Director of Merchandise

Role:
The Director of Merchandise works closely with the Sr. Management Team to deliver on brand merchandise selection for Lammle's Western Wear. The Director of Merchandise primary principal responsibilities are in: Merchant Muscle, Operational Excellence, Customer Focus, and People First.

Responsibilities:

Merchant Muscle

• Significant product knowledge of all product categories
• Full comprehension of competitors product positioning, pricing and product lines
• Curates strong merchandise stories and alignment on product category prioritization
• Creates yearly product promotion calendar to stimulate season sales and new products
• In partnership with the Director of Retail, communicate and support company promotions through weekly product flow, setting targets with the Merchandise Buyers
• Influence and support the creation and maintenance of Visual standard guidelines to align with company objectives
• Reviews inventory turns on a monthly basis to determine appropriate markdowns to achieve and markdown targets.
• Keep core product in stores at all times and work with suppliers to ensure forecasting of the needs of these products are in place at all times
• Keep an accurate profile of each brands delivery by month.
• Maintain the proper amount of inventory in each store while being aware of the season and local events that will influence sales and product volume demand

Operational Excellence

• Analyze sales performance by class and store
• Ensure that merchandise is priced, quality competitive and current
• Attend trade show's with Buying team and stay up to date on the latest and future trends
• Determine A, B and C stores and evaluate their replenishment needs
• Develop positive supplier relationships. Negotiate prices, terms and agreements with vendors
• Work with vendors on special buys for trending items
• Negotiate exclusivity wherever possible
• Improve the business process for each department through analysis and collaboration.
• Involved in long-term business/people planning at the managerial and executive level.
• Keep inventory in line with the budget as well as in line with the store needs and capacity
• Maintain gross margin targets
• Forecast prices and market trends in order to meet seasonal buys in advance.
• Collaborates with Sr Management to develop budgets, specific programs and sales targets.
• Collaborates in the creation of annual planning calendars
• Establishes, in partnership with Sr. leadership, weekly, monthly and yearly targets to act as a guideline that enables measurement of individual and group performance.
• Leads the direction/execution of the Merchandise Buying team to deliver operational excellence through tools and resources
• Supports company's policies and procedures
• Keep Warehouse Manager informed of important incoming product from stores or vendors.
• Monitor the progress of orders with suppliers to ensure they are arriving on the requested delivery date and complete.
• Perform physical quality check upon arrival to ensure the brand standards are being met.
• Contact vendor with any issues and work out terms of a return authorization.
• Allocate inventory to the correct store in regards to the store profile.

Customer Focus

• Works with Marketing Manager to keep up with the latest trends and fashions in each category
• Collaborate with Director of Retail to better understand any customer concerns pertaining to merchandise trends, quality or frequent customer requests
• Has an exceptional comprehension of Lammle's Western Wear's customer demographic and ensures uses this filter when selecting merchandise

People First

• Empower, lead and challenges the Buying team to meet and exceed performance expectations
• Train, coach and develop direct reports to support succession planning and stabilize bench strength
• Create and maintain a positive team environment whose players are passionate about our performance culture. Represent Lammle's in a professional and positive manner, by making the company mission statement our driving force
• Partners with Sr. leadership on annual performance evaluations, development plans and reward programs.

Skills:

• Ability to manage multiple priorities in an organized and timely fashion with proven track record of delivering on projects and process improvements
• Excellent communication and organizational skills
• A creative problem solver, pro-active and able to use initiative to develop solutions
• Demonstrated team-building skills including experience in goal setting, motivating, leading, evaluating and developing a high-performance team.
• Experience with Teamwork