What Do Merchandise Managers Do

A typical day of a merchandise manager isn’t so much focused on ‘a single day’, but rather a whole tour as a project. One that begins months before a tour starts and ends long after a tour is over. Often with tour ‘projects’ overlapping. Weeks before a tour is spent creating designs, following previous sales trends, current market trends, budgeting, financing, shipping logistics, and show ‘advancing’ (preparing shows weeks ahead for the actual day of the event).

Travel is required on the tour — most often traveling with the band on their means of travel (plane, bus) and occasionally tours require self-travel.

Day-of usually begins at about 9 am loading in merchandise to a venue, meeting with house merchandise representatives (the people that will be selling your merch for that show), balancing sales sheets, counting all merchandise that has been ‘counted in’, separating merchandise to be split between satellite stations, setting up show displays, managing the team that will be dealing with the public in taking actual transactions.

The end of the show is simple but time-consuming: all merchandise is ‘married’ back to one central location, counted, and deducted from what is sold. Numbers on both sides: merchandise manager & house venues numbers match, paperwork is signed, product is loaded out back onto your truck and ready for the next day.

Shows ending at 11 pm, your day finally ends about 1-2 am.

Then it’s on to the next show!

There are typically 3-5 shows per week with a North American tour lasting 6-10 weeks.

At the end of a tour, while the goal is to have as little product remaining as possible, there is always some — oftentimes much, much more than you anticipated. This remaining product is sent to individual retailers, specialty shops, web stores, or stored for the next tour.

Then begins a few weeks of end-of-tour balancing, chasing checks and wire payments, making sure all daily accounts are closed and the band has been paid in full. This work is typically done at home as there is no need for a central office or location, plus you need a lot of rest after weeks on the road.

Pros

Excellent pay, travel, the satisfaction of being a part of a large touring event.

Cons

STRESS, long work days, time away from family, constant liability for all merchandise on a tour, and its safety and security.