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Digital Merchandising Certification

A 2-DAY PROGRAM THAT PUTS YOU AHEAD OF THE COMPETITION.

Monday, September 16th and Tuesday, September 17th from 10:30 am to 2:00 pm

Exclusively Offered to all SCU undergraduate Students and RMI Alumni*
The program is full and registration is CLOSED. If you are interested in future offerings, please fill out this form.
Alt text: 'Logos of Bloomreach and SCU for Digital Merchandising Certification.'
 

 

Digital Merchandising Certification

SCU RMI & Bloomreach are offering an innovative and cutting-edge 2-day Digital Merchandising Certification program.

 

Are you ready to be a part of the digital merchandising revolution?

Digital merchandising is a truly innovative process. It begins the moment a customer arrives on a company's digital property. It is a process that uses cutting-edge technology (think Generative AI), data, and algorithms to enable a superior customer experience. The global ecommerce market is estimated to rise to $6.86 trillion, before adding another $550 billion in 2026, to $7.41 trillion. By 2027, it’s estimated that world retail ecommerce sales will hit $7.96 trillion.  Online purchases are projected to account for 20.1% of global retail sales in 2024 (equaling $.20 of every dollar spent.) E-commerce has and continues to transform the global retail industry and opportunities will continue to follow in the digital field.  This is your chance to be on the cutting edge of E-Commerce and the technologies that enable it. 

Retail E-Commerce Sales World Wide Chart

 

What's In It For You?

Specific Benefits

  • Learn about Digital Merchandising from an experienced professional & industry leader
  • Gain hands-on experience implementing Digital Merchandising with a program widely used in the industry
  • Differentiate yourself from other job seekers with a certification exclusive to SCU
  • Understand key industry terminology and metrics

After completing this course you will:

  • Understand the role Digital Merchants play in delivering amazing digital experiences.
  • Understand key digital metrics, how they are calculated and what they mean.
  • Have hands-on experience with some of the tools Digital Merchants use

 

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Retail sales continue to migrate from brick and mortar to online at an unprecedented rate. The pandemic accelerated this migration which means many consumers are shopping now with a digital-first mindset. Digital merchandising begins when the customer arrives at the digital property of a retailer. Responding to customers at this moment is crucial part of a successful eCommerce business. It’s the secret to engaging shoppers and guiding them to purchase.

One key ingredient to improving online engagement is giving customers an outstanding digital experience. Recognizing the importance of the digital experience retailers have turned to digital platforms and technologies to deliver the experience. The Bloomreach technology platform is a leading platform for digital engagement. This certification will provide you with a hands on exposure to the Bloomreach technology platform and will demonstrate how to provide customers an experience that leads them to easily discover what they are looking for, and purchase and draw them back for future purchases.

Here is an added bonus: RMI was the first to partner with Bloomreach to offer this certification and to date the only academic partner. So your certification will be a unique asset.

The course is delivered virtually with additional resources designed for:

  • Understanding of eCommerce tools and how they function.
  • Merchandising activities and their purposes.
  • High level eCommerce analytics terms and meanings.

An overview of what two days of this program will cover . . . .

  • Introduction to Digital Merchandising
  • The Digital Ecosystem 
  • How Search Engine Works
  • Recommendations Zones
  • Digital Analytics
  • What Comes Next, Potential Impacts of AI
  • US developments in GenAI
  • Wrap-up & Questions

 

 

Our Instructor

 Justin Daniel Photo

Justin is a seasoned multi-channel merchandising professional with over fifteen years of experience. He currently works with Bloomreach as the Associate Director of Academy. In this role he leads product education programs for Bloomreach employees, clients, and partners. Prior to this role he was a consultant and trainer focused on the Bloomreach Discovery product. In that capacity he worked with clients to help drive adoption and drive maximum value from the tool.

Prior to joining Bloomreach, Justin worked with well-known organizations including Lowe’s Home Improvement, PetSmart, The Home Depot and JCPenney. For each of these companies he leveraged a variety of analytics and site platform tools to drive customer experience and process improvements.


Our Faculty

Kirthi Kalyanam
Professor Kalyanam is the L.J. Skaggs Distinguished Professor and Executive Director of the Retail Management Institute, at Santa Clara University. With research and expertise in retailing, internet & multi-channel marketing, Dr. Kalyanam develops a distinctive cutting-edge curriculum and delivers innovative learning experiences. He brings with him a wealth of knowledge and insights into the future of retail, having previously lead executive seminars on Internet Disruption, the Future of Retail and the Amazon and Wal-Mart Effect in Retailing.

