Merchandiser

Oliver Bonas; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 36,000 - 48,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Employee discount up to 50%

Private medical

Cycle to work

Bonus scheme

Gym access

Refer a Friend

Job summary

Oliver Bonas is seeking an experienced Merchandiser to join our Jewellery Team on a 12 month maternity cover contract. You will lead planning, trading and analysis of the range to maximise sales and profitability while minimising markdown.

Reporting to the Senior Merchandiser, you will develop strong cross-functional relationships with Buying and Design, manage an MAA, and drive department strategy with a hands-on leadership style.

Qualifications

• Experience leading a team and driving a commercial agenda.
• Strong trading and analytical skills to maximise sales and margins.
• Strong collaboration with Buying and Design teams to deliver department strategy.

Responsibilities

• Lead planning, trading and analysis of the Jewellery range to maximise sales and profitability while minimising markdown.
• Develop strong working relationships with Buying and Design and deliver department strategy.
• Manage the MAA and provide hands-on leadership across the Merchandising team.
• Conduct regular store visits to identify opportunities and risks and feed into plans.

Skills

Leadership

Trading

Analysis

Collaboration

Tools

Microsoft Excel

Job description

We are looking for a Merchandiser to join our Jewellery Team on a 12 month maternity cover contract.

As a Merchandiser - Jewellery at OB you will reporting to the Senior Merchandiser. Your role will be to lead the planning, trading & analysis of the range, maximising sales and profitability while minimising markdown. You will develop strong working relationships with both the Buying and Design team and work in collaboration to deliver department strategy, understanding the vision and direction of the product category.

Managing an MAA you will be a confident and dynamic leader, with a real enthusiasm for Oliver Bonas, product, and people, with a strong commercial awareness. You will have experience in leading a team, be self-motivated to drive results, with a flexible approach.

Our Support Office is based in Tolworth, near Chessington, only a 30-minute journey from London Waterloo. We offer hybrid working with a split of 3 days in the office and 2 days home working per week, and are open to having conversations about working flexibly.

A bit about us …

At Oliver Bonas (OB), our values of Work Hard, Play Hard & Be Kind are integral to everything we do. Collaboration, imagination, curiosity, and teamwork are key to our success, and everyone has their part to play in making OB a special place to work.

Having fun is key, and a playful and positive approach creates an optimistic environment. We don’t take ourselves too seriously, but we are serious about what we do.

Our team knows their stuff. They’re confident and creative and unafraid to challenge convention to find solutions, taking accountability for their actions, but always with kindness and humility.

More about the role …

An OB Merchandiser – Jewellery will:

• Work collaboratively alongside other departments to build a cohesive range and deliver the overall company strategy
• React to new and emerging trends that are on brand brief to potentialise sales
• Managing flow vs new options and stock
• Identify opportunities for new areas & opportunities based on market demand
• Managing margin and profit levels while aiming to increase sustainable credentials
• Communicate professionally, clearly and effectively, in all company meetings
• Present and liaise with other departments including Web, VM & Warehouse to deliver the department strategies
• Have a flair for spotting opportunities whilst managing risk to stock, sales and profit
• Ensure consistent communication and reporting standards across the merchandising team to support cohesive decision-making
• Leading & overseeing projects both outside of department categories, e.g. Channel Ambassadors, returns, etc
• Conduct regular visits to stores, identifying opportunities and threats, and making recommendations for process improvements in support of business objectives
• Gain a detailed understanding of the brand's strategy, including trends and customer profile, ensuring this is delivered within department strategy
• Formulate department plans including sales, optimum stock levels, OTB & terminal stocks - setting targets for the team to trade against. Manage newness vs flow, as the dept is a mix of flow & newness need to ensure options are managed effectively
• Deliver profit and margin targets, using supplier base to constantly challenge routes to achieve margin
• Supporting team to create the optimum range by balancing product and price whilst considering external factors e.g. product trend, competition, store feedback
• Formulate and sign off departmental strategies, product ranges, considering lessons learnt
• Lead department option planning, tailoring the options to achieve sales plan, guiding design and buying. Presenting option growth or risk to HODs, directors and CEO
• Manage department WSSI and oversee category WSSIs, ensuring intake is accurate and communicate any significant changes to senior management, as part of monthly reforecasting
• Reforecast the WSSI based on current trade, manage OTB budget, being both proactive and reactive to any potential issues
• Monitor stock levels to ensure right product is available at the right time. Minimising overstock and markdowns
• Optimise Open-to-Buy across your department, including pre-season planning, line flow forecasting, and informed in-season trading decision-making
• Understand the brands top-line strategy and align merchandising goals accordingly
• Analyse and present weekly performance to the department and HODs proposing actions to drive sales
• Generate seasonal weekly sales forecasts in line with business KPI's. Own department markdowns, margins and closing stocks to drive department profitability
• Oversee the management of stock levels across all channels to ensure sufficient stock levels for planned trading period by SKU by channel
• Manage all aspects of in season trading forecasts, ensuring all categories are performing at optimum levels. Continually reviewing intake, OTB position and terminal stocks across the department, identifying both opportunities and risks to sales
• Maintain an awareness of current trading conditions, conducting thorough market and competitor analysis to support proposals regarding potential markdowns, re-prices and promotions
• Identifying opportunities across multi-channel
• Represent the Merch team to the wider business within set Ambassador roles e.g. Web, Stores, Markdown and Marketplace
• Develop and encourage high performance teams, who understand and reflect the company ethos
• Provide training and pass on knowledge to junior members of the team to develop their skills
• Delegate tasks to junior colleagues, ensuring tasks are fairly distributed to broaden skills and knowledge within the team
• Generous employee discount up to 50% off all OB products
• Free access to our 24 hour employee assistance programme with Optima Health – offering financial, emotional and vocational support
• Flexible holiday – 33 days (including bank holidays) – increasing to 35 days with length of service
• Annual discretionary profit related bonus scheme
• Free membership for our Westfield Health Cash Plan or Private Medical
• Free access to our onsite gym
• Cycle to work scheme
• Refer a Friend incentive
• Quarterly free lunch
• Enhanced maternity, paternity, adoption and shared parental leave
• Equity, Diversity and Inclusivity Voice network and EDI team
• Mental Health First Aider support
• Education and support through 360L eLearning platform

What we look for:

• Experience working as Junior Merchandiser or Merchandiser
• Proven track record of working cross functionally with multiple departments
• Genuine passion for OB product categories
• Effective communicator and strong decision-maker
• Prepared to take on new challenges with the ability to think outside the box
• Self-motivated with a "can do" attitude
• Thrives working in a fast paced, multi-tasking environment
• Strong analytical skills with attention to details
• Ability to plan and organise an ever-changing workload
• Confidence in presenting to Senior Management Team and ability to flex the style depending on an audience
• Strong Microsoft Office skills in particular, Excel
• Excellent commercial awareness and proven ability to drive profit

Equity, Diversity & Inclusion at OB

At Oliver Bonas, our promise is to do our bit to make living a joyful experience and give cause for optimism. This promise is central to our work in equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI). To bring joy to others, we must first ensure everyone at OB feels valued, included and most importantly, can be themselves at work.

It is important to us that our brand reflects wider society and the communities in which we operate. As a result, we welcome all eligible applicants for this role however we are particularly interested in speaking to eligible candidates from the Black, Asian & Mixed Heritage communities.

Oliver Bonas is a Disability Confident Committed employer under the Disability Confident employer scheme.

To read more about our ED&I commitments, head over to the EDI page on our website: https://www.oliverbonas.com/meet-the-team/diversity