Merchandise Planning Systems & Process Director
Merchandise Planning Systems & Process Director
THE DEPARTMENT:
The Merchandise Department supports the Product needs of Helzberg by building powerful assortments, wide-
ranging price points, bridal dominance, competitive quality and value across multiple fine jewelry categories and time pieces. The Merchandise team is responsible for identifying products that will sell, negotiating vendor contracts, and analyzing sales data to make sound purchasing decisions as well as searching globally for unique trends and hot selling jewelry products. The department has a significant impact on profitability by closely managing gross margin and inventory turns as well as asset/memo mix. Merchandise is an active partner with the Store Operations group and Marketing in driving Helzberg’s business. The Merchandise department is organized into several groups: Bridal, Diamond Fashion, Gold, Watches, Color and Special Events, Loose Diamonds, Outlets, Closeouts and Planning and Allocation.
POSITION SUMMARY:
This position will lead our execution efforts in developing, documenting and driving an optimal end to end planning process and supporting calendar for merchandising, which identifies all critical tasks, timelines, dependencies and responsibilities associated with each step in managing our product lifecycle. This position will also serve as our Merchandising Systems Lead, both as an internal expert for our merchandising associates and external liaison for our vendors. This person will be at the forefront of any new merchandise system development and ongoing system maintenance and upgrade activities which include all aspects of design, testing and training. Driving continuous improvement will be the mantra for this leader as it relates to our people, processes and systems within merchandising. This position works with the Marketing, Finance, Distribution Center and IT departments as needed to create and execute the merchandising plans. This incumbent will work with our 3rd party vendors for our Merchandise Planning suite of systems for support and ongoing expert training.
PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTABILITIES:
SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES:
This position does not have any direct reports.
QUALIFICATIONS:
COMPETENCIES:
Analytical Thinking, Business Knowledge, Integrity, Personal Accountability, Relationship Building, Teamwork and Cooperation
The Merchandise Department supports the Product needs of Helzberg by building powerful assortments, wide-
ranging price points, bridal dominance, competitive quality and value across multiple fine jewelry categories and time pieces. The Merchandise team is responsible for identifying products that will sell, negotiating vendor contracts, and analyzing sales data to make sound purchasing decisions as well as searching globally for unique trends and hot selling jewelry products. The department has a significant impact on profitability by closely managing gross margin and inventory turns as well as asset/memo mix. Merchandise is an active partner with the Store Operations group and Marketing in driving Helzberg’s business. The Merchandise department is organized into several groups: Bridal, Diamond Fashion, Gold, Watches, Color and Special Events, Loose Diamonds, Outlets, Closeouts and Planning and Allocation.
POSITION SUMMARY:
This position will lead our execution efforts in developing, documenting and driving an optimal end to end planning process and supporting calendar for merchandising, which identifies all critical tasks, timelines, dependencies and responsibilities associated with each step in managing our product lifecycle. This position will also serve as our Merchandising Systems Lead, both as an internal expert for our merchandising associates and external liaison for our vendors. This person will be at the forefront of any new merchandise system development and ongoing system maintenance and upgrade activities which include all aspects of design, testing and training. Driving continuous improvement will be the mantra for this leader as it relates to our people, processes and systems within merchandising. This position works with the Marketing, Finance, Distribution Center and IT departments as needed to create and execute the merchandising plans. This incumbent will work with our 3rd party vendors for our Merchandise Planning suite of systems for support and ongoing expert training.
PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTABILITIES:
- Develop and own merchandising end to end planning calendar, defining critical dates and documenting key meetings and processes that support our product lifecycle management and execution efforts.
- Identify, document and implement industry best practices that support our end to end planning processes.
- Own the merchandise testing process, including developing and refining the current process while instituting necessary controls to ensure proper store execution, test evaluation, post-test actions and timely store cleanup.
- Serve as Go-To lead and expert on our Merchandising and Planning Systems:
- Short-Term: Serve as Merchandising’s lead for New System Implementation including Functional Design, Testing and Training. Will also train and onboard new associates.
- Long-Term: Serve as liaison with system vendors to coordinate new releases and collaborate closely with Oracle Retail Team and Customer Advisory Board to influence roadmap.
- Serve on vendor user community boards as Helzberg’s advocate on next generation system developments and updates.
- Attend vendor user conferences to gain industry insights and share learnings and best practices with the Helzberg merchandising teams.
- Develop an ongoing systems training curriculum to ensure we remain current and fully maximize our system capabilities.
- Collaborate with cross-functional departments as needed, including Marketing, Store Ops, Visual and Finance.
- Work with Distribution department to coordinate large-volume merchandise events.
SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES:
This position does not have any direct reports.
QUALIFICATIONS:
- Bachelor’s degree required.
- Seven to ten years of retail planning or buying experience required.
- Advanced retail math skills required along with systems proficiency with Excel, Word and planning systems.
- Advanced organizational skills and attention to detail are essential.
- Strong communication and relationship-building skills required along with flexibility and adaptability to changing business strategies.
- Hybrid schedule with predictable onsite attendance required three or more days per week to perform essential functions involving interactive behaviors with co-workers and managers, operation or manipulation of equipment and/or materials located only on site, and direct interaction with internal and/or external customers.
COMPETENCIES:
Analytical Thinking, Business Knowledge, Integrity, Personal Accountability, Relationship Building, Teamwork and Cooperation