12 Merchandising Training Programs
We’ve handpicked the best merchandising training programs to help you level up your sales game and enhance your customers’ shopping experiences. These merchandising training programs tackle topics such as different merchandising techniques and strategies so they can better represent and communicate your brand’s image and value.
1. Visual Merchandising (for Fashion Retail)
SC Training (formerly EdApp)’s Visual Merchandising (for Fashion Retail) course is all about learning how to strategically display your merchandise as a retailer to entice customers to make a purchase. It starts by discussing the value of visual merchandising and how the interior and exterior design of your retail store build this image. As the way products are displayed in your store plays a crucial role, you’ll find a lesson on the different types of merchandising displays and how to choose the right one accordingly. Learners will also discover tried and tested techniques, such as the rule of threes, the use of lighting to set the mood, and age group considerations.
Because of the hectic nature of the retail industy, retail employees are always on the go and on their feet. As such, it may be difficult to find the time to complete their training. Since SC Training (formerly EdApp) is a mobile-first solution, employees have the freedom and flexibility to accomplish and revisit training content whenever needed right from their smartphones.
With SC Training (formerly EdApp)’s notifications feature, your employees will also be reminded to stay on top of their lessons, so they’ll never miss out on any important updates and information.
- Cost: Free (up to 10 users)
- Scope: Value of visual merchandising, types of merchandising displays, elements of visual merchandising, visual merchandising techniques
Created by SC Training (formerly EdApp)
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2. Understanding Customer Motivations
Knowing what your customer wants is an important aspect of your merchandising strategy as it helps you determine how to display your products. In SC Training (formerly EdApp)’s Understanding Customer Motivations course, learners will uncover how understanding customer psychology can help draw customers into their store to make a purchase. This course starts by learning to identify the factors affecting customer psychology and determining why we buy what we buy. Learners will also be able to describe the different customer profiles and recognize them while on the sales floor, along with the conscious and subconscious factors that draw them into a store. Lastly, this course will tackle the different marketing strategies and techniques when it comes to customer retention.
This course by SC Training (formerly EdApp) is fully editable and customizable, so you can showcase your branding, add in store-specific information with its easy-to-use authoring tool. You can even transform PowerPoint slides into beautiful microlessons through its AI Doc transformer (coming soon), so you won’t have to start from scratch.
- Cost: Free (up to 10 users)
- Scope: Customer psychology, customer profiles, marketing strategies and techniques
Created by SC Training (formerly EdApp)
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3. Retail Management: Merchandising, Sales and Customer Communications
Alison’s merchandising training program is all about selling your products and winning over your customers through effective merchandising and sales techniques like proper signage. Here, learners will be taught how to create an inviting atmosphere for consumers through basic retail marketing and merchandising, store design and presentation, and pricing. Other topics discussed were merchandiser job responsibilities, recognizing and leveraging trends, targeting customers, creating merchandise displays, and more. This course also puts a spotlight on consumer behavior and the importance of effective communication skills in the workplace to build customer relationships. It takes up to 3 hours to finish this course, and a certificate of completion is provided once the final assessment is passed.
- Cost: Free
- Scope: Basic retail merchandising, merchandise displays, consumer behavior, customer communication
Created by Alison
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4. Retail Sales and Visual Merchandising
ZOE Talent Solutions created this merchandising training program to help you implement effective visual merchandising techniques in your store and convert them into sales. It starts with an introduction to retail, which talks about the importance and benefits of merchandising, as well as the various types of merchandising. Here, learners will also know about the roles and responsibilities of a visual merchandiser and what characteristics one should have to be successful. To help reach your goal, there’s also a lesson about the process of creating a visual display in the store's window displays, which includes best practices to follow and common pitfalls to avoid. This course follows a live online format over a span of five days with a set schedule, but you can also customize it according to your availability.
- Cost: $1800 US
- Scope: Introduction to retail, visual merchandising, types of merchandising, creating a visual display
Created by ZOE Talent Solutions
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5. Fast Track Ecommerce and Online Merchandising
With the pandemic forcing businesses online, the boom in eCommerce has been inevitable. To make sure businesses are equipped for this change, Econsultancy’s merchandising training program was built to establish your brand’s e-commerce delivery through online merchandising. In this full-day workshop, learners will discover the principles and practices of managing and optimizing e-commerce, with a central focus on online merchandising. Other topics include the art of selling, brand and retail buyer proposition, and aligning merchandising techniques with sales goals. To provide learners with real-world context, examples from a variety of categories and industries are included. There are also various interactive activities in this program to apply and put their knowledge into practice so that they can help increase sales.
- Cost: Available upon request
- Scope: Online merchandising, brand and customer proposition, merchandising techniques
Created by Econsultancy
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6. The Art and Science of Buying and Merchandising
Business of Fashion (BoF) put together this merchandising training program for those who want to grow their business in the fashion industry. In this course, you’ll learn how buyers and merchandisers combine intuition with empirical data to create product lineups that people will want to buy. To gain the upper hand in the buying cycle, it emphasizes the significance of trend forecasting and shopper profiling as part of your merchandising and promotional strategy. This course includes videos, articles, and PDF files that can be downloaded so information can be revisited. Those who finish the course will get a certificate of completion, which they can share on their LinkedIn profiles. However, to access this course, you’ll need to sign up first for a membership with BoF.
