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Undergraduate
Major
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Product & Merchandising Management

Merchandisers play an instrumental role in ensuring that brands and retailers offer consumers what they want, whether it is in fashion goods such as clothing and footwear or consumer products and packaged goods like food and beverage, cosmetics, and cleaning products.

Overview

Can you see yourself working for a brand or retailer to develop, present and manage the product assortments they offer to consumers? Merchandisers play an instrumental role in ensuring that brands and retailers offer consumers what they want, whether it is in fashion goods such as clothing and footwear or consumer products and packaged goods like food and beverage, cosmetics, and cleaning products.

We prepare you for careers related to the development and presentation of customer-right merchandise. You’ll develop skills in fashion forecasting, market analysis, design thinking, retail and merchandising analytics, and visual merchandising through coursework and hands-on projects.

You will also graduate with a solid business foundation through courses such as global sourcing, entrepreneurship, marketing, consumer behavior, and more.

A quality education guided by industry standards — our program is ranked as one of the top-five fashion merchandising programs on the west coast.

We offer product and merchandising management as a design major program and merchandising management as minor to supplement any major in Corvallis.

Major
Minor
In-Person: Corvallis
Bachelor of Science
32

What you’ll learn

Explain how social, environmental, political, cultural and economic systems and geography relate to the planning, creation, production, merchandising, distribution, consumption, and resulting company performance of textile, apparel and footwear products. 

Apply market research skills throughout the line planning and development process to establish line direction in terms of color, style, materials, separates/coordinates balance and pricing. 

Development assortment plans that are in line with specific target markets, company location and/or selling format, marketplace trends and performance goals.

Develop merchandise budgets and analyze and update budgets to meet company performance goals.

Use industry-relevant technology to formulate and communicate merchandising decisions.

Apply visual and promotional strategies across different selling formats that would potentially enhance company performance.

28+

College of Business degrees and options

84%

Classes with fewer than 50 students

+450

Companies recruit our students each year

Options:

Once you enroll in the product & merchandising management degree, you can select from the following options:

Undergraduate
Option
Dean's Academy

The Dean’s Academy is an academic forum for high-achieving first-year students, transfer students, and current undergraduate students on the Corvallis campus who wish to maximize the educational and experiential aspects of their college experience.

Details
Undergraduate
Minor
Option
Microcredential
Sports Business

Sports are more than just a game. The global sports business industry is a rapidly evolving area of work. And this booming field needs professionals who can manage growth opportunities and cultivate innovative, data-driven strategies to advance the industry.

Details

Product & merchandising management opportunities

Study abroad

Sydney, Australia: University of Technology Sydney

Vienna, Austria: Vienna University of Economics & Business

Santiago, Chile: Universidad de Chile, Facultad Economia y Negocios

Explore study abroad opportunities

Associated clubs

American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists

National Retail Federation

See all clubs

Scholarships

Cecelia T. Shuttleworth

Merchandising Management Scholarship

N. Marie Ledbetter Memorial Scholarship

See all scholarship opportunities

Ways to attend

We offer classes in the modalities that work for you and your schedule.

In-person: Corvallis

Attend classes in Austin Hall, the $50 million, 100,000-square-foot building with five research centers, a marketing research suite, 10 classrooms, 23 computer- and teleconference-equipped project rooms, a 250-seat auditorium, a café and faculty offices.

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Merchandising management & business: Add an option or minor

The merchandising management minor pairs well with business specialty degrees, e.g., marketing, business analytics, entrepreneurship, supply chain and logistics management or accounting.

The minor provide specialization that positions business students for careers in the retail industry — the largest private-sector employer in Oregon and the U.S., according to the National Retail Federation.

Student stories

Undergraduate
Option
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Details
Undergraduate
Major
Minor
Option
Accounting

Today's accountants are tech-savvy problem solvers, insightful planners and strategic thinkers. Many of the “number-crunching” tasks formerly thought to be part of an accountant's world have long ago been replaced by sophisticated software.

Details
Undergraduate
Option
Dean's Academy

The Dean’s Academy is an academic forum for high-achieving first-year students, transfer students, and current undergraduate students on the Corvallis campus who wish to maximize the educational and experiential aspects of their college experience.

Details
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