Senior Merchandiser - Outlets
Full-time - Hybrid Working
South West London
Crew Clothing Company was founded in
Salcombe in 1993. Today Crew is a great British brand, and our success
lies in our authentic passion for producing great looking, well made
clothes. We now have more than 70 stores and a thriving website, and the
business continues to grow.
Our people are at the heart of our
company. With a passion for exceptional service, and a love for our
product, our team is dedicated to offering the best customer experience –
nothing is too much trouble.
Purpose of the role:
Support the Head of Merchandising in all
aspects of the Merchandising function.
To maximise profit and cash sales through efficient stock management,
potentialising sales and minimising markdown. To plan and trade each range ensuring that profits
are potentialised, within agreed company objectives, under the guidance of the
Head of Merchandising.
To ensure that
there is a coherent communication strategy for both performance and product
issues relating to the rest of the Business.
Responsibilities:
Planning:
* To review historical performance and determine
future product strategy, working closely with the Product team.
* To present in commercial sign off and trade
meetings to senior management.
* To provide regular performance reviews across
all Business channels.
* To review Competitor activity with the Buyer
to challenge future product strategy.
* To plan internet and retail requirements, to
propose ranging. To ensure that planning is reflected to best meet
commercial needs.
* To plan new season buy in line with both
range, category and segment planning across all Business channels.
* To determine optimum stock targets, bearing in
mind buffer stocks, retail requirements and lead times.
* To plan pricing strategy, working closely with
the Product Team to secure overall margin targets.
* To provide regular intake planning details to
enable operations to plan resources effectively.
* To manage WSSI to plan and trade department in
line with KPI budgets.
Trading
* To ensure that the Monday management pack is
reconciled effectively, including validation of stock and sales
forecasting.
* To establish an ordering critical path,
reflecting catalogue schedules and core seasonal issues.
* To fully potentialise peak trading periods and
develop well rounded plans to protect critical trading issues such as
August shut down, Xmas and the sale periods.
* To ensure that orders are placed in line with
system forecasts and ordering cycles, to validate all forecasts and keep plan
in line.
* To plan promotional activity to keep obsolete
stocks in line and potentialise sales.
* To understand and trade the MTO side of the
business.
Commercial
Awareness
* To undertake regular store visits - ideally
store visits should be undertaken at least every month.
* To produce appropriate business reports after
each visit and follow up action plans.
* To undertake competitor visits on a regular
basis, feedback any relevant points and put into place any required action
plans.
* To understand, prioritise and work to the critical
dates and deadlines in both the planning and trading process.
* To consistently deliver excellent standards of
customer service.
Merchandising
Systems
* To develop an excellent working knowledge of
all Merchandising systems including Wssi tool
* To identify and propose improved working
practices and updates to systems.
* To action detailed integrity checks as
necessary to ensure the efficient running of the department
* To ensure the team maximise use of the Sales
Reactive Allocation System and use to maximise retail sales and profit.
Management,
training and development of team and self
* To take responsibility for own personal
development and to foster good working relationships across the Business.
* To continually review processes and controls,
initiating improvements in best practise as necessary.
* To assist in the development and training of
the merchandising team.
* To manage the team on a day to day basis
Key Skills and Experience:
Essential –
* Strong excel skills.
* Highly numerate
* Good presentation skills
* Knowledge of critical path and product
lifecycle of similar category
* Commercially aware with interest in
fashion retail industry
* Able to work both independently and within
a small team.
* Ability to manage heavy workload and meet
tight deadlines.
* Experience in a head office Merchandising environment
* Be proactive and self-motivated
* Experience in people management.
* Excellent organisational and problem
solving skills.
* Be flexible,
enthusiastic and confident
Desirable –
* Experienced in multi channel retailing.
* Previous experience in relevant category.
* Enjoy working in a small/medium sized
company.
* Experience with Futura system