INDUSTRY STATS
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Wholesale & Manufacturing Sales positions are at a 5% growth rate, which is slower than average. With that said, there are currently 1,625,700 jobs in the market right now. The total number of jobs is expected to increase by 77,600 to 1,703,300 in the period of 2020-30.
What’s more, the median annual wage for the Wholesale & Manufacturing Sales jobs was $65,420 in May 2020. The lowest 10% earned less than $31,950, and the highest 10% more than $129,200.
Our conclusion? The Wholesale & Manufacturing Sales job market is wide open for candidates.
Top Merchandising Manager sections that make the best resume
- Header
- Professional summary
- Experience (with numbers and results)
- Relevant skills
- Education
- Certifications
How to write a Merchandising Manager resume experience section
Merchandising Manager Resume’s Job Experience Checklist:
- Use 4-6 bullet points per job title;
- Don’t go further than a decade behind when describing your job history, unless you’re applying for an executive position;
- Combine job responsibilities as well as achievements with numbers in results when you describe your past work;
- Start each sentence with a power verb and avoid overused buzzwords;
- Use either C-A-R or S-T-A-R methodology, when describing your experience.
The work experience samples below come from real Merchandising Manager resumes that got people hired at top companies. You can use them as an inspiration to build your own resume:
- Merchandising Manager of United Colors of Benetton:
- Responsible for the creation, planning and implementation of a successful product strategy which meets the territory specific product requirements and delivers on sales, productivity and margin targets.
- Drivers of the demand forecasting process, and responsible for placing and tracking buys for the full price business.
- Making annual sales forecasts and tracking realization rates and updating the budget.
- Managing the OTB planning and assortment plan.
- Monitor and enhance the sell through.
- Checking the purchase invoices.
- Managing all return processes.
- Managing Women's Leathergoods & Shoes across 33 stores in 8 countries.
- Advised an estimate of more than 1500 customers on best buy home improvement products
- Trained associates with the implementation of COM 2.0 software
- Exceeded 80% sales target, helping the store reach its overall target.
- Promoted to Senior Sales Associate December 2010
- Created a clientele list within first week consisting of 15+ clients.
- Exceeded all expectations for 12 consecutive quarters within top 15 in district sales.
- Led national team with highest sales growth at 13%.
- Followed customers through entire sales process, closing individual sales of $100,000+
- Develop and execute site merchandising and content strategies to drive sales and conversion growth
- Manage the e-commerce activities of the site on women and women's sport category
- Drive the product assortments for campaigns with external business partners
- Work in-line with sales support, visual arts, warehouse and transportation departments
- Leading the merchandising team across all marketing channels (onsite and offsite).
- Managed to achieve growth of 100% YoY sales with merchandising contribution and initiatives.
- Managed various types of campaigns; category campaigns, product launches and main events like White Friday Sale and Everything For You Sale. From deals planning to allocating an onsite placements for categories and partners through execution of the campaigns along with post campaign reports with over 50,000 deals per event.
- Having weekly reviews for all category merchandisers, overviewing our traffic performance and product view volumes for each category to maintain and achieve the categories targets.
- Evaluating daily marketing activities and their impact on products, categories and overall sales.
- Worked closely with commercial team to make sure of understanding their product types and how to best highlight our selling points or new launches.
- Driving the first launch of FMCG online campaigns for The Egyptian market and partnering with Nestle group
- Being a part of first omni-channel activity targeting A &B+ customers with high end products. This project was to enhance the brand image in the biggest and most famous summer homes in Egypt destination; defined best-selling items based on buyers’ scheme as well as introducing summer essential products for fashion and personal care.
- Created daily process flow between graphic designers, social and paid marketing teams to ensure smooth and clear way to feature our offers, deals and campaigns
- Supervising Marketing and Communication Team and Creative agencies to make sure brand's values and image are followed;
- Managing brands relations and b2b orders. Bringing 2,000 contacts of the most important fashion brands.
- Developing relations with the Italian Chamber of Commerce in UK and in USA
- Deepen fashion trends, attendance in many fashion shows.
