If you are considering a career in fashion or just starting out, Excel is a crucial skill you need to impress your employers, no matter what department you’re heading into.
Excel is not only used in analytical roles; it is used as an organizational tool for anyone and everyone in the fashion industry as an efficient way to keep track of everything. In a career in Buying or Merchandising, Excel is not an option; you need to be an expert to analyze all the data and numbers, however, it’s important to remember that Excel is not just useful for careers that deal with numbers; even designers use Excel.
If you think about any task in the industry, you can expect someone out there to make lists on Excel sheets to keep track of everything. It is an exceedingly important tool to have to impress your employer and prove to them you know how to best stay organized.
Which Fashion Roles Require to Know Excel and What for?
A common misconception is that only senior positions in the fashion industry need to know how to use Excel, but this is false. Excel is a great skill to learn NOW. You can simply impress your recruiter or boss with your knowledge of Excel as an intern right at the start of your career. As an intern, you will traditionally spend a lot of your time organizing things to assist your boss, so why not impress them by showing them your potential and that you take the industry seriously? When keeping track of everything from articles to publish to social media posts, doing them manually and having notes everywhere can be cluttered and chaotic and come across as inexperienced. Instead, from the start of your career you could be impressing your boss with a professional, skillful Excel sheet and gain their respect and admiration from the small things.
So, what do the different roles of fashion use Excel for?
E-commerce:
- Keep track of product selections
- Manage and keep track of online sales progress
- Analyse website visitors, conversions, and performances
- Build category pages before importing them to the website
- Analyze sales, best sellers, and markets
PR:
- Organize guest lists for fashion shows
- Keep an organized list of all their contacts
- Keep track of upcoming meetings
- Monitor sample movement
- Keep track of recording KPIs
Marketers:
- Look into competitors and market analysis
- Organize budget allocation
- Analyze digital campaign performances
- Monitor the analytics of campaigns to see the achievements
- Manage marketing calendars and deadlines
- Keep sales tracker
- Analyze customer database
Buyers and Merchandisers:
- Analyze trends, sales, and purchase behaviors
- Analyze the market and competitors
- Monitor and manage stock allocation
- Oversee deliveries and product assortment
- Analyze and forecast product performance and inventory levels
- Keep track of consumers for their different stores
- Organize meetings and trade show appointments
- Keep an organized list of their connections and contacts
Social media:
- Keep track of upcoming social posts to create
- Organize hashtags used frequently
- Organize captions to publish on Instagram
- Sort out what posts are due
Designers:
- Organize collection spec sheets and fashion tech packs
- Keep track of when fabrics are due from suppliers
- Monitor deliveries
Stylists:
- Monitor sample movement
- Keep track of shoots
- Organizing the casting of models
- Keep track of deadlines
- Keeping track and recording KPI’s
Editors:
- Keep track of articles to write for publications
- Freelance writers will use it to keep track of pitch emails sent
- Plan daily tasks
- Keep track of contacts and emails of editors to reach out to
Excel is used to organize and keep track of absolutely everything! Think of Excel sheets as everything from your to-do list to your budget tracker. Even though at first glance, Excel may seem so much more complex than a simple note document, it in effect assists you in keeping so much more organized with everything from a simple daily to-do list to tracking hundreds of sample movements. It is so much more helpful to anyone in the fashion industry than having note sheets everywhere. Excel is a solution to all your arranging needs.
Did you see your dream role there? Maybe it’s time to learn Excel. I teach it in my online course Excel for Fashion. Register for my free masterclass “4 Excel tricks to impress your fashion boss or recruiters” to get a glimpse into my teaching style.
