10 Interview Questions for Fashion Merchandisers (with Answers)

The fashion industry is not limited to designing clothes; there are numerous other responsibilities that play an essential role in apparel manufacturing and sales. Merchandising is an exciting profile requiring a unique combination of creativity and marketing. Unlike other job interviews, merchandiser interview questions can be tricky. 

The key to cracking the interview and shine is to prepare extensively and research. Understand the brand, its strength, values, market share, competitors, expansion plan and challenges. Read about the latest industry trends, new technology and tools. And finally, note down your prior experiences, since they will form the basis of your answers.

If you are preparing for a merchandiser job interview, we have you covered. We will discuss the most common visual merchandising interview questions and their best possible answers.

Fashion Merchandising: What Do Fashion Merchandisers Do?

Fashion merchandising works differently in different areas of the fashion industry, from designing and manufacturing to sales and forecasting of fashion trends. At manufacturing, a fashion merchandiser forecasts the trends, including what types of clothes will sell. How much should the cost be? What should be the optimal pricing for maximum business? Fashion merchandisers also need to ensure the clothes are appropriately arranged and displayed in retail stores. Hence, they are also referred to as visual merchandisers.

If you want to work for your favourite brand, you must understand the role and be aware of the latest trends. Merchandising is about finding ways to improve and manage the supply chain effectively. 

Common Merchandiser Interview Questions (with answers)

Here are the 10 most common merchandiser interview questions that you must know.

1. Tell us about yourself and what you know about merchandising.

The first question is usually around introducing and getting to know the candidates. The interviewer wants to know about personal and professional aspirations. Ensure you do research about merchandising in different industries. You should be able to differentiate how merchandising is different in the manufacturing unit versus the retail store. You should sound enthusiastic and passionate. Tell them what fascinates you about the industry and why you want to be part of it.

2. What is the most important element while sourcing apparel and other accessories?

The hiring team wants to evaluate your prior experience in handling store and supply chain activities. It will be easy to answer if you have dealt with clothes sourcing. However, if you haven’t, you can still talk about it hypothetically. Try to use industry-related words and examples such as partial shipment, offshore assembly, TNA (time and action plan) and so on. Remember, you will sound confident if you have the experience. If not, your industry research and knowledge would help you tackle experience-related questions.

3. What changes would you make to the current layout of our store?

The only way to answer this question effectively is by understanding the brand.

• How does it work? 
• What are their services and products? 
• How do their supply and sourcing work? 
• A list of their close competitors, and so on. 

Go prepared, do thorough research about the brand, and sound optimistic and enthusiastic. It doesn’t mean you don’t suggest any changes and say your store layout is perfect. If it is perfect, why should they hire you? Your answers should be honest. If you have any improvement ideas related to the display of the layout, let them know your reasons. A good brand always values feedback and loves people who are not afraid to make changes.

4. What do you find attractive in a product?

The question evaluates your personality as well as your understanding of the merchandising field. While answering, mix your own opinions with examples of specific products or brands. What makes them sell more than their competitors? Is there any particular colour or design that attracts customers? You can become a storyteller and share your experience of a customer you managed and why they ended up buying clothing. 

The answers to all merchandiser interview questions must showcase your understanding of the field. They must also highlight your experience in day-to-day dealings, technicality and trends, and so on.

5. What kind of customers would you target for your own store?

The question is to evaluate your aspirations and how you think about the merchandising profile. Try to keep your answer in sync with the brand’s profile and demography that would best suit the brand. Your research of the brand will help you answer this question. However, you can also call out any particular set of customers that you want to target. Present your thoughts and ideas with proper reasoning.

6. What makes you a successful merchandiser?

This is one of the most common visual merchandising interview questions. It is also a subjective one, which means there is no right or wrong answer. You can talk about different aspects such as merchandise placement, appearance, location and layout. Ensure your answer shows your creative mindset, willingness to adapt to change, and understanding of merchandising different categories of products. The end goal of the merchandiser is to maximize profit by increasing sales. You can also project a future plan by identifying trends and optimizing pricing due to market factors. Be creative while answering these specific questions to ensure whatever you say is justifiable.

7. What are the different types of pricing adjustments?

The question is a common one and yet easy to answer if you have prior experience working as a merchandiser at a retail outlet. Explain different strategies used to adjust the product’s price - for example, mark-up and mark-down, raising and reducing the selling price from the cost price and other similar strategies. In what situations do you require mark-up, and when is mark-down recommended? You can make your answer credible by citing an example when you were involved in handling a unique situation where the pricing was adjusted, and which resulted in increasing profit margins or sales.

8. How would you create a budget for a specific season?

The question is to judge your exposure to budgeting and handling financial decisions in your previous jobs. Brands have different strategies for different seasons. For example, a winter selection would need entirely different budgeting than a summer collection. The buying pattern of customers also varies in each season. Showcase your experience while answering this question. 

Try to make your answer relatable to the brand by answering the question keeping their product in mind. This will highlight your knowledge of the brand and show your eagerness to positively impact once you start working for them.

9. What are the latest trends in the fashion industry?

Just like the question, “tell me about yourself,” this is one of the standard merchandiser interview questions. The hiring team wants to evaluate the candidate’s knowledge of the fashion industry trends - what’s new, what’s working, and the factors impacting the fashion industries. For example, most retailers had to look for online avenues with the pandemic. How much impact will the latest technology and consumer changing behaviors have on the industry? Ensure you are aware of the latest happenings and share your opinions in compelling statements.

10. What’s your customer service experience, and how would you handle a demanding customer?

This question can be asked in different ways. You may be asked to give an example when you handled a difficult situation. Explain what you did and if you were able to manage the situation successfully. Alternatively, the interviewers may give you a hypothetical situation and the limitations, asking how you would resolve the conflict.

You must keep your calm while answering any questions, especially when the situation is difficult; there is a time limit to handle it and ensure the customer has a good experience. Even if you have not worked in a retail store, you must think of other relevant customer service scenarios and occasions where you excelled. Show your practical mindset; at times, letting a customer go could be better than losing out on ten other customers.

Wrapping up

Fashion merchandising is an exciting field. It requires creativity, marketing, supply management, budgeting and much more from the fashion merchandisers. They must know the latest trends in the industry and be comfortable using visual tools to prepare attractive layout designs. More than anything, you must have a positive outlook and excellent interpersonal skills to thrive in the role. The interviewers expect the merchandisers to possess all these qualities, along with top-class communication skills.

Hopefully, the set of questions listed above will help you prepare for your following merchandiser job interview. You may not hear the exact same questions. Nevertheless, the pattern will be the same. Hence, you can think of more similar scenarios and draft your answers accordingly. There is no need to worry. It’s just an interview where you need to showcase your talent, experience and creativity. The more you research and prepare, the easier the interview. 

Check out Fashinza, a marketplace that provides futuristic supply chain management for the apparel industry. It’s basically an Amazon for the fashion industry, where manufacturers connect with suppliers to source their merchandise to the retail. You can get excellent insights on how the modern fashion industry works.