- Ovew merchandising for high-volume retail store with QR 1M daily average sales.
- Managed receiving, inventory, shrinkage, and quality control on merchandise of QR 1M in value
- Led and Managed a Team of 47 Merchandisers and 70 Porters
- Developed and Executed Confectionery Planograms for Stores for better product assortments.
- Worked closely with Operations Manager to ensure implementation of company policies and procedures, proper staffing and scheduling, and payroll processing.
- Gestione e coordinamento di un team di 12 persone
- Canale di distribuzione : Retail + Outlet + supporto whs - Europa e Asia
- Aree di competenza: Prodotto-collezioni / Buying / Training /analsi in season /supervisione strategia commerciale/coordinamento operation retail
- Brand Image Manager for the 19 Louis Vuitton boutiques present in Italy, with the main goal of guaranting the application and the constant respect of the VM guidelines received from Paris HQ, ensuring attractive and sophisticated product displays and windows
- Direct report to Italy Head of Merchandising
- Managing of 5 Area VIsual Merchandisers located in strategic LV boutique in Italy to monitor and implement guidelines on a daily basis, organizing instore VM training to support the sales team in their VM activities and take adgavnted from the proximity to the stores to act and react quickly
- Responsible to revise and adapt WW brand guidelines to the specific local market needs in order to support and boosts the sales thru the correct and effective product presentation at store level
- Training & Coaching the Area VMs in order to adapt the store product layout to the company strategic needs and novelties
- Constant team working with both Male and Female Merchandiser to select the correct product for the stores according to clients tipology and spending power, store location and collection strenghts
- Presence on field to support the Area VMs work and sharing feedbacks and best practices from store to store and with Paris
- Concept creation and development of culturally relevant window and VM schemes for over 1,500 stores across the world.
- Delivered detailed and clear guideline documents for stores internationally.
- Store visits and interaction with extensive regional VMs to ensure displays are up to date and to policy.
- Concept and scheme presentation to large teams and senior stakeholders within the business.
- Delivered the most creative and impactful M&S Christmas windows and in store to date- from idea generation through to design, development and execution.
PRO TIP
Show off real numbers that display your accomplishments in past roles. Instead of listing out your responsibilities as Merchandising Manager, talk about the measurable impact you made to their business. Did you boost their revenue? Increase customer retention? Mention your proudest points on your resume.
Action Verbs for your Merchandising Manager Resume
Recommended reads:
Merchandising Manager Resume Skills’ Tips & Tricks to Impress Recruiters
Resume Skills Section Checklist:
- Ensure your hard skills section (including technologies) are exactly matching the job description.
- Don’t simply list your soft skills. Apply the “show, don’t tell” principle - let your job achievements speak for themselves.
- Find a way to showcase your skills beyond the skills section.
- Your resume’s skill section is important to ATS systems - so don’t skip it.
Top Skills for your Merchandising Manager resume
- Salesforce
- MS Office
- CRM
- Forecasting
- Cold Calling
- Business Development
- Customer Service
- Project Management
- Relationship Building
- Time Management
- Storytelling
- Research / Information Gathering.
- Critical Thinking
- Problem Solving.
- Tech Savvy
- Networking
PRO TIP
When describing your experience, don’t go too far from its terminology. Recruiters use ATS systems to filter resumes based on them having certain keywords, so make sure you use at least a few keywords mentioned in the job description.
Recommended reads:
Merchandising Manager Resume Header: Tips, Red Flags, and Best Practices
CHECKLIST For Your Merchandising Manager Resume Header
- Your name and surname in a legible and larger resume font
- The job title you’re applying for or your current job title as a subheading to your name
- Link to your portfolio or online profile, such as LinkedIn
- Address (City and State for the US; just your city for rest of the world)
- Email address
- Headshot (required or welcomed in the EU; not required and sometimes frowned upon in the US)
Stick to popular email providers such as Gmail or Outlook. And use these professional formats to create your username:
- first.last@gmail.com
- last.first@gmail.com
- firstlast@gmail.com
- f.last@gmail.com
- first.l@gmail.com
Recommended reads:
PRO TIP
Include a link to your portfolio in your Merchandising Manager resume header. Most companies will require that you include one in your resume, and even if they don’t, it’s an excellent opportunity to directly show them your proudest projects.
