Time Management In Merchandising

Introduction:

Benjamin Franklin aptly said that to love life is to love time; since time is the stuff that life is made of. But the Socratic irony of the world is its in competency to understand time and its underlying forces. Time has always been an enigma for man; everyone feels its importance but no one really knows how to harness its real potential. Even though a lot of research has been done on time management; no individual has yet come out with a structured, concrete and strict paradigm that provides a panacea to rein time.

The term merchandising generally refers to a management process of collecting and assimilating information from a variety of sources and drawing conclusions from the information regarding the product offering. This process includes developing strategies to have the right merchandise, at the right price, at the right time, in the right amount, at the right locations to meet the needs and the wants of the target customer.

Fashion and Apparel Industry has got a fillip and becoming most sought after. The global competition, intense work pressure for faster and better delivery, optimization of profits, E-sales and E-Commerce, downtime analysis of productions process and human error, reduction in time-to-market, design driven market with quickly changing trends, customer demands for greater design variety and frequent design creation with specific changes, on-line information access in the production process, on-line transactions and most importantly, need of the mass, are some of the challenges being faced by the merchandisers in the Fashion and Apparel industry.

Qualities of a merchandiser:

The qualities of a merchandiser also play a very pivotal role in determining his time management skills. Prioritizing Skills is one of the most important time management skills which enable merchandisers to handle multiple projects at the same time. Without solid prioritizing skills, a merchandiser will not have time for what is most important on the project. The clearer ones priorities are each day, the more prepared one is for unpredictable situations that can occur in merchandising on a daily basis.
Also, what is required from a merchandiser is to be more analytical, intuitive and proactive. This is essential so that measures can be taken to prevent any problem that can occur from an earlier stage.

Time is precious and scarce resource that is irreplaceable and irreversible. Everyone has only 24 hours in a day and thus time management for merchandisers should not restrict to ones own time but others time needs should also be given an equal consideration. Time once lost is lost forever. Although there is no paradigm formulated for effective time management, executives can always learn the habit of better utilization of the available time to deliver the best.

The great dividing line between success and failure can be expressed in five words; I did not have time: Franklin Field

Everyone has 24 hours each day and 168 hours each week to eat, sleep, work, relax and exercise. Time management, however, does require a merchandiser to have self-discipline and control over the time they spend working in the merchandising field.
Good time management skills allow one, as a merchandiser, to be more productive. In order for a time management process to work, it is important to know what aspects of ones job need to be improved. Here are some of the reasons that merchandisers arent as productive as they can be:

Phone interruptions
Acting with incomplete information
Dealing with team members
Crisis management (putting out fires)
Unclear communication about the project
Inadequate training to do the job

ERP in Time Management:

Processing and handling of data is also equally important as processing of an order. Thus, here the ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system plays a very important role. The system integrates (or attempt to integrate) all data and processes of an organization into a unified system. A key ingredient of most ERP systems is the use of a unified database to store data for the various system modules.The systems is designed in such a manner so that any data regarding a particular style can be accessed by the different departments easily. The merchandiser feeds in the data regarding the details of the style such as the order quantity, cost, delivery dates, purchase order, specification sheet and so on. This data is then accessed by the different departments such as the fabric, trims, cutting, sewing, finishing so that they can proceed with the order rather than going back to the merchandiser for every trivial matter. This further saves time and brings an increase in productivity. An important point that has to be noted here is that not only the merchandiser but also the various departments can feed in information regarding the progress of an order so that it can be retrieved by the merchandiser at any point of time giving him an idea of the status of his order. Also for the merchandiser, information regarding his style and order can be accessed at any point of time rather than going back to his files and wasting time in searching on it. He can send requests at any point of time and can also make the necessary changes if required.

EDI (Electronic Data Interchange), a useful tool in time management:

EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) serves as a very useful tool to merchandisers. It is particularly helpful in the feeding of and retrieving data. This becomes important for merchandisers especially during the initial stages of sampling and or sometimes even before that when a new design has been received from the buyer for the purpose of sampling or product development. The buyer provides the merchandiser with the necessary information regarding the style which is in turn fed by the merchandiser into the system so that it can be accessed by the fabric, trim and the technical departments. Following this, these departments then access this data and develop the sample according to the requirements or make changes as necessary. EDI, thus, is an added advantage for a merchandiser as it results in better inventory management, shortened lead time and greater efficiency. It helps in exchange of data between the merchandisers and the other departments. Even after Post Shipment stage also, its the timely information required from merchant side to the buyers in the EDI section via ASN (Advanced shipment Notification) which enables the buyers to see their shipment status. This can be enabled only by the on time info from merchant side to the buyers.

