Merchant

Position Objective

Functional Responsibilities

• Develops and guides the execution of the quarterly strategic view of the line (SVL) for the brand, focusing on building strong assortment architecture that supports business strategies.
• Performs research analysis of their market and identifies trends and opportunities that can be applied to the core customer; identifies key opportunities leading to business strategies.
• Represents the voice of the customer; has deep knowledge of target customer to ensure product and outfitting deliver exceptional customer service.
• Creates strong partnerships among cross functional areas including Planning, Design, Product Development, Sourcing, Marketing, Site Merchandising Operations, International, Allocation, and Visual.
• Partners with Sourcing and Product Development. Sets target retails to meet financial goals and communicate to key stakeholders.
• Partners with the Design, Sourcing, and Product Development teams to ensure proper fit and quality of merchandise.
• Partners with key stakeholders to ensure the appropriate distribution to maximize sales of the business.
• Determines quantities to order by style, size, and color; validate to KPI objectives, Line Plan and OTB plan.
• Regularly reviews the sales trend of the business and makes merchandising decisions in partnership with leadership to maximize results and minimize risk.
• Partners with Sourcing team to manage flow and timing of deliveries; ensuring all commitments are met in a timely basis.
• Partners with Marketing to understand (Omni) floor set visual placement of product and impact on sales. Works with Visual team and Merchant leaders on key initiatives requiring marketing and visual placement.
• Ensures ongoing coordination with Digital Commerce Merchandising Site Operations and International teams on final assortment and any updates as needed.
• Ensures ongoing coordination with Site Merchandising partners on final assortment.
• Partners with Store Ops, if necessary, to create applicable training and communication to improve workflow.
• Values individuality and the diverse talents of their team. Leads the team by communicating expectations, providing guidance, delivering feedback, and empowering the team to be their best.

Financial Accountability

• Sales
• Budget

Competencies

• Courage
• Stepping up to address difficult issues, saying what needs to be said.
• Culture
• Living the Chico’s FAS Values and Guiding Principles by demonstrating Customer Focus, Instilling Trust, Driving Engagement and Delivering Results with High Performance.
• Manages complexity
• Making sense of complex, high quantity, and sometimes contradictory information to effectively solve problems.
• Organizational savvy
• Maneuvering comfortably through complex policy, process, and people-related organizational dynamics.
• Plans and aligns
• Planning and prioritizing work to meet commitments aligned with organizational goals.
• Technical Skill - Analytical
• The ability to seek information from a variety of sources and in a variety of ways, to clarify situations and to facilitate effective planning, decision-making, and problem solving.
• Technical Skill - Business Acumen
• Business Acumen - an intuitive and applicable understanding of how a company or unit makes money. Displays a thorough understanding of what drives profitability. Maintains a market-focused approach to business. Keeps an overall big picture understanding of the business and its interrelationships enabling a person to make better business decisions. The ability to make good business judgments and quick decisions in a manner that is likely to lead to a good outcome.
• Technical Skill - Communication Skills
• The ability to speak and write effectively. Demonstrates fundamental command of language, communicates well using all mediums, and prepares presentations.
• Technical Skill - Financial Acumen
• Interpreting and applying understanding of key financial indicators to make better business decisions.
• Technical Skill - Problem Solving
• Problem Solving is a step-by-step process of defining a problem, searching for information, and testing a series of solutions until the problem is solved. It involves critical thinking, analysis and persistence.

Education

Required Qualifications

• 6+ years of experience in Brand Development and Merchandising for a progressive national multi-channel apparel retailer
• Strong interpersonal skills; excellent written and verbal communication.
• Excellent analytical skills
• Excellent planning and organizational skills
• Ability to run and manage the open to buy
• Ability to work with and interpret numbers and have a thorough knowledge of inventory/open to buy
• Strong presentation skills
• Ability to multi-task and lead cross-functional teams

Preferred Qualifications

• Management experience preferred