Manchester City Centre
Full-Time Office Based
Mat Cover (min 12 months)
Salary in the region of £40k
The objective of this role is to work with the Head of Buying and Merchandising to build relationships with other internal and external departments, understand fully and create business end to end process and to guide the Merchandising team to efficiently maximise commercial opportunities throughout the various brands, through the effective management of inventory, driving sales through improved availability, forecasting and reducing mark down to maximise profit.
Main Duties and Responsibilities
Planning and Forecasting:
Partner with the HOM to create a top line Quarterly / Seasonal strategy relating to all KPI’s and communicate to the teams relating to all KPI’s
Provide historical analysis to develop Quarterly / Seasonal Planning Forecasts for departments of responsibility
Create and Collate Total Company Quarterly / Seasonal Range Plans in conjunction with the buyers : review with HOM
Create seasonal markdown planning documents and collate total departments proposals for review with HOM versus Financial targets
Create Quarterly / Seasonal planning packs together with the Buyers
Communicate Quarterly / Seasonal plans to the relevant internal depts. within the wider Business
Build / Maintain relationships with Supplier base.
Ensure all deadlines are met in accordance with the Buying Calendar
Uplift all plans into a WSSI / Stock mon and manage the OTB / Phasing of stock to optimise profitability.
Trading:
Provide weekly summary of key performance indicators within departments of responsibility and the wider business, relating to sales, stock, profit, versus budget and last year.
Provide weekly trading actions to optimise department sales and margin.
Key contact for all analysis relating to departments of responsibility
Maintain Weekly Stock Sales and Intake forecasts via the stock mon
Manage intake flow into business to hit monthly forecasts, drive sales and minimise risks and communicate to DC for short term work flow planning and longer term budgeting
Work with the team to control warehouse inventory levels and action call offs as appropriate
Provide analysis and summary of Markdown and Promotional activity for departments of responsibility and wider business
Responsible for ensuring that mark downs are on the system in line with the mark down calendar
Interact with other internal teams to improve performance and drive best practices
Key contact for merchandise reporting and all aspects of merchandising processes and system use
Team:
Ensure the team are all focused and working towards a shared goal.
Use the Grading system and the PDP’s to encourage and support all members of the team to maximise their potential
Conduct annual appraisals and set clear Objectives that feed into the business Strategy
Arrange and facilitate regular one to one review meetings with the team to support them with their PDP and Objectives
Recruit Junior members of the team
Congratulate Success
Essential Skills and Experience:
Advanced planning and analytical skills, including computer skills.
Effective coaching and mentoring skills
Specific experience in fashion retail merchandising preferably within multi-brand environment
Proactive and a Compelling role model
Good judgement and decision making skills
Confidence in suggesting calculated risks
Strong customer awareness and understanding
Passionate about product, strong market and brand awareness
Discreet, professional and well spoken, with excellent communication skills
Exceptionally organised, methodical and efficient.