The role is responsible for the development of all merchandising strategies for DTC and Wholesale. Working closely with the Design and Planning teams, this position helps to identify the product line plan vision and leads the line planning process in order to achieve or exceed annual financial goals. They share a responsibility with Product Design to ensure product lines are brought to market in a timely manner and in accordance with the line plans and production calendars.
ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:
- Develop a comprehensive merchandising strategy, forecasting and reporting by:
- Silo, category, SKU, price points, marketing strategy
- Based on selling data, customer analytics, category dynamics and market trends.
- Manage analytics regarding sales & product performance in partnership with Planning team; ensure a formalized and regular feedback loop to Design team to inform future season design strategies.
- Brings customer and market prospective to the design team. Thoroughly understands the brand's target customer by tracking trends.
- Identify opportunities / trends to inform design and future season planning.
- Identify trends which are not working and use that information to drive marketing, sales strategies and/or future design and purchasing decisions.
- Evolve product line architecture as needed and develop pre-season range plans that tie to topline strategies and offer guidance on channel segmentation.
- Working closely with Design team, digest qualitative feedback directly from sales teams and combine with analytics to package that feedback into proposed strategies to inform SKU planning/assortment.
- Create short- and long-term product assortment strategies in partnership with Design, Marketing and Commercial teams that align with brand vision, financial plan targets and customer experience goals.
- Ensure Planning and Production / Sourcing teams are well informed throughout the process to facilitate logistics planning and production needs.
- Lead development of competitor consumer insights to identify pricing and product opportunities and consumer elasticity.
- Lead and manage Merchandising team to represent business needs
- Collaborate with team to ensure that financial objectives align with product opportunities.
- Lead competitive analysis on SKU assortment by channel and pricing and use this information to help inform future season planning. Supply pricing matrix / suggestions to Design based on this competitive analysis.
- Ensure clear feedback loop with Planning & Finance regarding margin implications based on agreed upon assortment / OTB.
COMPETENCIES:- Candidate must be able to demonstrate skills in the following areas:
- Presenting and recommending strategies and building a business case
- Leading and developing merchandising teams
- Strategic forecasting for an omnichannel business
- Influencing and negotiating at a variety of levels
- Well-developed written and verbal communication skills including presenting complex material in an organized and compelling manner
- Be an inspirational and innovative merchant leader
DESIRED EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE:- 7+ years of Apparel Product Merchandising experience
- 5+ in managing teams
- Preferred experience in wholesale and/or specialty retail; golf industry experience a plus
- Previous experience in Merchandising, Buying, and/or Product Development for apparel is strongly preferred.
If you like wild growth and working with happy, enthusiastic over-achievers, you'll enjoy your career with us!
