Overview
Through our carefully curated selection of merchandise, we guide and inspire our customers to make style a creative source of energy in their lives. The Director of Merchandising for Bloomingdale's Private Brands plays a key role in bringing our brand vision to life through our private label product assortments. The Director of Merchandising will be known as a trusted, collaborative and results-oriented leader, business partner and change agent who can lead through influence and who possesses industry credibility. In executing Bloomingdale's private brands, the Director of Merchandising must utilize experience, in depth knowledge of the marketplace and understanding of the Bloomingdale's customer to fill voids in our existing assortment, and partner internally and externally to develop brands and product that is exclusive to and differentiate Bloomingdale's merchandise selection and deliver assortments that meet financial goals.
Essential Functions
- Develop seasonal assortment plans for Women's Ready-to-Wear (WRTW) for all private brands including Aqua; push the business forward in key strategic growth categories while protecting established categories; oversee the product assortment, merchandising strategies and sales performance across all channels and for all product extensions including special projects such as collaborations, pop-ups, and capsules
- Lead business strategy while partnering with the Design team to provide insight and direction on style development; identify white space/voids and partner with buying, development and design to execute
- Deliver profitable growth in key growth categories as identified in partnership with DMM, further building private brand loyalty with the Bloomingdale's customer; develop promotional strategies based on business needs
- Formulate and continually evaluate pricing strategies for all product categories, ensuring the optimal mix between pricing bands, considering customer price elasticity, maximizing gross margin dollars and delivering to company financial targets
- Liaise and partner with other divisions (e.g. Shoes, Swim, Active, et al.) at key milestone checkpoints to share Private Brands' product strategy and vision and understand other divisions' specific business needs and opportunities
- Work cross functionally with teams such as Planning, Marketing and E-commerce as a strategic product liaison- ensuring product and collection vision materializes in market to end consumer
- Hold Design and Development team members accountable for T&A deliverables; ensure deliveries, deadlines and goals are met; responsible for milestone meeting cadence and ensuring timely and productive meetings from planning to hind sighting
- Lead Buying and Product Development teams for WRTW Private Brands to achieve sales, gross margin, and turnover objectives; collaborate with team to analyze and respond to sales trends and customer feedback
- As a People Leader, inspire the Buying and Development teams by fostering a culture of agility, and continuous learning; mentor and develop team; lead by setting clear expectations, create accountability for results, and drive standardization and simplification of work where necessary
- Partner with Buying team to assort line providing recommendations regarding seasonal themes, edits, new concepts, etc.; provide support during critical buying deadlines
- Balance long term strategy growth and immediate business need based on sales, customer reviews, and conversion; partner with Buying team to manage in-season risks and identify and maximize opportunities to offset risk or exceed sales and recommend changes to future on order, pricing or markdown strategies
- Partner with Product Development manager to oversee day to day vendor management and communication; support manager to lead costing negotiation with vendors to ensure the achievement of sales and margin; partner with Design to execute costing improvements where needed
- Partner with Product Development manager to recommend factory and vendor allocations based on Design's seasonal concept
- Partner with Planning and management in financial forecasting of seasonal business plans and rolling Open-To-Buy (OTB) or Rolling-Operating-Forecast (ROF); analyze OTB/ROF and action as necessary
Qualifications
The ideal candidate thrives in an entrepreneurial and dynamic environment and is comfortable and effective leading through significant complexity
Education/Experience: 4-year college degree required;10 years in Merchandising or Buying, Product Development experience preferred; at least 3-5 years in a managerial or leadership role
Category Knowledge: Experience with WRTW a must; understanding of footwear, kids, active or accessories is a plus
Channel Expertise: Must have vertical retail experience with strong ecommerce knowledge; wholesale channel experience a plus
Communication Skills: Excellent written and verbal communication skills with the ability to influence; able to develop, plan, present and execute strategies
Mathematical Skills: Clear understanding of retail math, including margin, markup and performance impact on financial results
Reasoning Ability: Strong analytical and strategic abilities; ability to manage workflow independently and effectively with minimal direction
Other Skills: Strong leadership and relationship management skills; experience with domestic and overseas agents and manufacturers; a strong sense of trend and industry knowledge that can readily be leveraged; Can work quickly and efficiently to achieve goals. Demonstrates flexibility in responding to changing priorities; Proficient in all MS Suite tools including Excel, Power Point, Word, Outlook, and Teams; Ability to broker mutually beneficial outcomes with internal and external stakeholders; Understanding of how to influence others for desired outcomes.
Physical Demands: This position involves regular walking, standing, hearing, and talking. May occasionally involve stooping, kneeling, or crouching. Involves close vision, color vision, depth perception, and focus adjustment
Work Hours: Based on department and store/company needs; regular, dependable attendance and punctuality required
This job description is not all inclusive. In addition, Macy's, Inc. reserves the right to amend this job description at any time. Macy's, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer, committed to a diverse and inclusive work environment.
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