This program is available at the following location:

• Corvallis

Options available:

• Dean's Academy
• Sports Business

Students in the Product and Merchandising Management program prepare for a variety of positions centered on researching, planning, and executing customer-right product assortments. Graduates can be found working for apparel, footwear, and hardline manufacturers as merchants who assist retailers in building product assortments, as product development coordinators who work with merchants and designers, as demand planners who predict what and how much product needs to be produced for a given season, and as product development support. They can also be found working for retailers as buyers who create on-trend product assortments, as planners who utilize data analysis to ensure the optimal product quantities are allocated to the locations and retail channels where shoppers expect them, as merchants who work with buyers and design teams to manage product inventories, as store managers who plan daily operations, and as visual merchandisers who execute the overall store environment and product displays.

Major Code: A014

Upon successful completion of the program, students will meet the following learning outcomes:

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

The lower-division design core involves completion of courses within the first and second year that build a solid foundation for the upper-division merchandising curricula. The lower-division design core coursework may be completed at OSU or any accredited college or university that offers equivalent courses transferable to OSU. Students entering design programs should have basic art and illustration skills. ART 115 and ART 117 are highly recommended elective courses.

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4 credits (1 course) of the Product and Merchandising Management curriculum satisfies a Bacc Core requirement

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28 credits (8 courses) of the Bacc Core requirements are also part of the Design Core

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Options and minors are available to provide specializations and fulfill elective credits

Design Core Curriculum

The design core curriculum provides students with a broad overview of design thinking and processes.

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Baccalaureate Core Course (BCC)

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Writing Intensive Course (WIC)

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Core Education course. Applies only to students admitted to an OSU undergraduate degree from Summer 2025 onwards

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The ART, COMM, ECON, MTH and WR courses listed meet the university's baccalaureate core requirements for Literature & The Arts, Western Culture, Science, Technology & Society, Speech, Social Processes & Institutions, Mathematics, and Writing. All students must meet the other Baccalaureate Core requirements and the other requirements for baccalaureate degrees

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Courses require a grade of C or higher

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Students may substitute any COB 004 Internship course (eg. BA 004) for the experiential learning requirement if they do not need an additional 2 credits to meet their 180 degree total

Product and Merchandising Management Curriculum

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Course requires a grade of C or higher

Major Code: A014

Degree plans are subject to change and the following is only an example of how students may complete their degree in four years. Students should consult their advisor to determine the best degree plan for them. Contact details for advisors can be found on the Academic Advising page.