WHENEVER YOU browse through showrooms of a luxury retail outlet, you are welcomed by the season’s exquisite and selective fashion items that immediately captures your attention. Sometimes, you might get lucky and come across a shop that perfectly suits your taste. If you have ever wondered who plan such fashionable product lines, you are referring to merchandisers. Merchandisers work as a bridge between manufacturers and retail buyers by planning product lines with each season’s it-items, creating eye-catching displays in retail stores, and helping retailers achieve profit-maximizing sales volume. Among various types of merchandisers (MDs), The Yonsei Annals met with a craft merchandiser Ha Mi-hyang who is not only a MD, but also a headhunter in the world of crafts.

Annals: What does a craft merchandiser do?

Ha: In broad terms, merchandisers plan and implement strategies that enable both the seller and the dealer to deliver sales and meet target profits. The specific role of MDs, however, depends on the characteristic of the retail stores they work for and the type of products they are in charge of. As a department store MD who specializes in craft products, I discover new artisans who are hidden gems in the crafts field and help them sell their work through offline platforms, especially in department stores. Despite their talents, not all artisans get opportunities to showcase and sell their work except for the few who are able to participate in exhibitions and craft fairs. By unlocking their desires to share their work with the world and connecting them with suitable dealers, I help both the artisan and the retail buyer to generate profit.

Annals: Can you explain in further detail about who these artisans are?

Ha: When I say artisans, we mostly think of masters who make vintage handicraft goods on a small scale, but these days, many artisans also use computer designs to add patterns, shades, and texture to their work, providing modern taste. I work with artisans who make non mass-produced products for practical use, ranging from furniture, pottery, clothing, jewelry, sunglasses, bags, and even to this hat that I am wearing. Craft artisans are usually grouped by the specific type of material they use rather than the type of products they produce. For instance, I recently worked with craft artisans who specialize in fabric, silver, and ceramics.

Annals: What steps do you take to successfully plan and launch a project with craft artisans?

Ha: Normally, before I take on a project, I regularly go on Instagram or attend Handarty Korea*’s regular craft fairs with my Creative Assistant (CA) team to look for unique artisans and acquaint ourselves with the newest trends in the crafts field. After listing potential candidates to work with, I contact the artisans on whether they are willing to work with us on selling their products and meet them in person to brief them on the type of retail store they will be dealing with. Once I get a confirmation from both the retail store and the artisans, our CA team visits the contracted pop-up store location at our connected department stores to start planning the product line, discussing our target sales volume, and deciding on the price of the products. The details of the discussion with the department store retail buyers depend on the location of the department store, type of pop-up stores, main customer base, and personal preferences of the artisans we teamed up with. Once the pop-up store opens, I visit the pop-store instead of my office to see the store atmosphere and the customers’ responses. After receiving constructive feedback from the customers, department store managers, and our client artisans about the project, I move on to my next project bearing those comments in mind.

Annals: It seems that selecting artists to work closely with is another essential aspect of your job. What criteria do you consider when selecting the artist?

Ha: The first thing I consider is product maturity. I select quality products that accurately represent our artisans, meet our retail buyers’ trust and expectations, and are compatible with other products sold in department stores. Also, because many of the products we sell are lifestyle craft goods such as jewelries and bags, I make sure that these products are comfortable to wear. A useful strategy for this is to buy them in advance to give careful feedback to our artisans. I try to be very mindful when I do this, but products that are uncomfortable to wear ultimately fail to appeal to most customers, even with the best designs.

Annals: You have mentioned that you specialize in department stores for your merchandising career. What is unique about merchandising in department stores compared to other retail stores?

Ha: Department store MDs should be able to find products that have the right amount of trendiness. Although department store customers look for distinctive and fashionable products, they are not bold enough to purchase products that are overly eccentric or too non-mainstream. Keeping this in mind, our team also considers different regional characteristics of the department stores. For example, we can be bolder with our product lines for tourist cities like Jeonju where there are many incoming foreigners visiting department stores as a part of their itinerary plan. Even among department store MDs, there are differences between craft MDs like myself and other MDs. Unlike other MDs in department stores that tend to specialize in a specific type of product such as senior clothing, women’s clothing, or scarves, craft MDs oversee a broad range of products because, as mentioned before, we classify artisans based on the type of materials they use. Also, while most department store MDs divide their products based on age groups such as senior, young casual, and young classic, craft MDs try to avoid doing so because all craft consumers seek for uniqueness and their tastes and preferences cannot be divided into traditional age group categories. This also means that craft MDs have to be comfortable with merchandising a wider range of products, be knowledgeable about the combination of different products in retail stores and be more sensible about multifaceted trends in the fashion industry.

Annals: What are the necessary qualities to become a craft merchandiser?

Ha: First, you must be a meticulous observer with genuine interest in people. An MD must be able to quickly identify customer’s needs and wants based on detailed observations of the general public. To build this quality, I try to observe the people around me when using the subway, starting from identifying the type of clothes, bags, and jewelries they wear to their mannerisms in their gestures. I find this skill is useful because an MD should always be curious about people. Also, to have a discerning eye in choosing the right quality products, you have to truly immerse yourself in studying art and fashion and understand the nature of different materials well. It always takes time to have a good sense of judgment, so I suggest you put yourself in the shoes of a customer first and try purchasing a variety of different products. Another important quality is your interpersonal skill especially because craft MDs should be able to communicate the consumer’s perspective and opinions to the artisan whilst considering the importance of preserving the craft’s originality and showing respect to the artisan’s work. Because constantly meeting new people and sharing opinions are an important part of a craft MD’s working pattern, it is necessary for a craft MD to be a ‘people person’.

Annals: What prompted you to pursue a career as a craft merchandiser?

