Merchandiser’s playbook for overcoming complexity in fashion retail | Simon Calvert

Success in fashion retail depends on how well you know your customers and their demands. At all times. Yet between margin pressure, unpredictable demand, and a fragmented customer base, never has this been so challenging but so important. 

The key lies with having a merchandise department that is strategic, pragmatic, forward thinking, and agile. 

So the question is, are your merchandising teams set up for success? Do you have the skills and the right support to meet demand and protect margins?

Senior Merchandising consultant and director, Simon Calvert, has years of experience leading teams across UK retailers like The Conran Shop, Bonmarché and BhS. Here, he gives today’s merchandisers a playbook for overcoming complexity and executing for success.

The natural edge of great merchandisers

Data skills, customer and trading skill, and aesthetics – the best balance art and science

The foundation for exceptional merchandising begins with exceptional professionals. According to Simon, the best of these individuals are naturally inquisitive, sometimes even “borderline obsessive”, about understanding customers. Skilled at spotting patterns in data, they also possess trading prowess and a healthy appreciation of aesthetics.

He adds that true capability shines through in tough conditions: “You’re a better merchandiser when the business is having a hard time because, obviously, fuelling the business when it’s flying is relatively easy. Trying to eke out the most profit from stock when it’s difficult takes a lot more skill.”

But even the most talented merchandisers can’t deliver in isolation. To turn talent into business impact, merchandisers need the right support to apply their skills strategically and steer the business through complexity: supportive leadership, a forward-looking mindset, and technology that amplifies rather than hinders their craft.

Other areas of the retail business that can support merchandisers 

A forward-looking leadership mindset

Too often, businesses see merchandising as a secondary function compared to buying or retail operations. But as Simon points out, “without a good merchandising function, which I would always describe as the commercial cog of the business, the other bits aren’t as effective” or as impactful on bottom line profits.

Good leadership doesn’t mean knowing the ins and outs of every merchandising decision. It means recognising the outcomes good merchandising achieves: more sales, fewer markdowns, faster stock turns, and lower capital investment. Leaders who understand this “size of the prize” create the conditions for merchandisers to apply their craft effectively.

Leadership today also requires a mindset shift. Merchandising is becoming more complex, with tighter margins and more variables than ever before. Leaders must be open to new ways of working, even if they don’t fully understand the mechanics behind them. Whether it’s a totally new approach to an old problem or even new technology or solution, the best leaders empower merchandisers to experiment, evolve and lead change.

The strongest leaders do not cling to “how things have always been done.” Instead, they support their merchandising specialists, knowing that progress comes from curiosity, courage and sometimes even “a bit of a maverick” mindset.

When leadership values merchandising and embraces change, merchandisers are free to do what they do best: balance art and science to drive profitability.

But even empowered merchandisers face limits. To translate their skills into real business impact, they also need the right technology. Tools and solutions that lift the weight of day-to-day data, help them be less wrong, and allow them to focus on strategy.

Tech that lets merchandisers be strategic and master the detail

Even the most talented merchandisers can struggle to move from the complexity of data to strategy. With day-to-day decisions consuming so much of their attention, it’s easy to get bogged down in the details and lose sight of the bigger picture. 

As Simon explains, “the skill of merchandising is to be less wrong, because you’ve rarely bought exactly the right amount of stock…you are living in a world where you strive for perfection, but perfection doesn’t really exist.” 

Traditional merchandising approaches create more work and inefficiency

Many retailers still rely on legacy methods including complex spreadsheets, fixed allocation rules, or outdated ERP systems that simplify reality but obscure nuance because they weren’t able to accurately forecast short-term demand. These methods force merchandisers to make high-stakes decisions with incomplete insight, often averaging assumptions across SKUs, locations, and demographics. As Simon describes them, “They create too much of an immovable line drawing rather than an adaptable sketch of how the house should be”.

Yet an over-focus on attempting to dig out the details on their own can prevent merchandisers from taking a step back and asking the most important question: what does the customer really want? As Simon notes, “There should be more time in terms of focussing on how to drive the business forward, rather than necessarily the detail. And that’s a challenge for merchandisers to be strategic whilst also being a master of the detail, which is what they obviously need to do.” Without better tools, merchandisers are left juggling complexity rather than driving strategic advantage.

AI and analytics can accelerate the work of merchandisers

The best technology changes the story entirely. Solutions powered by AI and advanced analytics can handle complexity at a granular level, tracking demand patterns across SKUs, locations, and channels in ways humans simply cannot. “In merchandising they (AI systems) are capable of so much more than a human could ever do, even if they are an exceptional human,” Simon observes.

These tools free merchandisers from data overload, allowing them to focus on strategy, experimentation, and driving the business forward. They don’t replace human judgment, they enhance it, helping merchandisers to make better-informed decisions. 

Simon adds, “Does it have gut feel? No, not yet. Does it have intrinsic understanding? Does it understand the aesthetics? Perhaps not. But what it can do is it can go through that computational minefield of detail and come up with a rational suggestion in terms of what the best way is to meet demand and where that demand’s likely to turn up, in a way that is just night and day from a human being doing it. Even an exceptional human.”

Final thoughts: Striking the balance between strategy and mastering the detail

Merchandising today is a delicate balance between mastering the detail and thinking strategically. The most effective merchandisers are those who can focus on driving the business forward while still understanding the nuances that make each decision matter. To do this, they need the right support from leaders who value their contribution and give them space to experiment, and the right technology to help them be “less wrong” in an inherently uncertain environment.

In the end, the art of merchandising isn’t about perfection. It’s about curiosity, resilience, and the drive to continually improve. With the right environment and tools, merchandisers can turn complexity into opportunity and make a measurable impact on business success.

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Does your team need merchandising heroes?

Explore real-life merchandising success stories with brands such as Guess, Merkal, and Hackett London.