I keep hearing that there will be more cuts at home office.
If you are in merchandising and haven’t seen the writing on the wall, you are an id–t.
First they cut buyer time in chair bonuses.
Then they forced merchandising/merch support to stay in place for a minimum of three years.
Then they implemented rank and yank to thin the herd and fire people/cut their bonuses.
They got rid of all 0f your support staff. Planners gone. Replenishment gutted. Merch assistants gone. Mod development planners gone. Pricing managers gone. Mod core gone. Mod execution gone. Merchandising execution gone. Private brands managers slashed.
They’re trying to automate mod drawing and assortment selection. After they rolled out the FSS tool and the pricing tool, what happened? Oh. That’s right. They cut planners and pricing managers.
Do you see the handwriting on the wall yet? Sure there will be fewer mods for the stores. But the product is going to get old and even more boring than it already is (if that is possible).
Merchandising has been being whittled down for years now. If you’re in that area, time to get a plan B.