Merchandising Manager Resume Summary Best Practices
Checklist: What to include in your Merchandising Manager resume summary:
- Years of experience;
- Highlight top 3 skills and proficiencies;
- One big professional accomplishment you’re most proud of, that you can tie with the aforementioned skills;
- Use short, direct sentences - but no more than three - to keep the HRs interested.
Resume Summary Formula:
PRO TIP
When writing a resume summary or objective, avoid first-person narrative.
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Listing Your Education, Certifications and Courses
Resume Education Section Checklist:
- Ensure your hard skills section (including technologies) are exactly matching the job description.
- Don’t simply list your soft skills. Apply the “show, don’t tell” principle - let your job achievements speak for themselves.
- Find a way to showcase your skills beyond the skills section.
- Your resume’s skill section is important to ATS systems - so don’t skip it.
Top Certifications for your Merchandising Manager resume
Recommended reads:
PRO TIP
There are dozens of certifications that you can claim as a Merchandising Manager. But, some are more effective than others. That’s why you mustn’t include every certificate other applicants might have. Try instead to earn and list a few of the difficult ones.
Merchandising Manager Resume: Additional Writing & Formatting Tips
There are three basic resume formats you can choose from:
- Reverse-chronological resume format;
- Functional resume format;
- Hybrid (or Combination) resume format;
The most optimal format for your particular case will depend on your years of experience, as well as whether you’re switching industries or not.
Reverse chronological resumes are best suited for experienced individuals who are sticking to their industry. The experience section takes a central place, and its bullets contain your responsibilities and achievements, coupled with numbers and results.
Functional resumes are used by less experienced jobseekers or career changers. Note that it’s not a format that recruiters prefer, as most are used to the classic chronological alignment. Instead of a list of job titles, functional resumes focus on your skills, and through what experiences you gained them.
Hybrid resumes are great for both experienced and entry-level candidates, as well as career changers. They combine the best of both worlds - most often in a double column format, where one side of the content is focused on your experience, whereas the other - on your skills, strengths, and proudest moments.
Merchandising Manager Resume Summary best practices
Here are more resume tips regarding your layout and style:
- Clear and legible 12p resume font size;
- Use 10’’ resume margins - that’s default for a great resume design;
- Use a one-page template resume length if you’ve got less than 10 years of experience; otherwise, opt for a two-page resume;
- Save your resume as PDF before sending it to the recruiter.
To take it a step further, check out how your resume can stand out without leaning too much on the creative side.
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PRO TIP
If you feel that you don’t have high chances in a particular company, due to lack of relevant experience, then you can still consider using a creative layout. That might help you get noticed and invited for an interview, as most of the other applicants will have boring resume designs.
Other sections to include in your resume
Depending on the type of company (corporation or start-up; innovative or traditional), job seniority level and your location, you may want to include more sections to your Merchandising Manager resume:
Merchandising Manager Resume: How to Make Yours More Creative & Stand Out
When you send your resume to a potential employer, chances are it's the fiftieth one they've seen that day. That's why you need to make your Merchandising Manager resume stand out for the right reasons. That means showing your personality, not just your professional experience. Employers are far more likely to remember a candidate who seems like a genuine person and not a robot. Do this by including your passions (which is also a great place to demonstrate skills on a resume), share your favorite books, or even what your usual day looks like.
What Makes a Great Merchandising Manager Resume: Key Takeaways
- Choose a resume layout that sends the right message across and fits your current career situation;
- Create a resume header that shows your desired job title, and easy to find contact numbers;
- Be specific about your experience, accomplishments and future goals in your summary;
- Feature detailed metrics and specific examples that show the impact you made in your previous roles when describing your experience;
- List soft skills backed by examples;
- Add all of your technical skills and certifications that you have and match the job description;
- Show off a dash of personality in your resume that will demonstrate your culture fit and the right mix of hard and soft skills.