Increasing importance of CAD:

CAD is also becoming increasingly useful in the apparel trade. It is useful to the merchandisers in case they have buyers who provide them with CSPs (Customer Supplied Patterns). In such a case, a merchandiser can always request the buyer to mail him the patterns rather than waiting for the physical pattern package, thus, saving time. Here, if the merchandiser is provided with the marker making and grading software, then it can be accessed by him at any point of time and help him to understand the patterns in a better manner. Also, the software gives him reduced fabric consumptions, thus, helping the merchandiser to cut down the costs since fabrics form a major part of the cost of a garment.

Important concepts in merchandising:

It is here that the concepts of flexible manufacturing, agility, VAM (Value Added Manufacturing) and JIT (Just in Time) play an important role. Flexible manufacturing refers to the capability for quick and efficient production for a variety of styles in small production runs with no defects. This involves a lot of skills as one has to adapt very frequently to changing styles. Value added manufacturing focuses attention on eliminating any unnecessary operations or handling that do not increase the value of the product and that may cause undue delay in production. The merchandisers role is important here as he has to suggest ways in which time can be saved so that production can take place at a faster rate, thus, increasing efficiency. The concept of Just in Time has also become common in many manufacturing houses nowadays. It denotes an operational strategy that co-ordinates the arrival of goods with immediate use and minimal handling. There is less sorting of materials involved in such a case, thus, also reducing the inventory costs.

Backward planning is essential:

The most essential role that a merchandiser plays which determines his time management skills is the art of backward planning. This is a very important step in processing of an order as proper backward planning helps one to meet the expected shipment dates, thus, ensuring timely delivery of goods to the buyer and to the ultimate consumer. This step has to be planned very carefully and all aspects of a style or an order have to be taken into consideration while doing backward planning. When a merchandiser does this, it helps him by giving him an overview of the style and he can also learn about the problems that may occur in the processing of the order. The planning of dates helps him to achieve his targets and ultimately, to meet the delivery dates. It brings about a very organized and systematic approach to process an order.

An example that can be taken here is of a simple collared shirt with an order quantity of 5000 pieces that has an ex-factory date of 5th March. Taking into consideration, if the purchase order was received on the 10th December, then according to backward planning the order has to be planned in the following manner:

Ex- factory: 5th March
Final Inspection: 7 days, 25th February
Finishing: 15 days, 10th February
Sewing: 20 days, 20th January
Laying and Cutting: 10 days, 10th January
Fabric inspection: 3 days, 7th January
Sampling: 20 days, 16th December

Thus, if an order is planned in the above manner, then it is useful for a merchandiser as it helps one to save time and also brings about prioritization.

Sir John Lubbock, rightly pointed out that, In truth, people can generally make time for what they choose to do; it is not really the time but the will that is lacking.

Reducing lead time:

An increase in demand and the rising competition among the various buyers has reduced the lead time for the manufacturers from 120 days to 45-60 days. Thus, a merchandiser gets a short span of time in which he has to process the entire order right from sample approvals to booking of fabrics, trims to garment construction and their pre-final and final inspection and finally, their shipment. What has to be borne in mind is that a merchandiser is not handling a single order of a single style at a time but multiple orders of multiple styles. This makes it essential for a merchandiser to use his time effectively and efficiently. His priorities must be well- defined so that each style can be produced perfectly and satisfy the ultimate customer. It is very well said that after all, the merchandiser must handle his product like a baby.

Sampling being a crucial stage for time management:

Sampling plays a very important role in merchandising. There are various samples involved such as the fit sample; size set sample, pre-production sample and others such as floor set samples, shipment, and promotional samples. Time management is very important as far as sampling is concerned, the primary reason being that the process of production cannot begin without sample approval. A merchandiser must use his time effectively to generate samples and get them approved by the buyer in minimal time. It should be borne in mind that much time should not be wasted in the production and approval of samples and the merchandiser must pay special attention to the quality and the fit of the samples as they are a representative of the garments in bulk.

Conclusion:

We can conclude by saying that care should be taken to avoid procrastination by maintaining a strict schedule. It is very important to concentrate on goals according to priority. Prioritizing helps to avoid last minute rush to accomplish a major task. Hence, if a merchandiser does not have proper time management skills it will become very difficult for him to achieve his tasks. Creating and adhering to a strict schedule is important, the total time can be broken into smaller tasks. This is generally explained by a very famous saying that Even the elephant can be eaten..provided it is done one bite at a time.

About Author:

Neha Agrawal, Post graduate student in Fashion Merchandising, Pearl Academy of Fashion, Chennai.