Merchandise Manager

THE OPPORTUNITY

Introducing a brand-new, exciting opportunity to join our Merchandising team as Merchandise Manager.

As Merchandise Manager you will make an impact by managing and developing a Merchandising team to effectively support our growing global Joma Jewellery / A Littles & Co. or Katie Loxton brands. You will take accountability for the teams overall performance, empowering the team to focus on personal development and continuous improvement.

You will take it upon yourself to ensure work across the team is accurate and delivered in a timely manner through keeping a strong attention to detail. You use your strong ability to lead on business and brand initiatives to see them through to success.

You will use your great communication and interpersonal skills to build excellent working relationships with other managers you will work in close collaboration with such as; Buying, Ecommerce, Marketing, Sales and Operations. You are obsessed with product, customer and data and use this knowledge to support the delivery of the Company goals.

You will be based at our stunning Head Office in Banbury three days a week with the freedom to work for the remainder of the week. Days in office may flex up from time to time dependant on business needs such as seasonal sign off weeks.

BEHIND THE BRANDS

We’re a family-run, entrepreneurial company with an exciting pace of life and a bright and friendly team. We are passionate about creating stunning products with a personal touch and innovating our business behind the scenes. We value creativity, collaboration and integrity.

HOW YOU'LL CONTRIBUTE

• Manging, building and motivating the Merchandising team
• Keeping a strong attention to detail in order to support the team and make suggestions to improve knowledge and understanding
• Leading and coaching your team through building sales forecasts for future seasons, this is actioned at style, colour, and price – by brand and channel
• Contributing to the forecasting strategy and processes to deliver improved demand forecasts
• Working with Merchandisers to forecast in season sales by channel based on current demand. Reacting and making suggestions and adjustments to both sales and stock
• Working closely with Merchandising team to manage in season weekly allocations and stock pools by brand and channel. Ensuring stock is aligned to meet demand.
• Working closely with Marketing and Ecommerce teams to relay re-forecasts at product level which will need to be reflected in both the marketing and on-site strategy
• Identifying and relaying changes to trading patterns and ensure the team are reacting to them both in season and for future seasons
• Working with Buying Manager/senior members of the Buying team in the planning of category options, depth and buy adhering to critical path
• Once seasonal forecast and sign off has been agreed with HOM & MD, working with your merchandising team to plan the intake flow with Operations and logistics - working within the stock target parameters and CP
• Working closely with the Purchasing & Logistics team to optimize delivery of inventory. Make good proposals where demand has exceeded stock to HOM
• Being an expert within Merchandising – solving issues and presenting solutions whilst striving for improvement
• Proactively bringing key customer and market insights when forming business and product decisions
• Contributing to all post launch sales meetings in the form of data and customer insights
• Actively becoming knowledgeable of the working of all IT systems able to support the team on improved reporting and relay systems updates
• Managing performance within the team, setting objectives and goals, giving regular feedback addressing areas of improvement and provide/seek L&D opportunities where needed

THE TALENT YOU'LL BRING

• Previous experience as a Senior Merchandiser and/or Merchandise Manager.
• Expert level excel skills
• Exceptional attention to detail and organisational skills
• Strong forecasting skills with strong retail math skills
• Able to present confidently to all levels within the business
• Ability to spot opportunities and share ideas across the business
• Experienced in omni channel retailing
• Positive, motivated and looks to make improvements and increase automation of tasks.
• Oracle NetSuite, Power BI experience preferred but not essential (or equivalent systems)

PERFECTLY PACKAGED

• A salary of £47,000 - £53,000 DOE
• 25 days holiday rising to 27 with length of service, plus bank holiday
• A broad benefits package including our staff favourite – a very generous staff discount across both our brands. See all of our benefits on our careers portal
• Opportunities to make an impact as well as learn and develop further
• An innovative and friendly workplace with a team we’re proud to be part of. Find out more about us and our culture on our careers portal

Joma Jewellery was founded in 2008 by Katie and Geoff Loxton, since then we have gone from strength to strength, launching Katie Loxton in 2015 and growing our business beyond the UK. We know that part of that growth comes from the fact that we take diversity and inclusion very seriously. We strive to be the best in our field, and we know that happens by hiring a diverse team and encouraging everyone to be their authentic selves when working with us. We don’t hire based on cultures, preferences, or personalities – it’s what you bring to the team that counts.

We are always striving to improve our way of working to be more inclusive, diverse and equal, including encouraging all team members to bring their ideas to the table as we know this is key to our continued success.