International Assistant Merchant

Responsibilities

• Works with Senior Merchant to develop clear strategies and tactics to drive volume, customer engagement and profit for the international business
• Actively analyzes the business to provide significant insights into performance - assessing category and customer
• Collaborates with Senior Merchant, Design and Production on development of international product extensions (where applicable)
• Aids in the creation of growth-driving brand strategy and planning, including sampling, internal associate education and training, competitive patterning, performance analysis and hind-sighting
• Assists in the creation of internal presentations to executives and cross-functional teams, from concept brainstorming to drafting documents to preparing meeting materials
• Coordinates new development projects, including process paperwork (e.g. Project Initiation Forms, Design Requests, Product Briefs for all products, sampling and gift sets), Costing Analysis and running communication flow to cross-functional team members
• Owes responsibility and ensures the precision of in-season/core assortment roadmaps
• Monitors timelines, anticipates / communicates issues and drives deliverable dates on time
• Analyzes data in weekly business meetings to share results, driving insights, customer feedback, and in-store merchandising opportunities
• Aids in meeting preparation, sample management, report evaluation and analysis
• Researches the competition: understanding other retailers’ assortment, pricing, and promotional strategy
• Visits stores regularly to proactively solicit feedback from customers and sales associates
• Drives processes and workflows forward – drive efficiencies and speed to eliminate redundancies and enhance agility
• Seen as the category guide and "go to" person by their cross-functional partners

Qualifications

• 1-3 years of related work experience in brand development, merchandise buying and/or retail management
• An eye for business with analytical and retail math skills
• Demonstrate a passion for product and customer satisfaction
• Ability to influence and lead through challenges, problem-solve and build a cohesive team
• Strong verbal and written communication skills
• Exceptional ability to enhance collaborative working relationships
• Exercises keen attention to detail in all aspects of work
• Able to multi-task and prioritize with pace and ability to handle the stress that comes with working in a change-agile work environment
• Systems and computer proficiency (Centric, and MS Office Outlook, PowerPoint, Excel)