𝐌𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐈𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐀𝐫𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐂𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐲

Today, I came across a post discussing how merchandising is sometimes seen as a limitation to creativity, a barrier to stylistic innovation. It made me reflect on my own perspective, shaped by over two decades of experience—not only in fashion but also across various other business sectors.

So here I am with this post, sharing my POV on this crucial business function.

I’ve had the privilege of working with and developing merchandising strategies since the late 90's, witnessing its evolution and learning immensely, especially from the American approach. I still remember working with the Diesel USA merchandising team, building some of our first planning files or mapping out the initial shopping paths in mock-up stores to design the most strategic in-store customer journeys. Those experiences taught me invaluable lessons—ones that still drive my approach to innovation today, and that I also share with future business leaders as a master's instructor.

I’ve always seen merchandising as a vast umbrella that encompasses many disciplines. It’s not just about product briefs and assortment matrices—it’s planning, analysis, visual merchandising, supply chain management, product mix optimization, and customer experience. It is strategy and creativity, vision and execution.

Talking about merchandising means talking about balance—between numbers and performance, intuition and storytelling, market needs and inspiration. It means building collections that make sense not only for those who create them but for those who live with them, it's the brand promise in the end. It’s about providing clear direction without stifling creativity, but rather enhancing it with coherence and intelligence. It's a strategic team connector.

Merchandising is not just about numbers and analysis. It’s the ability to transform data into art, to support design, and to deliver a clear and engaging story to the customer. When done with vision, it becomes the first and most powerful tool for sustainability—allocating budgets effectively, planning with precision, managing open-to-buy, and optimizing push-and-pull dynamics to prevent waste, maximize resources, and focus on what truly deserves to exist.

To me, merchandisers today are called to be innovators more than ever before. They are at the core of business game-changing strategies. There's the need to feel, not just see; to inspire, not just signal. Merchandising is not just an operational function—𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐚 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐬𝐞𝐭. 𝐀 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞, 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲. And for those who truly understand it, merchandising is applied strategy at its finest—𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐬 𝐧𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐲.