Visual Merchandising Manager

Matalan; Liverpool City Region; On-site; GBP 35,000 - 45,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading retail company is seeking a Visual Merchandising Manager to oversee the visual presentation of key product areas. The role involves creating compelling displays, collaborating with various teams to enhance the customer experience, and leading VM Coordinators to ensure efficient execution. Strong design aesthetics and retail knowledge are essential, alongside the ability to leverage market trends. Benefits include staff discounts and career development opportunities.

Benefits

20% staff discount

Thrive Recognition Scheme

Wellbeing support by Retail Trust

Life Assurance

Retail Rewards platform discounts

Pension Scheme

Career development opportunities

Qualifications

• Strong understanding of design aesthetics, colour theory, composition, and spatial awareness.
• Familiarity with the responsible product area and current market trends.
• Proven ability to lead and motivate a team under tight deadlines.
• Ability to translate brand strategies into actionable plans.
• Experience managing store layouts and inventory execution.
• Strong understanding of customer behavior to enhance shopping experience.

Responsibilities

• Create compelling displays and store layouts aligning with brand vision.
• Collaborate with teams to create displays for promotions and new launches.
• Lead and coach VM Coordinators for effective execution.
• Stay updated with market trends to create effective visual concepts.
• Partner with inventory teams to ensure availability and rotation of products.
• Use sales data to assess the effectiveness of merchandising strategies.

Skills

Visual Creativity

Retail Knowledge

Leadership

Strategic Vision

Operational Proficiency

Marketing and Sales Acumen

Job description

About Matalan

From humble beginnings to disruptive innovations in the retail industry, find out about how Matalan is ever-evolving here.

We know as a team, we are stronger together – we champion equality for all and make lasting connections that go beyond work. We thrive off our inclusive culture, encouraging our colleagues to bring their true selves to work and contributing to collective creativity, open-mindedness and growth.

We want give every candidate the opportunity to perform at their best throughout the application and interview process and then ultimately in their role. If you require any adjustments during our recruitment process, please don’t hesitate to let us know.

In the event that a high volume of suitable applications are received, the post may close prior to the specified closing date. Please apply as soon as possible if interested.

About the role

The Visual Merchandising Manager will be accountable for the visual presentation of a key product area (e.g., womenswear). This role will focus on translating the buying vision into effective VM strategies and guidelines, which will be implemented across stores. You will work closely with the field VM teams to bring your creative concepts to life, ensuring brand consistency, driving sales and enhancing customer experience.

Key Responsibilities

Visual Merchandising Design & Execution

• Create and develop visually compelling displays, floor plans, and store layouts that commercially showcase products in alignment with the buying vision, brand identity, and seasonal trends.
• Develop and present mock shops or visual samples to key stakeholders, demonstrating how displays and layouts will look in store and highlighting key merchandising points and commercial drivers.
• Use visual merchandising to enhance the customer journey by creating engaging and interactive store environments that drive customer satisfaction and loyalty.
• Lead the implementation of seasonal store changes, ensuring all new collections, promotions, and displays are ready for timely launch and aligned with business goals.
• Ensure POS and other Marketing tools are correctly implemented.

Collaboration & Stakeholder Management

• Collaborate closely with the buying team to understand product assortments and translate the buying vision into effective visual merchandising strategies for your key area (e.g., womenswear, menswear, homeware).
• Work with the buying, merchandising, and customer teams to create displays for key promotions, new product launches, and seasonal campaigns that drive sales and elevate the customer experience.
• Coordinate with marketing and the customer team to ensure point-of-sale (POS) materials are aligned with visual merchandising strategies, ensuring a cohesive brand message across all touchpoints.

Team Leadership & Development

• Lead and coach VM Coordinators, delegating tasks, setting clear expectations, and ensuring efficient execution of visual merchandising plans.
• Work closely with field VM teams to implement visual strategies in stores, ensuring effective execution and timely delivery of visual merchandising standards.
• Develop training materials for store teams to ensure visual merchandising guidelines are understood and implemented effectively across all stores.

Trend Awareness & Innovation

• Stay up to date with current market and retail trends, applying these insights to create fresh, innovative, and relevant visual concepts that resonate with customers.
• Monitor development of best practice guideline tools and highlight opportunities.

Inventory & Display Management

• Partner with inventory and stock teams to ensure product availability and stock rotation to maintain fresh and effective displays.
• Oversee the smooth execution of visual merchandising plans, making sure all visual elements are delivered on time and within budget.

Performance Analysis & Reporting

• Use sales data and customer feedback to assess the effectiveness of visual merchandising strategies, making adjustments where necessary to improve performance in underperforming areas.
• Track and report on the performance of visual merchandising strategies, providing key insights to senior management on areas of success and opportunities for improvement.

About You

Visual Creativity:

• Strong understanding of design aesthetics, colour theory, composition and spatial awareness to create eye-catching, effective displays.

Retail Knowledge:

• Familiarity with the product area you are responsible for, along with an understanding of current market trends and consumer preferences

Leadership:

• Proven ability to lead and motivate a team, delegating tasks effectively and inspiring high performance under tight deadlines.

Strategic Vision:

• Ability to translate buying and brand strategies into clear, actionable visual merchandising plans that support business goals.

Operational Proficiency:

• Experience managing store layouts, inventory and display execution to ensure alignment with VM guidelines and timely implementation.

Marketing and Sales Acumen:

• Strong understanding of customer behaviour and preferences, using visual merchandising to enhance the overall shopping experience and drive sales.

Benefits

In addition to competitive salaries, we also offer the below core benefits:

• 20% staff discount, which increases with length of service
• Thrive Recognition Scheme
• Wellbeing support provided by the Retail Trust
• Life Assurance
• Retail Rewards platform offering discounts for other retailers
• Pension Scheme
• Access to a wide range of career development
• Additional benefits may apply depending on your role and area of the business