Merchandise Product Development

Merchandise product development focuses on creating products, from initial concept to final purchase. It begins with identifying a trend and the consumer segment to be served. Once that groundwork has been established, the process continues through costing, marketing, the production cycle and selection of delivery channels. As the development, production, and sourcing of all products becomes more complex, the demand for people in this field is expected to increase.

Because sourcing is now a global process, people in the field must expand their knowledge beyond the technical aspects of their specific job. If you choose this field, you must be knowledgeable about trends and trend forecasting, consumer market analysis, current technology, global sourcing for materials and production capacity. You’ll need to understand multi-channel retailing including traditional brick-and-mortar retail outlets, specialty stores, catalogs and e-commerce.