He has served as Faculty Director of the Executive MBA program, a visiting Professor at the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University, a guest faculty in the Stanford Executive MMP program, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of SpinCircuit Inc, a provider of supply chain integration services to the electronics industry and served on the Board of Directors for Overstock.com.

Dr. Kalyanam advises early stage startups and designed and delivered the first Retail University program at Google and today is developing the 3rd generation of this program. It is through his strong connections, he is able to engage industry collaboration for RMI and the retail studies program.

Kirthi finds inspiration in Silicon Valley’s entrepreneurial spirit, expanding the boundaries to connect ideas, and organizations through RMI’s retail study students and transformative programming. He is committed to discovery through the blending of the retail and technology industries.

He received his Ph.D. in business administration from the Krannert School of Management, Purdue University.

Our Industry Experts

Raj De Datta
Raj De Datta is Co-Founder and CEO of Bloomreach, a leading software platform for digital commerce experiences that powers brands representing 25% of retail E-Commerce in the US and the UK. Raj is a multiple time entrepreneur. Raj is also the best selling author of "The Digital Seeker" - a playbook for digital teams to win big.

Before launching Bloomreach, he was entrepreneur-in-residence at Mohr-Davidow Ventures, served as Cisco’s director of product marketing and was on the founding team of telecom company FirstMark Communications. Raj also worked in technology investment banking at Lazard Freres. Raj serves on the Council for Player Development for the US Tennis Association, as a Founder Partner at seed stage venture capital firm Founder Collective and an individual investor in over 20 start-ups.

Hiring managers from a variety of industries share their thoughts on the Certification difference. 

Would you be more likely to interview an applicant who had additional certifications like this on their resume?

Absolutely - digital merchandisers have the potential to lead an eCommerce operation so this specialty is often critical to operating a successful business online. As a hiring manager, I would definitely interview an applicant with a certification in digital merchandising.

What impact does an applicant getting additional certifications have on your perception of them?

High. It tells me they are serious and curious, which are two very important qualities, especially in digital. Between two resumes, where experience was equal, if one had additional certifications and the other did not, I would choose the one with, every time.

Have you made a hiring decision where certifications were a factor?

I was working on filling an internship position. There were several qualified applicants whom I believed could do the job. A deciding factor for me was that one applicant had gone out and gotten certified in a few areas including Google Analytics. In my mind this person had a better base of knowledge and a willingness the extra mile.

Would you recommend professionals trying to enter Digital Merchandising roles take certifications like this?

Absolutely. The digital field has become increasingly competitive. Certifications like this definitively demonstrate that an applicant has built up some skills prior to their first day on the job.

Bloomreach - Digital Merchandising

Bloomreach impacts over $400 billion in digital commerce annually, the equivalent of over 25% of B2C e-commerce in the U.S. and U.K. markets combined. 

 

Bloomreach personalizes the e-commerce experience. It unifies real-time customer and product data so businesses understand what customers really want. By connecting that understanding to every channel, the e-commerce experience becomes limitless — continuously reflecting a changing customer as they shop. With the scale of AI, this creates endless new paths to purchase, greater profitability, and fast business growth. Bloomreach products include: Engagement, a marketing automation platform; Discovery, an e-commerce search solution; and Content, a headless content management system. The company has more than 30 AI patents and serves 850+ global brands including: Albertsons, Bosch, Puma, and Marks & Spencer. Visit www.bloomreach.com for more information.

What Students Are Saying

I liked that this course increased my skills using the tool within a period of two days. It was efficient and effective. It was also nice that we had access to the website and could follow along as the instructor showed us how to use it.

I really enjoyed the the high level of "real world application" shown through the examples that Justin Daniel presented throughout the section lessons.

I loved how engaging the course was and how much information we were able to learn and encode in our memory in such a short period.

Some of the Amazing customers using Bloomreach's Digital Merchandising capabilities . . .

"From a technology usage point of view, any area like e-commerce digital marketing, where technology is a big part of everything that’s going on, hands-on experience with those platforms is something that is going to become a valuable and important part of the student experience."

RMI’s Executive Director Professor Kirthi Kalyanam Ph.D.

Frequently Asked Questions

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