Client notes
What merchandisers did after the briefing, not a star rating.
These notes name the engagement. One of them records a complaint about length, which we kept because it was fair.
The category review named three listings whose photography contradicted the size chart. We changed the first image and the add-to-basket rate on those lines recovered within a fortnight. I still wish the first draft had used fewer pages.
Marta Ellison, Head of merchandising, womenswear independent — Category merchandising review
James’s conversion pack arrived every Tuesday with the listings that lost conversion after we swapped outdoor furniture hero shots. The notes were specific enough that buying could argue with photography, not with a vague percentage.
Owen Blake, Trading manager, home and garden catalogue — Conversion reporting pack
The seasonal briefing put last year’s width fittings next to this year’s proposed buy. We cut two colourways that had never converted above a handful of pairs. The readout in Merrion was brisk; the written pack is what we still open.
Sian Probert, Buyer, children’s footwear — Seasonal assortment briefing
I expected a pile of charts I would never read. Instead Helen walked the listing audit on a printed grid, marking where we showed the back of a jacket before the fabric. We still run a two-person team; this fitted that reality.
David Okonkwo, Founder, small menswear shop with a modest online range — Listing presentation audit
Story: restoring lifestyle photography on garden dining sets
A home catalogue swapped six hero images to warehouse pack shots before a spring event. Visits held; add-to-basket on sets above £400 fell in the same week. The conversion pack listed the six URLs, the date of the swap (taken from the merchandiser’s own change log), and last year’s spring conversion on the same lines. Buying and photography argued for two meetings. Lifestyle frames went back on the dearer sets; pack shots stayed on entry lines. The following fortnight’s pack showed add-to-basket recovering on the restored listings only — which was the point of splitting the chart by listing rather than by “garden furniture” as a lump.
Story: children’s trainers and the buried wide fitting
Sian’s buying team could see that wide fittings converted when parents found them. On the grid, colour came first, so wide options sat several scrolls down. The seasonal briefing did not ask for a new buy. It asked for tile order by fitting, then colour, and for the filter label parents already used in shop. After the change, the next conversion pack still showed weak colourways; those were a buying question. The width listings were no longer invisible. That distinction — presentation versus buy — is why we keep assortment briefings and conversion packs as separate pieces of writing.