Next Retail Ltd

• Name: Ben Sinclair
• Role: Trainee Merchandiser - Men's Formal
• University: University of Leicester
• Degree: Economics

Description:

I wanted to be able to use my analytical and business knowledge to challenge myself in a very hands-on situation. Merchandising at Next allows you to get very involved in the product you are working

Next offers training and support that is unparalleled when training as a Merchandiser. Throughout your first few months in the business, you are able to go on training courses that teach you how to use all the systems, in addition to the finer details of the product. Even as a trainee, you are able to influence the range immediately, your opinions are valued from day one. This means you soon get to see your hard work in-store and online at such a large international retailer.

Time-management, communication and organisational skills are crucial. As a trainee you need the ability to work well with your team, which will include other Merchandisers, Buyers, Designers and Technologists, to create the best possible range of your product area. When there are quite a few opinions in the room, you need to have the confidence and communication skills to get your views and opinions across. The role requires constant communication and strong relationships with suppliers to ensure the right product, arrives at the right time, in the correct quantity.

It’s a cliché, but there is no typical day as a trainee merchandiser, every day is different. The foundations of the job are to help develop and manage a successful range of product to deliver to our customers. To deliver this, you will find yourself involved in every step of the way, from visiting suppliers, to analysing the sales and rebuying on the best sellers. Being in contact with your suppliers daily to deliver the best possible product and managing their deliveries is a vital part of the job.

There is a huge amount of support to help your development at Next, from your own team and managers, to the training team. Everybody is incredibly passionate, working towards one goal, to put out the best possible product range for our customers. In addition to the support offered at work, there are regular social events organised for trainees to meet other trainees from around the business.

• Name: Rosie Peck
• Role: Trainee Merchandiser – Home
• University: Sheffield Hallam University
• Degree: Business and Enterprise Management

Description:

Initially I wanted to pursue Buying because this sounded like a lot of fun! Although buying initially caught my eye, once I found out more about merchandising at Next I realised it was more up my street. Being a fairly analytical person, I have always enjoyed looking at numbers to draw conclusions and plan, and being able to do this with a range of products sounded exciting. I thought being able to understand how and why different products sell to help guide future ranges and manage current ones was a great way to put a context to numbers.

I knew I wanted to work in Homeware and knew Next sold a huge variety of gorgeous home products. Although I considered merchandising quite numbers based, the role at Next is also very hands on with the product compared to other merchandising roles I looked at. This was a big selling point, and what made Next stand out against other retailers. The training and support at Next was also an attraction, especially never having learnt about merchandising at university. The scheme provides support from the very beginning and consistently throughout so this made me feel a lot more comfortable applying.

To be a trainee merchandiser you need to enjoy working with different products and also working with numbers as being analytical will be helpful when analysing sales and the product range! Being organised and proactive are useful skills to have too.

Every day is different, depending on the season/month you are working towards. A typical day involves managing the current range to determine successes and disappointments. It also includes range builds where you get together with the buying and design team to plan future products. As a trainee merchandiser, you can use sales information to influence future products and help produce a product the customers just have to have! There are then lots of activities to get each product to market including arranging for its online launch, planning which stores it will be sold in, forecasting sales and ordering the stock.

One of the best things about being a trainee at Next is helping bring a product to life, especially if it is a best seller! As a trainee you are also given a lot of responsibility to look after your own group of products which means you can have a lot of influence over the designs and what makes it into the range.