Merchandiser

Position Overview

The Merchandiser is a professional member of the Merchandising team and reports to the Director of Merchandising. This is an exempt, salaried position whose primary responsibility is to develop merchandising product strategies and assortment plans, resulting in exciting and timely product assortments that will maximize sales, profits and support overall brand positioning. The Merchandiser is responsible for the success of their business and is expected to use their knowledge of current business in conjunction with the awareness of competition and their fashion intuition to direct assortments.

Responsibilities:

Product & Calendar Planning

• Drive assortments, milestone dates and performance analysis of owned programs, while still maintaining holistic view of category as a whole and total company financial and brand objectives
• Develop and recommend product assortments that will maximize sales, profits, meet customer demand and support overall brand positioning
• Responsible for line finalization, communication and go-to-market preparation
• Responsible for all line maintenance: assortment sheets, adds/drops and retail pricing
• Create clear pricing structures that ties perceived value, quality and retail pricing together
• Determine selling strategies, selling periods, product lifecycles, brand positioning and channel distribution for applicable categories and channels
• Determine brand drivers, business goals and key products by season
• Manage category go-to-market calendar milestone dates and partner with key CFTs to ensure deadlines and goals are met
• Communicate and distribute all critical merchandising information to key functional areas on a timely basis
• Support creation and presentation of applicable category feasibility studies, business plans and overall company product roadmap
• Partner with other merchants to ensure clear execution of priorities and product alignment

Cross Functional Partnership

• Develop line plans and collaborate with Design to effectively combine with creative strategy to build assortments that achieve sales and brand goals
• Partner with Planning and Allocation to influence seasonal investment and allocation strategy, ensuring big ideas and growth drivers are protected
• Collaborate with Planning to determine promotional strategy and calendar that compliments overarching product and launch priorities
• Proactively partner with channel and category heads to continuously understand product trends, requests, opportunities and risks within their businesses; report findings to Director and VP of Merchandising with proposed strategy and execution shifts
• Communicate key product items and collaborate with channel heads to ensure aligned execution of ecommerce and in-store presentations and strategies
• Ensure product initiatives and priorities are seamlessly executed in accordance to merchandising strategies

Financial Metrics & Reporting

• Generate and share re-occurring category reports with Merchandising team to include actionable takeaways, risks and opportunities from a trend
• Partner with Planning team to establish financial expectations and metrics for owned categories
• Proactively monitor and report on product and category performance to identify risks and opportunities
• Formally hindsight product performance, communicate clear takeaways and establish actionable next steps from learnings
• Ensure IMU% targets are met and provide creative solutions for meeting and exceeding financial goals

Industry & Customer Expertise

• Focus on developing customer intimacy skills through regular store visits and competitive shopping; applies findings to merchandising and execution strategies.
• Guides assortment and launch decision making based on industry insight and customer analysis; expert of owned programs and corresponding industry landscape
• Conducts comprehensive competitive research and analysis; present findings to applicable teams

Our Ideal Candidate will have:

• Bachelor s degree or equivalent experience, B.S. in Retail Merchandising preferred
• 5+ years experience in retail merchandising or related field for a high-growth company, with at least 3 years in merchandising.
• 1-2+ years experience managing an Assistant or Associate Merchant
• A proven ability to execute with consistent delivery and reprioritize based on evolving business needs
• Jewelry experience required
• Champion for product, brand and customer in all cross-functional initiatives and plans
• Strong financial acumen
• Highly organized, detail oriented and accurate
• Elevated communication and presentation skills; ability to influence multiple levels of company
• A strong ability to build cross functional partnerships and work collaboratively
• A growth mindset: desire to learn, grow and embrace new ideas
• A shared appreciation for our 3 core values of Family, Fashion and Philanthropy