- Cost: Starts at $5/month membership
- Scope: Creating product selections, trend forecasting, customer profiling
Created by Business of Fashion
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7. Certificate of Visual Merchandising
If you have an eye for creating in-store displays, Australian Online Courses’ Certificate of Visual Merchandising is the right program for you. It teaches the fundamental design principles of visual merchandising to ensure that you’re reflecting current merchandising techniques. You'll learn how to increase profitability and how to plan and manage advertising and promotions in stores, as well as pricing policies and merchandising displays. It covers everything from unpacking merchandising up to product placement and monitoring. This course takes 100 hours to finish, which may be quite lengthy for those with a short attention span. Not to worry though, as it’s completely self-paced and learners have 12 months of access to the program, which can be extended (additional fees apply) if needed.
- Cost: AU $699
- Scope: Design principles, visual merchandising planning, pricing policies, product placement and monitoring
Created by Australian Online Courses
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8. Buying and Merchandising for Online Retail
Buying and Merchandising for Online Retail is a merchandising training program intended for those who want to thrive in the digital marketplace. In this course, learners will be immersed in practical knowledge when it comes to eCommerce and driving sales online. You’ll learn how to plan and conduct fashion buyer and brand research for fashion in an online retail setting and put it into practice. This course also teaches cutting-edge styling techniques and even demonstrations so learners can see how they’re done in real life. This interactive course is conducted live online, so you can ask the speakers questions and get feedback right away. However, if you miss a lesson, the recording will only be available for 2 weeks after your course runs.
- Cost: £360
- Scope: Ecommerce basics, planning, managing, and driving growth online, styling techniques
Created by University of the Arts London
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9. Package Design I: The Basic Why and How
While we’ve all heard the saying to not judge a book by its cover, the way you design and package your product conveys your brand’s image and can also make or break your sales. In this merchandising training program by Skillshare, you’ll learn all about package design and how to use it to strategically capture your customers’ attention. It will tackle the discipline’s history, target audiences, unique attributes, and fundamental goals while taking advantage of the limited space that packaging allows for. While the design of your packaging is what most stands out, this course will also teach you to include a brief explanation of the product that consumers will find relevant. Participants in this program will get a chance to apply what they’ve learned by designing a real cereal box of their choosing. Skillshare courses can be accessed through a subscription, but they offer a 7-day free trial for those who are looking to test the waters before paying.
- Cost: Free (7 days), Paid plans
- Scope: History of package design, goals of package design, choosing your target audience, creating a package design
Created by Skillshare
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10. Certificate in Creative Merchandising
Dublin Institute of Design has put together this merchandising training program to educate retail employees about effectively representing your brand image. In this course, the theory and core skills of visual merchandising will be discussed, along with the role that comes with being a visual merchandiser. Learners will gain practical skills in retail display, as well as an understanding of brand image and consumer behavior in a retail context. Other topics include, trends in visual merchandising and creative retailing, visual merchandising strategies, and product styling. There’s also a lesson about planning and setting up a retail event to help learners understand what happens behind the scenes before a product presentation. This program runs for 6 weeks on a set night schedule, which can be disadvantageous for those who are looking for flexibility in taking their training.
- Cost: €695
- Scope: Theory of visual merchandising, brand image, consumer behavior, retail event planning
Created by Dublin Institute of Design
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11. Visual Merchandising Training Module
IFA Paris, a certified FEDE institution, offers a two-week course that can be taken on their Paris or Istanbul campuses or online. In this merchandising training program, participants will discover how to attract customers into stores to increase sales volumes. The course opens with the basic visual merchandising principles and concepts, then moves on to fashion merchandising including different types of fashion retailers.
Additionally, learners will understand how appealing to the senses of customers can provide them with a unique shopping experience. Lastly, they’ll learn how to use Photoshop to create mood boards and visual representations of retail spaces. To put everything into practice, the module ends with a workshop.
- Cost: €800 (online), €2,000 (on campus)
- Scope: Visual merchandising principles, fashion merchandising, sensorial marketing, computer graphics
Created by IFA Paris
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12. Merchandising
If your learners have little to no knowledge of merchandising, then this course can help them out as it teaches them everything they need to know about merchandising thoroughly from scratch. In Training Express’s Merchandising course, learners will develop in-demand skills and upgrade existing knowledge. This course is available for one year and can be taken on any device at your learners’ own convenience.
In ten modules, they’ll learn about merchandising theory, product and merchandising management, inventory management and analysis, and merchandising strategy. They’ll also discover more about visual merchandising, merchandise pricing, the importance of consumer behavior, the consumer rights act, and the importance of communication. This course is CPD-certified, RoSPA-approved, and IIRSM-accredited, so you can be assured that your learners are taking a high-quality course.
- Cost: £125
- Scope: Merchandising theory, management, and strategy, product, merchandise, and inventory management, visual merchandising, merchandise pricing, consumer behavior and rights
Created by Training Express
Explore the courseShowcase your brand’s image through your products with merchandising training
Merchandising training programs are a great resource to grow your business and boost your sales. They provide helpful information that your employees can use, such as strategies, techniques, and skills to better market your products and entice consumers to make a purchase. As the competition in the marketplace can be stiff, effective merchandising will help you stand out and inform customers of the value and full potential of your product.