Merchandiser in Bury St Edmunds

The Merchandiser plays a key role within the Merchandising function, providing vital support to the Merchandising team to achieve optimum efficiency and to deliver the department plan on customer, sales, and profit. The Merchandiser takes responsibility for ensuring the right stock and intake is available for our customers, continually looking for opportunities to maximise the potential of both product and stores, whilst working collaboratively within the Merchandising team and key areas of the business. The Merchandiser is also responsible for leading and managing a team.

Responsibilities:

• Strategy: Creates, evaluates and analyses historical analysis packs to identify opportunities, risks and areas of missed potential. Drive own department strategy aligning with the goals of the wider business. Share analysis during brand meetings to support decision making. Collaborate with the Buying team to decide department direction.
• Plan: Responsible for the building and accurate completion of the product mix pack. Create sign offs packs and manage critical path, having full ownership for the planning of key brands within the department. Present confidently in product mix and sign off meetings. Help to maintain and manage the central planograms and range plans. Review and update the scheduling grading and size mapping to the MADS tools. Ownership for the loading of departmental plans into the WSSI after product mix.
• Order: Ensure the teams are utilising the central MADS ratio tool to maintain accurate ratios. Oversee analysis and reconciles. Responsible for ensuring POs are split to minimise the duty bill, using historical analysis and planograms to check buy plan and compare sales to buy by DC.
• Stock: Manage the department's intake plans and identifies key bookings. Identify over / understock issues to help drive commercial decisions. Flag potential cancellation requests and free stock opportunities. Ensure orderbooks align to sign offs.
• Trade: Create department weekly trade email for SMT. Use reporting to review and analyse performance and identify key trading actions. Drive the creation of new reports to further review performance and identify trading opportunities. Provide concise and accurate updates on the department performance and trading actions in weekly SMT trade meeting. Lead team trade meetings. Collaborate with Trading, Digital, and VM team to drive trading actions to boost trade. Collaborate with the Buying team to provide analysis on the best pricing strategy and help identify proposed markdown lines. Roll up markdown spend and provide update to SMT for markdown spend approval. Identify areas of OTB opportunity and gain approval where needed. Review the WSSI regularly to maintain accurate forecasting of all key KPIs. Highlight any risks or opportunities and proposes relevant actions to support. Use planograms, range plans and planned store options to ensure stores maintain close to their ideal option count and ensure potential issues are identified. Manage core line linecards; hold regular catch ups with the department to make sure core lines are never out of stock. Build an efficient and productive working relationship with the Trading team. Build and maintain relationships across the business with key stakeholders, informing relevant people of key departmental updates. Utilise trading reports and trading meetings with the department/Buying to keep stakeholders updated so key event trading plans can be implemented effectively.
• Exit: Create departmental plans on the trading of seasonal product. Manage terminal stock for department and/or brands.
• Stores: Create quarter range plans and support the team to range and de-range stores to keep stores within their planned option counts. Investigate and analyse store/area performance to identify areas of improvement. Oversee, monitor and guide team on branch trading actions. Ensure new store builds meet deadlines and deliver the planned option count, ensuring product relevance. Build market awareness by country, region and area to make informed trading decisions. Regularly undertake store visits, collate feedback and share key actions.
• Management & Leadership: Drive and develop team, supporting with training where required. Review current processes to identify improved ways of working. Undertake regular 1 to 1 catch ups and implement training.

Role objectives and KPIs: To support the Merchandising team to effectively deliver departmental goals and KPIs – sales, profit, and stock - across all channels (stores and digital), maximising commercial opportunities.

Core competencies: Deciding and Initiating Action, Leading and Supervising, Relating and Networking, Persuading and influencing, Presenting and Communicating Information, Analysing, Creating and Innovating, Delivering Results and Meeting Customer Expectations, Coping with Pressures and Setbacks.

Skills and experience: Lead and support team providing guidance and direction. Analytical, data driven and highly numerate. Keen eye for detail and ability to accurately enter and check data. Strategic approach and more long-term thinking. Independent decision maker able to provide justification for all decisions made. Critical thinker to support with delivering the best commercial decision and effective solution. Confident communicator able to build and maintain relationships at all levels. Able to take ownership of work and use initiative to deliver on key responsibilities. Strong teamwork skills, being able to work collaboratively to reach a common goal, sharing information and supporting colleagues. Positive, flexible, and responsive to business needs. Curious with a continuous learning mindset. Strong knowledge of Excel.

Training requirements for role: GUI Shogun, Advanced Excel, Strong trade knowledge, Product mix and sign off pack creation and meeting attendance, Historical analysis packs, Size ratios - ratio tool, Size mapping, Planner (Planogram), Range Plan, Central brand matrix, Key event trading plans, Purchase order creation process - PO upload, Intake management, Manage trade actions, Weekly divisional price changes and markdown proposals.