Merchandising

Build practical skills for a creative career in merchandising

Complete work that simulates life on the job. 3-4 hours and self-paced.
Stand out in your application to Forage. Show us you're a motivated candidate.

Why complete this Job Simulation

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

Self-paced

3-4 hours

No grades

Optional assessment

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. 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

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

The simulation provided excellent, practical experience with retail math and inventory tracking. Calculating real metrics like full-price sell-through percentages and understanding how those metrics guide markdowns or restocking decisions made the concepts feel tangible and highly relevant to a merchandising career.

Student, SRM Institute Of Science & Technology ( Deemed University)

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 highly valued the practical, hands-on approach of this simulation. Designing a commercial line sheet from scratch and structuring pivot tables to analyze regional inventory trends gave me a realistic look into a Merchandising Analyst's daily workflow. It perfectly bridged the gap between academic business concepts and real-world retail operations.

Student, Takhar University