Who is a visiting merchandiser and what does he do?

Nowadays, there are quite a few professions that make it possible to earn good money and realize oneself. And for this it is not necessary to receive a special education. It is enough to discover certain abilities in oneself and purposefully develop them. For those young people who cannot find a suitable vacancy for themselves, it will be useful to take a closer look at such a profession as a visiting merchandiser, and also find out what he does.

Merchandisers are specialists who are responsible for placing goods on the shelves. This applies to absolutely any area of ​​trade. Now there are fewer and fewer retail outlets where these workers do not take part. Both huge hypermarkets and small boutiques alike need the work of such specialists. After all, it is extremely important to attract the buyer and persuade him to buy. And for this, the product must be placed according to special marketing laws: both correctly and aesthetically attractive.

Merchandisers are divided into two groups (depending on the specifics of their work).

• Stationary specialist works at a specific outlet. He may be responsible for the entire assortment if the store is small. A certain department or several departments can be assigned to it, as is the case in large supermarkets. And also he may be responsible for some similar groups of goods.
• Visiting merchandiser - this is the person who visits the stores assigned to him and performs all the necessary functions there. This means that such a specialist does not have to sit still, and if he has a lot of outlets, it will be more convenient to get around by car.

Some people mistakenly believe that a merchandiser is the same loader. But in reality, this is not the case. The range of duties of this employee is quite wide. It includes the following functions:

• product display according to the scheme developed by marketers;
• control over the filling of showcases with the necessary products and updating if necessary;
• placement of advertisements about promotions, bonuses, discounts throughout the store;
• participation in the organization and conduct of actions, if required by the management;
• assisting sellers in promoting certain products;
• control over the expiration of the shelf life of products and the release of shelves from it, as well as monitoring that all packaging is intact and impeccable in appearance;
• transportation of goods using special carts or mechanisms from the warehouse to the display cases;
• in some cases it is necessary to draw up reports on the goods sold.

Responsibilities may vary depending on where the employee works. For example, in some stores, this specialist additionally monitors the dynamics of prices, updating the assortment, and holding promotions from competitors in their field.

A set of qualities that an applicant for this position should possess follows from the peculiarities of a product specialist's activity. First of all, he must be physically healthy, since he will have to spend the whole day on his feet, and sometimes physically work.

As for personal qualities, they include the following:

• activity;
• purposefulness;
• sociability;
• benevolence;
• stress tolerance;
• competent and intelligible speech.

In the process of work, it is necessary not only to lay out and take into account the goods, but also to communicate with customers. Therefore, you need to be polite, be able to clearly explain any points. At the same time, benevolence is important. Appearance also plays an important role: neat, fresh, tidy.

A visiting merchandiser does not need to have a higher education. However, graduation from educational institutions - higher or secondary - in the specialties "Advertising", "Management", "Marketing", "Commodity Science" will not hurt in any way. The same can be said about acquiring the profession of a salesperson or a warehouse accounting specialist. To become a merchandiser, it is enough to be active, sociable, attentive and trained. Students and graduates of schools who want to earn extra money in their free time can apply for this position.

To learn this type of activity, it is enough to come to the store and get a job for the first time, watching how more experienced employees do it. And you can also find out in advance all the points of such work and ask questions of interest.

We can say that a visiting merchandiser cannot have a specific workplace (in the usual sense). His workplace is salesrooms, shops, scattered sometimes at a distance of several tens of kilometers from each other. He is always on the road, and he keeps all the necessary records and documents with him, as he moves from object to object.