Merchandise Manager

Merchandise Manager

North Kansas City, Missouri

THE DEPARTMENT:
The Merchandise Department supports the Product needs of Helzberg Diamonds 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, Fashion, Watches, Outlets, Closeouts and Planning/Allocation.

POSITION SUMMARY:
The Merchandise Manager provides support to the DVP – General Merchandise Manager (GMM), with focus on oversight of the merchandise direction and strategy to ensure the achievement of company business goals. This position will analyze data and draw insights and recommendations, give leadership and guidance to other team members, and provide business support to GMM on various projects. The Merchandise Manager assists Merchandise DVP’s, Buyers and Planners through the development of Merchandise Strategies to maintain the integrity of company initiatives and financial goals. The Merchandise Manager works in partnership with the Planning team to maximize overall financial performance of product categories and to develop a collaborative team culture within the merchandise pyramid.

PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTABILITIES:

Merchandise Dropship

• Manager of two direct reports: Dropship VMA position and Dropship Detail Assistant.
• Responsible for giving guidance and assisting in troubleshoot day to day dropship issues.
• Take lead role of producing and developing dropship reporting to align with the needs of the business- includes the Quarterly Dropship Deck.
• Advise the Dropship team on analysis and forecasting including the biannual creation of Dropship forecasts.
• Work alongside GMM to develop and gain buy-in on the overall Dropship strategy.
• Assist with upcoming strategic growth projects focused on Dropship like the upcoming CommerceHub/Dropship expansion work.
• Collaborate with and support all Merchandise teams to develop and drive the dropship business by sharing business opportunities and facilitating efficient pathways for growth.

• Assist the GMM with strategic project analysis and deliverables by working together and independently. Projects will rotate over time as the company identifies strategic opportunities.
• Lead execution of smaller strategic initiatives in place of the GMM.
• Represent the Merchandise organization in select cross-functional strategic meetings.

• Support the Product Tagging initiative from the Merchandise side. Take lead on next phases of development (editing rules & building new ones), and collaborate with the Merchandise teams, and Ecom team to build the future strategy.
  • With the Dropship VMA’s support, manage and troubleshoot the product tags from the Merchandise side collaborating with the Ecom team when necessary.
• Support development of demand/net reports post Oracle launch with the intent of creating efficiencies for the Merchandise team to drive Ecommerce business.
• Share Ecom and Trad Feedback more frequently- Help connect the teams together via meeting notes, project collaboration and troubleshooting when necessary.

• Assist GMM on general merchandise projects and team communication.
  • Develop reports and recaps to support the overall business.
  • Assist GMM in supporting the Merch team by being a training resource and advisor- inclusive of the Outlet team.
  • Attend meetings on behalf of the GMM
  • Facilitate communication across the Merchandise team by sharing meeting notes and project updates as they occur.
• Visual:
  • Support Visual Budget Development and monthly reconciliation.
  • Collaborate with the Merch and Planning teams bi-annually to ensure product fits within each physical store environment. Build supporting materials to share with the store organization to support these product resets and ensure accurate placement of product.

• Accomplish department objectives by directing and monitoring the work progress of direct reports.
• Provide coaching and guidance to direct reports.
• Set expectations, annual goals and provide required quarterly touch base meetings with all direct reports.

• Bachelor’s degree in Retail Management, Business Administration, or related area.
• Seven to ten years of merchandise management experience to include product planning and forecasting, vendor negotiations, pricing analyses and inventory control, or a combination of education and experience equal to a minimum of ten years.
• Extensive jewelry knowledge and project management skills are required.
• Analytical skills that include the ability to recognize complex patterns and trends.
• Knowledge of retail math is required, as is proficiency with Word processing and Excel software.
• 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 and vendors.