Skip to main content

Digital Merchandising Certification

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

Wednesday, September 7th and Thursday, September 8th from 10:30 am to 2:00 pm

Exclusively Offered to Seniors, Juniors, and RMI Alumni*
MUST REGISTER BY AUGUST 31st
 

Registration is now closed.

Digital Merchandising Certification

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

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 data and algorithms to enable a superior customer experience. The global ecommerce market is expected to total $5.55 trillion in 2022 and according to eMarketer, online retail sales will reach $6.17 trillion by 2023, with ecommerce websites taking up 22.3% of total retail sales. E-commerce has and continues to transform the global retail industry and opportunities will continue to follow in the digital field, will you be ready? 

E-Commerce Growth = Jobs

24.5%

Projected Global Retail E-Commerce by 2025

85%

E-COMMERCE GLOBAL SALES PROJECTED GROWTH 2019-2023

3,623

Jobs on LinkedIn containing “digital merchandising”

5,343

Jobs on Indeed containing “digital merchandising”

This explosion has created a huge amount of job opportunities in digital merchandising. To help you win a position in this exciting field, RMI and Bloomreach are offering an innovative 2-day course and cutting-edge certification program that will set you apart from the competition.

What's In It For You?

Bloomreach Certification Differentiate Yourself

* Consideration for the Shoptalk Scholarship Opportunity is based on completion and passing of the RMI Digital Merchandising Program Certification. RMI Alumni and those students who are NOT RMI minors are not eligible for Shoptalk Sponsorship. RMI follows the SCU Travel protocols and is subject to University travel restrictions and adherence to COVID travel guidelines which could result in cancellation of the Shoptalk Scholarship.

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.

Day 1: Wednesday, Sept 7 (10:30am - 2:00pm)

  • Introduction to Digital Merchandising
    • Components of websites
    • Common terminology
    • Product Data
  • Bloomreach Overview
  • How Onsite Search Works
    • Ranking
    • Synonyms
    • Diagnosing Search Results
    • Redirects
    • Autosuggestions

Day 2: Thursday, Sept 8 (10:30am - 2:00pm) 

  • How Category Pages Work
  • Facet (Left Hand Navigation) Management
  • Blocking Autosuggest Terms
  • Audience Targeting
  • A/B Testing
  • Campaigns and Assets
  • Widgets
  • Web Analytics
    • Common Terms and Calculation
    • Approaches to Analytics

 

Our Instructor

 Justin E. Daniel - Bloomreach Senior Academy Manager

Justin is a seasoned multi-channel merchandising professional with over fifteen years of experience. He currently works with Bloomreach as the Senior Academy Manager. In this role he leads product education for Bloomreach clients and partners.

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 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 is the world’s #1 Commerce Experience Cloud, empowering brands to deliver customer journeys so personalized, they feel like magic. It offers a suite of products that drive true personalization and digital commerce growth, including: Discovery, offering AI-driven search and merchandising; Content, offering a headless CMS; and Engagement, offering a leading CDP and marketing automation solutions. Together, these solutions combine the power of unified customer and product data with the speed and scale of AI-optimization, enabling revenue-driving digital commerce experiences that convert on any channel and every journey. Bloomreach serves over 850 global brands including Albertsons, Bosch, Puma, FC Bayern München, and Marks & Spencer. For more information, visit Bloomreach.com.

What Students Are Saying

Navigate here to Anna Becker

As a senior, the RMI DMC program gave me comfort in the looming stress of finding a job post-grad. Walking into interviews with retail giants, I feel confident in my skills knowing I have been trained by the best. I am extremely thankful RMI presented this opportunity to better prepare me for my future in the retail industry.

Anna Becker

Navigate here to Emily Chao - RMI Agency R

I liked being able to go into the Sandbox and work with the concepts that we were learning with directly.

Emily Chao

"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.

Thank You!

We are grateful for financial support from our donors who made this incredible program possible.