Merchandising roundtable

In October 2015 AQUAretail joined forces with Drapers to host a roundtable event to discuss merchandising, and how the role is changing. Guests included senior executives from the likes of Thomas Pink, John Lewis, Gant, Dune, White Stuff and Net a Porter – along with James Clark who is a senior lecturer on B&M at LCF and recently published the first ever book about merchandising.

The discussion focussed on how merchandising has needed to adapt to support the multichannel nature of retailing, and how the skillsets required has changed in recent years. We talked about the best ways to recruit and retain talent, how to ensure all merchandisers are getting the most well-rounded “tool kits” in terms of their development, and how the relationship between buying and merchandising is fusing for many retailers.

It was a fascinating morning, and we all came away agreeing that it was a much needed and long-overdue session. Our favourite quote of the day was “There has never been a more exciting time to work in merchandising than right now.”