Merchandising is 21 scored Arts items, and it is the one Arts domain with real arithmetic in it. Markup on cost, gross margin on selling price, break-even, overhead per case, and the unit pricing methods all appear as computations you work rather than formulas you recognize.
The other half is casket and container knowledge, and it is more specific than most students expect — gauge and its inverse relationship to thickness, seamless construction, gasketed versus non-gasketed, wood species and veneer, and the parts of the cap and the interior each have their own vocabulary.
What this domain tests
- Casket anatomy — cap styles and molding, handle types and components, interior components and application styles
- Metal caskets — gauge, bronze and copper weights, stainless steel, seamless construction, corrosion protection
- Wood caskets — species, premium hardwoods, softwoods, veneer construction, cloth-covered units
- Protective versus nonprotective caskets, gasketing, and permissible claims
- Outer burial containers, vault construction and materials, and sealing principles
- Cremation merchandise — rental and cremation caskets, urn materials and capacity, alternative containers
- Pricing methods — functional/itemized, bi-unit, tri-unit, package, and single-unit
- Pricing computations — markup on cost, gross margin on selling price, break-even, overhead per case
- Selection room design — avenue of approach, balanced display, partial and corner displays, lighting
3 sample funeral service marketing/merchandising questions
Real items from the bank. Commit to an answer before you open the explanation — the reasoning is what transfers to the exam, not the answer key.
ArtsCasket Construction - Metal Gaugeeasy
1. Comparing two steel caskets, one of 16-gauge and one of 20-gauge construction, the 16-gauge casket is made of steel that is:
- AIdentical in thickness, since gauge measures hardness rather than depth
- BThinner, because gauge numbers increase as sheet metal becomes heavier
- CThicker, because a lower gauge number denotes a heavier sheet of metal
- DLighter, because gauge reflects the alloy's composition, not its thickness
Show the answer and why
Answer: C — Thicker, because a lower gauge number denotes a heavier sheet of metal
Steel gauge runs inversely to thickness: 16-gauge sheet is thicker and heavier than 20-gauge, which is why lower-gauge steel caskets occupy higher price positions in most lines.
- A. Gauge is a thickness designation for sheet metal; it does not measure hardness.
- B. This inverts the scale; higher gauge numbers indicate thinner, lighter sheet metal.
- D. Alloy composition is a separate specification; gauge speaks only to sheet thickness.
Klicker, Funeral Directing and Funeral Service Management (casket construction: metal gauges); standard funeral merchandising course materials on metal caskets.
ArtsCasket Construction - Wood Specieseasy
2. In casket merchandising, the term 'hardwood' properly refers to lumber cut from:
- ADeciduous broadleaf species such as oak, maple, and walnut
- BEngineered boards laminated under pressure from mixed wood fibers
- CConiferous evergreen species such as pine, spruce, and cedar
- DAny timber kiln-dried below roughly ten percent moisture content
Show the answer and why
Answer: A — Deciduous broadleaf species such as oak, maple, and walnut
Hardwood and softwood are botanical classifications: hardwoods come from deciduous broadleaf trees (oak, maple, walnut, cherry, mahogany), while softwoods come from conifers; the terms describe species, not measured hardness.
- B. Engineered or composition products are manufactured boards, not hardwood lumber of any species.
- C. Conifers such as pine, spruce, and cedar are softwoods by definition, whatever their density.
- D. Drying method and moisture content affect quality but have nothing to do with the hardwood classification.
Klicker, Funeral Directing and Funeral Service Management (wood casket construction; hardwood versus softwood species).
ArtsCasket Construction - Cloth-Covered Unitseasy
3. The shell of a typical cloth-covered casket is most often constructed of:
- AFiberboard or similar pressed-wood material overlaid with tailored fabric
- BMolded high-impact plastic reinforced with woven fiberglass matting layers
- CTwenty-gauge steel panels wrapped within an adhesive-backed textile skin
- DSolid mahogany planking finished without any visible exterior staining
Show the answer and why
Answer: A — Fiberboard or similar pressed-wood material overlaid with tailored fabric
Cloth-covered caskets are economy units whose shells are typically fiberboard, particleboard, or softwood covered with doeskin or similar fabric; the covering conceals the inexpensive substrate and provides the finished appearance.
- B. Fiberglass and plastic units exist as separate niche products; they are not the base of cloth-covered lines.
- C. Steel caskets are finished with paint or brushed coatings; fabric-wrapped steel is not a standard product.
- D. Solid mahogany is premium hardwood construction that is polished and displayed, never hidden beneath cloth.
Klicker, Funeral Directing and Funeral Service Management (casket types: cloth-covered construction); standard funeral merchandising course materials.
How to study it
Work the pricing problems by hand until the margin-versus-markup distinction is automatic. It is the single most common arithmetic trap in this domain, and it is worth several points.
The rest of the Arts section
Every question here is original, written to the public content outlines and standard funeral-service textbooks. MortuaryPrep is an independent study aid and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to The Conference, ABFSE, or Pearson VUE.