Merchandise Associate full-time

Number of positions open: 2

Merchandising

The Merchandise Associate position is responsible communicating guest and competitor insights to the global product team. This position translates this into line plan input, regional merchandising strategies and the regional assortment and buy. This position is also responsible for the in season weekly business management and actions. Key responsibilities include working in a collaborative method with the regional X-Functional teams such as Planning, Allocations, Logistics (DC), Store Operations (the “field”) and Community Relations teams.

a day in the life of a Merchandise Associate

• owns meltdown & 2nd and 3rd line pass/Buy Review/Capacity Plan & BUY & OTB
• responsible for merchandising strategies for one or more classes within one region under guidance of a merchant
• communicates guest and competitor needs -> line plan input
• works closely together with VM to ensure regional concept to floor execution with end in mind
• gives feedback during design overview sessions to ensure targets can be met
• selects regional assortment, refines flow, pricing, attributing (store grouping, hot/cold, volume, region)
• partners with planning team to execute meltdown, line pass, budget reviews, capacity plans, BUY, OTB
• in season weekly business management (sales refinement, flow, MD, re-price, consolidations, pullback, chase, cancelations)
• reports to Merchant or Merchandise Manager

The finer print

• Minimum 2-5 years experience as a retail apparel buyer
• Mastery of retail mathematics and Open to Buy
• Proven ability to work with a cross functional team
• Excellent sense of style, color and athletic trends
• Excellent communication skills both verbal and written
• Proficient with all programs in Microsoft Office 2007
• Willingness to learn various systems (including, but not limited to, MMS, Retail Ideas, Maple Lake, JDA) and is not dependent upon others for systems-related tasks such as re-pricing styles, re-routing or issuing POs, etc.