Ha: Before choosing to pursue a career as a craft merchandiser, I used to be a good girl. Although I always loved studying art and wanted to pursue a job that was anything art-related, I obediently followed the traditional career path of a woman and worked for jobs that pleased my parent’s wishes. Because my parents wanted me to become a teacher, I ended up majoring in English Education and worked for publishing companies and trading companies after graduation. I even worked as a private tutor, a well-paid and stable job back then, rather than working at places that sparked passion. But after I became a mom of two kids and decided to quit my job to devote more time to my family, I had more time in my hands to truly rethink about myself, my career, and my life. During my long career break, I realized my regret for not having studied art in college and having jobs that satisfied others rather than myself. From then on, I returned to my old hobbies of visiting exhibitions and reading fashion magazines and art books. Looking at colorful advertisements about new products in magazines rekindled my interest in arts and crafts, which coincidentally aligned with MyMasters**’ job opening for craft MDs. Without hesitation, I applied to MyMasters as a craft MD to grab this last opportunity and make it count.

Annals: What are some merits and difficulties when marketing a craft good?

Ha: A merit when marketing a craft good, unlike marketing mass-produced products, is that we are able to make personalized products for the customers. Even at department stores, some artisans are willing to receive custom orders to meet different consumers’ demand. Take my silver ring as an example; if customers request for a custom ring that combines two different designs, artisans may accept such requests and produce a more unique product. One of the major difficulties, on the other hand, would be that since most craft goods are produced in a relatively small scale, some artisans could fall short of buyers’ requested sales volume. This can be a major shortcoming given the time constraints of most sales projects conducted at department stores.

Annals: You mentioned the relatively small scale of production for most craft goods. How big is their actual market size?

Ha: Even though it is true that the individual production scale is relatively small, the market’s estimated worth is about ₩6-8 trillion. Driven by consumers’ desire to customize their purchases these days, we expect the market size for craft goods to continuously grow.

Annals: What is the current trend in craft goods and what are crafts’ main charm points?

Ha: There usually isn’t a single overarching trend in craft goods due to the variety of product types and materials in the craft world. But, these days, emotive products rather than essential products are in high demand. For instance, products with vivid colors and vibrant patterns or aromatic products such as essential oil diffusers that help relieve one’s stress and brighten one’s mood are attracting many consumers who are experiencing corona blues. Also, eco-friendly or recyclable products are especially popular due to an increased interest towards preserving the environment among both consumers and artisans. I find craft goods’ unique trait of reflecting each artisan’s story and appealing to emotions a strong charm point. And because craft goods are hand-made, no matter how cold or hard materials were used in the process, they tend to emanate a sense of warmth and withhold sentimental value in them, which are difficult to find in mass-produced goods.

Annals: You have worked with over 700 artisans so far. Are there any memorable artisans you want to introduce to our readers?

Ha: Of the many artisans that I have worked with, there are two artisans that stand out in my memory. A silver artisan who runs her own brand, FOH, is memorable because of her highly relatable products. One of her notable works is a silver necklace made out of tiny boxes for baby teeth. In Korea, we usually throw baby teeth on the house roof for birds to fetch away. But it was interesting and heartwarming how this artisan’s necklace could be used to preserve not only the tooth itself but also the childhood memory shared between a mother and a child. She also makes matching necklaces for young couples with the design of a padlock and a key. I appreciate FOH’s craft work because it is personalized and captures special emotions that are not easily reflected in most jewelries.

   Another one of my memorable artisans is a hat artisan. I remember her not only because of her exotic design and the suitability of her products to the Asian physique, but her journey in launching her own products in the department store. She used to be a hidden gem, running a small select shop at Apgujeong but after she teamed up with us when the market demand for hats was especially high in the Busan market, she was able to expand her products to other department store branches as well and reach up to a monthly profit of ₩100 million. The unexpectedness of the scale of her success in the craft markets makes her unforgettable.

Annals: Ever since the outbreak of COVID-19, customers visiting department stores have sharply declined. As department stores used to be artisans’ main stage, will there be any fundamental changes to the system?

Ha: There won’t be any fundamental changes to the system such as suddenly focusing on selling our products online. Although online platforms have their merits, they don’t fully capture the color, size, and beauty of our craft goods. Another reason is due to the uniqueness of department stores as a retail seller. Most of the regular department store customers treat their visit as a part of their consumer experience (CX) and expect to receive quality personalized service. However, online platforms that are focused on providing quick and one-directional interaction do not provide the depth of personal interactions that regular department store customers look for. Also, considering the majority of department store customers are middle-aged women, who have enough leisure time and are still more familiar with consuming products offline than online, we do not see any fundamental changes taking place in the system in the immediate future.

Annals: What is the most fulfilling aspect of your job?

Ha: I feel most content to see our artisans grow beyond their own expectations. Many talented artisans I have worked with didn’t fully believe in their potentials, so I constantly encouraged them to make new challenges and show off their work to the world. As I personally regret being a timid person who was not willing to take much risk in life, I project my life lesson to my fellow artisans. The best part of this job is to see these artists gain newfound confidence and grow to their full potential.

Annals: What are your future goals?

Ha: I don’t have a personal goal, but I hope that more talented artisans can continue selling their products on various platforms, surpass their limits, and one day claim their superiority in the international stage. I also hope our business can grow enough to compensate for our crew’s hard work to popularize Korean craft goods.

*Handyart Korea is the host of Korea’s largest and oldest craft fairs and exhibitions.

**MyMasters is a platform company and an artisan agency dedicated to connecting talented domestic artisans with buyers nationwide and helping artisans with sale and marketing of their products. It currently maintains a long-term partnership with over 40 branches of reputable department stores.