations
- Retail Operations
- Promotional Strategies
- Retail Locations
- Brand Positioning
- Business Plan
- Cost Savings
Updated January 8, 2025
Updated January 8, 2025