Temporary (Maternity cover) - Retail Merchandising Manager

Hermès; Dubai; On-site; AED 120,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading luxury retail company is seeking a retail merchandising and buying professional to cover a maternity leave position for approximately 4-6 months. The ideal candidate will have 5-7 years of relevant experience and be highly analytical with excellent skills in Microsoft Excel. Responsibilities include store visits for product expertise, sales performance monitoring, and collaboration with various teams to align buying strategies. This role requires a proactive approach and strong communication skills within a dynamic retail environment.

Qualifications

• 5-7 years of Retail Merchandising / Buying experience within a retail environment.
• Highly analytical with exceptional organisational and presentation skills.
• Business and service-oriented, proactive towards tasks and proposing new ideas.

Responsibilities

• Frequent store visits to acquire product expertise and identify trends.
• Monitor sales performance and undertake analyses to understand business opportunities.
• Collaborate on OTB definition and propose a buying strategy for stores.
• Support launch of new products and optimize product visibility.
• Share and implement Europe strategy within the subsidiary.

Skills

Retail Merchandising / Buying experience

Analytical skills

Organisational skills

Presentation skills

Communication skills

Proactive approach

Interpersonal skills

Tools

Microsoft Excel

Job description

This is a temporary position to cover a maternity leave, expected to run for 4-6 months approximately.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Market and Métier knowledge

• Frequent store visits to acquire product expertise, analyse feedback and identify trends
• Monitor sales performance through both quantitative analyses and compiling qualitative feedback
• Undertake detailed analyses to understand business opportunities and risks
• Build action plans in close collaboration with Retail, Training, Customer Service, Metiers and Europe Region to achieve ambitions
• Plan product feedback sessions and metier circles with ambassadors to collect key insights from each store and prepare for the buying sessions
• Work closely with Retail Merchandising Director to update sales forecasts

OTB and Buying management

• Collaborate to the definition of OTB for stores in line within the strategy of the subsidiary and Europe and with the stock objectives set for the current year
• Monitor and control reorders in line with budgeted stock levels
• Propose a buying strategy and support physical stores in their buying to ensure a coherent offer that will answer to their customers’ needs and enhance the store identities, with a good balance between novelties and bestsellers (assortments, PSI, novelties)
• Monitor the PSI and replenishment in collaboration with the Planning team, proposing adjustments based on sales per store, assortment planning and retail constraints

Product animation

• Support the launch of new products by collaborating with Training team, Visual Merchandiser and Communications to ensure successful launches
• Work closely with VM team to optimise products visibility, create coherent VM stores, and highlight products as per business needs
• Contribute to the success of Animations and Events by ensuring the product assortment, working with Customer Service to ensure timely delivery, collaborating on VM plans, and providing tools to support the Retail team
• Ensure product is managed throughout the region by the appropriate action of transfers and replenishment to optimise sales and stock management
• Work with the Training team to support in-store briefings for key products

Métiers & Europe Community partnership

• Share, implement and adapt Europe strategy within the subsidiary and bring forward the best practices from the community
• Work closely with the Métiers to implement their strategy locally and achieve growth ambitions
• Be the key liaison between the Stores and Métiers : share feedback and key information

REQUIREMENTS

• 5-7 years of Retail Merchandising / Buying experience within a retail environment
• Highly analytical with exceptional organisational and presentation skills
• Advance knowledge of Microsoft Office, particularly Microsoft Excel
• Excellent communication skills, ability to work with Retail teams and liaise with Corporate teams
• Detailed in their analyses but synthetic and action-focused when sharing with others
• Business and service-oriented, proactive towards tasks and proposing new ideas
• Team player, with great interpersonal skills