Difference between Fashion Marketing and Fashion Merchandising

In a nutshell, fashion marketing is one of the key components of fashion merchandising, which is more of an end-to-end process.

Far from the fashion weeks’ glittery crowds, the fashion industry’s operations run deeper than the tabloids and magazines many people gloss over.

On the flip side of the glitz and glamour comes the hard jobs; the positions often taken by fashion marketers and merchandisers. So, if you’ve been confused over what the two branches of the fashion industry entail, then we’ve got you covered!

Here are the primary differences between fashion marketing and fashion merchandising.

Fashion marketing

A career in fashion marketing is all about balancing the scales between business and creativity and using the right marketing tools to advertise and promote products artfully. This practice may involve understanding consumer base, predicting style changes, forecasting sales in a seasonal cycle, analysing consumer buying behaviour, and more.

Because styles and trends come and go rather quickly, the industry remains highly competitive throughout the year. Due to this, fashion marketers are always kept on their toes to craft noteworthy campaigns and market a brand/product effectively to increase sales.

Besides having killer core marketing skills, a fashion marketer also needs to have an eye for detail and a passion for all things fashion.

As a fashion marketer, you will need to build relevant ad campaigns to deliver a consistent brand message – saying this is us! This means having the target audience hooked enough to convince them to purchase your products.

Besides, once you start a career in fashion marketing after completing a fashion visual merchandising course, you may work as a:

• PR Director
• Social media manager
• Content strategist
• Consumer behaviour specialist
• Brand manager

Fashion merchandising

Fashion merchandising mainly entails understanding, predicting, and responding to consumer wants and needs accurately, and in a way that augments business sales and maximises revenue.

 Performing tasks such as crafting ad campaigns, buying inventories to creating store displays and budgeting, fashion merchandisers are the ultimate jack-of-all-trades in the industry.

They take on the role of a fashion Soothsayer, forecasting trends for the season before they arrive on the industry scene. Often, by answering questions like:

• Who will buy the product?
• How to price the products?
• How much to stock in retail stores?

Moreover, due to a rise in e-commerce and retail digitisation, data-backed decision-making is gaining fast traction. Fashion merchandisers may now have to do one more hat to excel in the trade.

Having basic data analytics skills to analyse consumer data from various digital platforms and making informed decisions will be critical to optimal merchandising in the future.

 But because fashion merchandising is a broad field, you can also choose to focus on one area of the profession. After completing a fashion visual merchandising course, you can become a retail buyer, merchandise consultant, and visual merchandiser, among others.

Over to you

 In a nutshell, fashion marketing is one of the key components of fashion merchandising, which is more of an end-to-end process.

So, while fashion marketing is more inclined to get the brand’s name out there, merchandising involves overseeing the entire value chain, from buying inventory for retail to pricing them based on its target demographic.

Besides, as the Fourth Industrial Revolution takes centre-stage across sectors, the creative economy will rely heavily on digital technologies now, meaning – the need for technically-skilled professionals in the fashion industry will see a welcome surge.

Do you have a penchant for identifying fashion trends before they join the industry buzz and business instincts on fleek? Well then, your time is NOW!

Pursuing a fashion visual merchandising course from a renowned institute like Pearl Academy could open several doors for you! Learn the ropes from industry experts on Product Development, Sourcing, Marketing Communications, and more. Forge ahead on a promising career path in the fashion industry today!