interview An with a visual merchandiser

Q: What do you do day to day as a visual merchandiser?

A: It varies from day to day some days I will be creating new posters and signage for the store, the next I will be in meetings with inventory managers, retail buyers and suppliers to find out everything I need to know about the items coming into store. With this information I’ll then organise floor staff and instruct them on how to display the stock the best way possible.

Q: What does a typical work week look like in terms of hours, days off and holidays?

A: It is a full time job with a maximum of working 40 hours a week. Sometimes I will be working late evenings in order to set up displays when the store has closed.

Q: What are the key meetings in your diary and how often are they?

A: Majority of the job is liaising with my team. I typically will get into work on a Monday morning evaluate what have been the best sales that week then go on to have team meetings to share my findings with my team. I will also have a team meeting at around 11am to discuss with buyers and designers about what the next seasons range could be based on their data.

Q: What is your favourite part of the job?

A: Seeing my hard work pay off, nothing brings me more joy then seeing customers walk over to my displays and picking things up and buying them when they had no real need to in the first place – I love knowing my skills have attracted customers and caused sales.

Q: What training did you receive before becoming a VM?

A: I went to college for 2 years doing a Level 3 Diploma in Fashion Business and Retail during this I was working throughout many retailers and continued to after learning the tricks of the trade and admiring and learning from visual merchandisers in the store.I then progressed onto a Visual Merchandising apprenticeship where I was thoroughly trained about all the inns and outs of the job.

Q: What career progression routes are there for a visual merchandiser?

A: I have the options of becoming a team leader and managing other visual merchandisers, another route I could explore is interior design and moving onto homes which I have always been interested in from a young age. Interior design takes the design and organisation aspect of visual merchandising but not the marketing side of it – “Interior design’s goal is for the inhabitants of the space to enjoy it, the goal of visual merchandising is to encourage visitors to spend money.” (Aplex display, 3/5/16)