The document discusses the author's experience as a Merchandise Team Manager. Some of the key things learned were merchandising skills like organization and arrangement come naturally, and understanding customer shopping preferences is important. Aspects of the job reminded the author of military training around teamwork, attention to detail, and cleanliness. Shadowing a District Planner and participating in a floor move were the most beneficial learning activities, especially receiving feedback on merchandising work. As MTM over the Macy Women's area, the author saw immediate improvements in how the area looked and customer feedback, along with significant sales increases compared to prior performance.

1. 1) What was the most surprising thing you learned about merchandise execution? What was
your biggest challenge?
The most surprising thing was the fact that I’m pretty good at merchandising. Originally I
thought it was going to be very challenging for the fact that it’s something that I’ve never done.
I then realized I’ve been doing it for much of my life in my own closet. I’ve always been a little
OCD when it comes to cleanliness and organization in general. Once I realized that I would
always first reference the directive and ZOG. Then I would just think if this was my closet how
would I arrange things that would make sense and look good. Once I figured out this principle
on top of a few key merchandising techniques it was fun to re-merchandise and put new
merchandise out in an area and see significant improvements sometimes in as little as a three
day period. As far as challenges it was starting to learn who the customer is and who would
shop what brands and why they would shop those brands. I still struggle with this and I’m
making it a goal to start learning what customers shop what brands, and within those brands
who is shopping for what.
2) Are they any aspects of this rotation that reminded you of your time in the military?
Some of the key teachings that are embedded into every Soldier during basic training are,
Teamwork is the Key, Attention to Detail and Cleanliness. Merchandising team manager you
need to be part of the total store both working with Sales managers, ASM’s, VPSM, RTM, and
your various leads to accomplish your goals. Knowing how to leverage and when to leverage
each is very important to driving total business throughout your area of responsibility. Without
one team member pulling their weight can cause negative results. For example if your floor is
light and receiving is backed up you need to make sure you communicate what you need as a
priority so they can get it out. Attention to detail is key everywhere. Are certain colors front to
back, are you following the ZOG when it comes to price points, are you checking to make sure
the correct EDV’s are on the right fixtures and signed correctly, are your areas signed correctly,
are they in line with Regional and Store priorities, etc. You as a MTM have to have a total focus
on your area to make sure you are driving the support team working in conjunction with the
sales manager. Cleanliness is always important since no one wants to shop in a dirty or
disorganized environment. Something as simple as a Petite Women item in the Macy Women
area of the store causes many problems. Not only would the petite customer not be able to find
this item, and the associate also would not be able to find this item to sell but when someone is
looking for fulfillment it also is unfound. After this unfound item sits there for months it is
marked down until it becomes a penny and you lost out on a significant amount of margin.
When you go up to a 4 way you expect it to be organized by style, color, and size. If you don’t
find the size you probably will walk away and miss the sale.
3) Overall, how would you describe your Merchandise rotation?

2. 4) What learning activity did you find the most beneficial to your performance as a
Merchandise Team Manager?
The two key activities where I gained the best understanding were shadowing the District
Planner where I was able to relate with my accounting/finance skills and gain a better
understanding on how to analyze business. The most beneficial was when I had the opportunity
to go to another store toward the end of my MTM Shadow phase and help do a floor move. I
was working side by side with my MTM Mentor and she gave me a portion of a floor to re-
merchandise. After I re-merchandised this area she came over, we stepped back, and she asked
me what I saw. Then after I told her what I saw and what I did she would ask me questions as to
why I did certain things, make comments and then give me her thoughts and ask me to re-think
it. Then I did it again and we would repeat this process until I was able to see what right was
and understand why. Then she would give me a new section and I was able to repeat this a few
times over. In addition I went back a week later however this time my MTM Mentor wasn’t
there and I was in charge of whole areas and I was a great experience and really solidified what
was learned the previous week.
5) How did your behavior as MTM impact the business.
I choose Macy Women with my VPSM because it is down trending across the company and it is one of
the bigger opportunities in the store. There was an almost immediate improvement from the second day
of being in charge of Macy Women. Not only with the numbers but customers were commenting on how
the area looked and how much easier it was to shop. There was a large trend improvement from Q2 to
Aug 2014. Macy Woman had a 6 point improvement and within Macy women I had a significant
improvement specifically in Alfani with a 32pt improvement. Comparing how Macy Women was doing
before my rotation to the last week of my rotation I had significant improvements STD % sales ranking vs
MDS +2, STD % Turn ranking +84, and YTD % Turn +27. QTD total Macy Women there was a 15%
increase v. Plan, and 1% YTD.