Divisional Merchandising Manager

Monroe

Wisconsin

Job Description

We are seeking a Merchandising leader who knows the home goods business, is a positive leader, and brings an entrepreneurial spirit to identify, develop, and grow others and business opportunities. Do the challenges of retail and merchandising energize you? Do you enjoy helping others overcome challenges and grow in their roles? If so, then this role should be of interest to you!

What You'll Do:
As Divisional Merchandising Manager (DMM), you'll have the opportunity to establish brand merchandising strategies and positively impact the customer experience and profitability of a stable, family-owned, customer-centric company in business since 1926. You'll direct individual Senior Merchandise Managers through KPI definition, execution of optimal assortments, and merchandising of engaging catalogs for the home goods division. The DMM will report to the Executive Director of Merchandising & Design.

As a DMM, you will also be accountable for:
* Developing a strong team of all levels of merchants by mentoring and teaching both fundamentals and advanced concepts to continually elevate merchandising competencies in the organization.
* Ensuring appropriate training on best practices, processes, reports, and communication to enhance the skill development and career growth of the Merchandising team.
* Evaluating existing merchandising practices and presenting recommendations to improve outcomes and achieve operational efficiencies.
* Developing annual budgets and providing financial oversight of merchandising expenses and variances.
* Providing indirect leadership and partnering with the Divisional Planning, Inventory, and Sourcing teams.
* Driving collaboration with Brand Marketing, Quality Assurance & Internet, Legal, Traffic & Logistics, Fulfillment Operations, Call Centers, Accounting, Integrated Marketing Services, Creative Marketing Services, etc.
* Consistently incorporate Colony Brands' core values into work culture, including:
o Fostering, valuing, and rewarding a team-oriented, performance-driven, and customer-focused culture.
o Reinforces accountability to individual and business results.
o Providing direction, sharing information, and cultivating two-way dialog within the merchandising organization.
o Creates a climate that inspires and enables merchandising staff to formulate creative ideas to keep our portfolio of brands exciting and purposeful in the minds of customers.
* Partnering with Planning to develop catalog offer plans that achieve financial goals of Colony Brands (KPIs/IPIs) and working closely with cross-functional Supply Chain partners to support key business initiatives and process improvement.
* Analyzing in-season and hindsight business performance to determine successes, trends, and applying an understanding of historical performance, industry competitors, and multi-channel merchandising to recommend assortment and pricing strategies to maximize financial results in both print and digital channels.
* Driving all merchandising-owned Seasonal Planning Calendar milestones and deliverables.
* Establishing merchandising standard operation procedures (SOP's), key deliverable templates, and training.
* Evaluating seasonal assortment plans and providing guidance to the Merchandising team on category goals, line structure, price points, product mix, QA issues, vendor performance, etc. to provide products that are customer-relevant, aligned to each brand's direction, and achieve financial targets.
* Taking projects from concept to full implementation, including process and objectives development, delegation to team members, communication and follow-up with all involved parties to ensure best results.
* Acquiring a strong understanding of the scope of the business and adapting creative tools to solving general business problems.

Qualifications

We are seeking someone with at least 10 years' Merchandising experience, with preferred experience in home goods. This would be primarily in catalog or Direct Mail Order. Additional experience in Retail or Internet Sales is a plus but not required. To be successful, this role requires exceptional leadership and mentoring skills. Ideally you will have a bachelor's degree in Business, Retail Consumer Science, or related curriculum. In addition, we are looking for:
* 10+ years' experience in a product merchandising in a multi-brand and multi-channel environment or a brand with a high complexity of directives and strategies.
* A strategic mindset and sound reasoning skills to understand the factors influencing strategy such as customers, competition, and the organization's strengths and weakness.
* A demonstrated ability to build strong relationships with diverse individuals and achieve positive results through others.
* Financial and business acumen and prior budgeting experience with the ability to develop these skills in other.s
* An understanding of product development, market good requests, and the sourcing process.
* A critical understanding of the market to lead merchandising efforts for multiple brands.
* Effective organizational skills with the proven ability to manage multiple priorities/tasks and complex, multi-department projects to optimal completion.
* Demonstrated passion for external customers and respect for internal partners to behaviors, decisions, and actions.
* Excellent communication and presentation skills especially to senior leadership.
* Ability to work on site 100% of the time and fifteen (15) work from home days of your choice annually.

About Us

Welcome to Colony Brands! As one of North America's largest multi-channel, direct-marketing companies, we take pride in our diverse portfolio of affiliates, brands, and products. Despite our growth over the last century, we remain true to our roots as a private, customer-focused business based in Monroe, WI. Stability is just one aspect of our culture. What truly defines us is our commitment to our Core Values, fostering employee growth, and creating a better place to live and work. We are dedicated to supporting the communities we serve and offer a wide range of benefits and programs to enhance the well-being of our employees.

Benefits Details

Colony Brands is not just about growing our profits - We are about giving our employees the opportunity for growth and providing a better place to live and work. We also offer our employees many great rewards in addition to monetary compensation:

Job Category

Merchandising

Employment Type

Regular/Full-Time