Associate Merchant

Oriental Trading Company•Omaha, NE

4d•Onsite

About The Position

As an Associate Merchant, you will be responsible for various functions that contribute to the broader scope of the vertical Merchant career path, gaining valuable hands-on experience in skill competency areas. Under the direction of the Manager Divisional Merchandise, you will be responsible for planning, developing, analyzing, and managing assigned customer solutions. You will identify opportunities that meet the marketing and merchandising company objectives, providing merchandise assortment input that continually increases company revenues and profitability and achieving all assigned financial goals and objectives. This role will partner with other departmental teams including Merch Planning, Sourcing, Product Design, Marketing, E Commerce, Creative, Personalization, Inventory and Corporate Communications.

Requirements

Ability to analyze quantitative data
Acute sense of brand, customer and trend awareness
Achievement oriented and demonstrated leadership potential
Exceptional ability to bridge and enhance cooperative working relationships, both internally and externally
Ability to communicate, present, negotiate and influence appropriately to all levels of the organization
Ability to lead team members toward personal, department and organizational goals
Ability to drive focus, set priorities and remain flexible in an on-going changing environment
Possess a proven track record of merchandising business management, success and growth
Proficiency in Microsoft Office including Word, Excel, and Access
Ability to perform the job in a safe manner

Nice To Haves

Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Merchandising or Business or equivalent work experience is preferred
Two to five years related experience and/or training or equivalent combination of education and experience is preferred

Responsibilities

Manage customer solutions and build tops down merchandising plans by customer needs, market position/trends, historical product & category performance, business goals
Present, communicate and advocate strategic goals to cross functional departments and executive staff
Develop analysis of brand/customer performance in order to proactively respond to the customer need and achieve company objectives
Analyze market intelligence by means of supplier and industry contacts, merchandise shows and trade periodicals, and review of competitive retailers and direct marketers, and then strategizes to benchmark current customer solutions against current market trends and pricing strategies
Communicate assortment plans and financial objectives with Inventory to achieve all department and category inventory goals including fill rates, turn ratios, average days on backorder and Open-to-Buy (OTB) management, and Sourcing to achieve the best profitability for company
Manage all vendor relationships and negotiates with Sourcing regarding COGS and rebate programs
Establish pricing strategies and manages product price points for new items to maximize sell-through and profitability achieving all established margin objectives
Partner with Product Design to identify upcoming trends within brands and customer segments to build product line and strengthen customer solution; approves all artwork and product specifications
Partner with Sourcing to approve new item samples
Partner with Creative to develop catalog pagination/mock-ups and content. Approves photography, headlines, front and back covers, and general page layout maintaining customer solution focus
Proofs in E-Book & Soft Proofing processes for overall presentation & content and makes necessary changes to remove and replace items in offers
Partner with Marketing to develop contact strategy, budgets and promotions; communicates and reinforces customer solutions for all marketing decisions and reviews business cross-functionally on a quarterly basis
Partner with Ecommerce to provide direction for web navigation, homepage rotations, landing pages, email campaigns, web content, social media networking and seasonal promotions
Partner with Pricing Analyst to identify promo pricing opportunities within solutions and reviews assigned Departments to implement price changes as needed to maximize sell-through and profitability, achieving all established margin objectives
Determine and execute item level flagging for each brand within their assigned solution(s)
Develop alternatives to increase sales and extend sales performance while optimizing underperforming products by reducing or removing medias
Develop and maintain (AS400, GUI) product specifications
Ensures product line conforms to all legal/regulatory requirements and doesn’t infringe on any copyright or trade dress standards
Handle processing new item set-up within PIM
Handle processing, confirming and coordinating changes or modifications with domestic suppliers
Act as a community ambassador and partners with Corporate Communications and vendors on external brand awareness projects
Participate fully in initiatives such as MAPS & PIM and provide training support to others
Identify and manage talent/resources required to achieve goals
Proactively leverage strengths and address development needs of Assistant Merchant. Serve as a coach and mentor
Manage and supervise daily tasks of departmental Interns
Maintains regular and predictable attendance
Abides by all policies and procedures of Oriental Trading Company
Must be able to attend face to face meetings on short or little advance notice
Work requires in-person collaboration among colleagues and contractors
Travel overseas and domestically as necessary
Maintain an active US Passport
Perform other duties and projects as assigned
Assist with setting up and maintaining AS400 & GUI product specifications
Develop and proposes process and procedural changes which will improve operation of the department