Sr. Category Merchant - Women's Apparel
About The Position
Responsible for the performance of assigned categories including driving growth, category profitability and customer experience. Responsible for product assortment and the development of competitive merchandise annual plans that achieve financial objectives. Consistently remains on and ahead of category trends through proactive trend and comp shopping, leveraging resources like WGSN and social media and more, and adjusts assortment, and vendor base if necessary. Negotiates pricing and terms with new, existing and prospective vendors. Builds strong relationships with the vendor community and exercises flexibility in approach to negotiations. Manages the development of the sales and margin plans and forecasts in close partnership with cross functional team for assigned categories. Communicates merchandising strategies to cross functional teams to ensure proper and timely execution and support of strategy. Connects strategies to business operations and maintains an understanding of business operational goals and challenges, working to ensure progress. Responsible for value management for assigned categories including price indexing and achievement of margin targets. Collaborates with the Vendors, Pricing team and Marketing team to develop pricing, promotional and campaign strategies for assigned categories. Continually evaluates merchandising performance and promptly reacts to changes in the business to capitalize on opportunities and mitigate risks. Provides leadership and training to the merchandise team. Provides the team with frequent and actionable feedback and professional development opportunities. Establishes and maintains a reputation of credibility and responsiveness in the marketplace. Performs other duties as assigned.
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in business or operations related field
- 7+ years related merchandising / category management experience, specifically within Apparel
- Strong Negotiation skills
- Proven record of decision-making ability
- Strong communication and interpersonal skills
- Proven analytical and organizational skills
Nice To Haves
- MBA optional
- Familiarity with AI tools, including ChatGPT
Responsibilities
- Driving growth, category profitability and customer experience for assigned categories.
- Developing competitive merchandise annual plans that achieve financial objectives.
- Staying on and ahead of category trends through proactive trend and comp shopping, leveraging resources like WGSN and social media.
- Adjusting assortment and vendor base as necessary based on trend analysis.
- Negotiating pricing and terms with new, existing, and prospective vendors.
- Building strong relationships with the vendor community.
- Managing the development of sales and margin plans and forecasts in partnership with cross-functional teams.
- Communicating merchandising strategies to cross-functional teams for execution.
- Connecting strategies to business operations and understanding business operational goals.
- Managing value for assigned categories, including price indexing and margin targets.
- Collaborating with Vendors, Pricing, and Marketing teams on pricing, promotional, and campaign strategies.
- Evaluating merchandising performance and reacting to business changes to capitalize on opportunities and mitigate risks.
- Providing leadership and training to the merchandise team.
- Giving the team frequent and actionable feedback and professional development opportunities.
- Establishing and maintaining a reputation of credibility and responsiveness in the marketplace.
- Performing other duties as assigned.
Benefits
- Weekly Pay
- Free BJ’s Memberships
- Generous Paid Time Off (vacation, personal, sick days, holidays, bereavement, and jury duty leave)
- Flexible and Affordable Health Benefits (three medical plans, optional dental, vision, HSA, and flexible spending account options)
- 401(k) Retirement Savings Plan with company match
- Employee Stock Purchase Plan with a 15% discount
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Senior
