Forage Academy Merchandising

Why complete this Job Simulation

A risk-free way to experience work on the job with us at Forage Academy. Practice your skills with example tasks and build your confidence to ace your applications.

Self-paced

3-4 hours

No grades

No assessments

Introductory

Welcome to the Retail Merchandising Simulation!

We’re thrilled to have you join us for an interactive, hands-on journey into the fast-paced world of apparel merchandising. Whether you’re curious about how products go from concept to customer or you’re eager to sharpen your analytical and creative skills, this program is your entry point.

Across four engaging tasks, you’ll step into the role of a merchandising analyst, work with real-world-inspired data, and make strategic decisions that influence product performance and business outcomes. You’ll explore sales analysis, create professional merchandising tools, and evaluate competitor strategies — all while thinking like a merchandiser and acting like a strategist.

Get ready to analyze, create, and make informed decisions as you experience the exciting challenges of driving success in the retail apparel industry.

How it works

Complete tasks guided by pre-recorded videos and example answers from our team at Forage Academy. No live sessions, all self-paced.
Earn a certificate and add it to your resume and LinkedIn as an extracurricular activity.
Stand out in applications. Confidently answer interview questions and explain why you’re a good fit for our team.

Skills you will learn and practice:

Communication

Critical Thinking

Data Analysis

Excel

Excel Pivot Tables

Financial Planning

Inventory Management

Market Research

Mathematics

Merchandise Planning

Merchandising

Introduction from Forage Academy

Tasks

Task One: Create an on-order log

30-60 mins

Using purchase order data, create an on-order log by location

What you'll learn

How to create and use pivot tables.
How to use data to identify key trends in inventory across global and regional markets.
How data analysis supports effective inventory and financial planning.

What you'll do

Create a pivot table to display sales and unit data for merchandise across global and regional markets.
Summarize your findings to assist with inventory management and financial planning.

Task One: Create an on-order log

30-60 mins

Using purchase order data, create an on-order log by location

What you'll learn

How to create and use pivot tables.
How to use data to identify key trends in inventory across global and regional markets.
How data analysis supports effective inventory and financial planning.

What you'll do

Create a pivot table to display sales and unit data for merchandise across global and regional markets.
Summarize your findings to assist with inventory management and financial planning.

Reviews

4.6

It provided practical, hands-on experience with merchandising analysis, including working with sales and inventory data, creating PivotTables, calculating sell-through, and building a professional line sheet. I liked that the activities were realistic and helped connect analytical skills with real retail decision-making.

Student

I really enjoyed the practical retail merchandising tasks. Learning to calculate sell-through rates and analyze inventory data with pivot tables gave me hands-on professional skills that are useful for retail analyst roles. The step-by-step questions helped me fully understand how merchandising teams make inventory and pricing decisions

Student, Xiangtan Normal University

I enjoyed how the simulation reflected real-world merchandising tasks using Excel and pivot tables. The instructions were clear, the scenarios were practical, and the exercises helped me understand inventory management, sales analysis, and full-price sell-through in a hands-on way. It was engaging and improved both my analytical thinking and Excel skills.

Student, Kumaun University