USA Merchandiser

The Merchandiser will lead the commercial relaunch and merchandising management of a newly acquired brand license for the US Market. Based in the UK, this role acts as a vital strategic bridge connecting our UK based product creation team with our US based Wholesale Sales team. The primary focus is to drive profitable revenue growth by delivering strong range plans, accurate stock forecasting and seamless supply chain execution tailored specifically to the US market. 

Key Responsibilities:

Strategy:

• Collaborate with the UK design and buying team to build commercially viable range plans specifically for US Wholesale accounts. Ensure the right delivery date, pricing architecture and desired margin has been agreed between all parties to maximise sales and profits
• Lead the commercial launch and rebuilding strategy for the US license, establishing merchandising operations tailored to both full price and off price Wholesale Channels
• Provide the wider team with analysis by category and customer by season, feeding the results into the range plan and providing forecasted sales by line that achieve the budgeted sales and margin; setting target margins for the buying team to facilitate
• Ownership of US Selling Windows: Defining and driving the US seasonal selling, go to market week and intake calendars, ensuring alignment with US market expectations and key buying dates
• Budget Management: Build, monitor and deliver annual sales, margins and stock budgets for the US territory, ensuring alignment with financial targets. Liaising with the sales teams to ensure the most accurate information to cover sales, agents’ commissions and margins.
• Ensure all brand strategies are executed in line with the overall business needs and communicate these to the wider team

People:

• Develop a collaborative cross functional working relationship with the US and UK teams across sales, design, buying and tech to ensure the right product is booked for the market and is executed in line with required delivery dates

Trade and planning:

• Establish and manage WSSI models specifically tuned to US delivery windows and trade cycles
• Delivery – Working with the buying team reviewing information from suppliers collated by the team, attending CP meetings and acting where needed to improve deliveries and ensure goods arrive on time and in full. Communicating all deliveries to the US Sales team to make sure customers are kept fully updated throughout the season
• Shipping - Management of all commercial paperwork - PI, packing lists, draft BL and tariff documentation ensuring on time clearance through US custom and delivery into the US warehouse
• Working closely with the US team who will control the importing, exporting, invoicing and payments to make sure nothing is delayed to the customer, supporting with all required documentation
• Lead weekly trade meetings and develop comprehensive trade reports to continuously re-forecast sales and intake on a weekly basis to ensure deliveries are on time and budgeted sales and margins are achieved. Highlighting any anomalies to the relevant parties and Senior Management
• Management of the weekly cashflow document to forward plan all future stock payments in line with the most up to shipping dates
• Management of the US Ecommerce sales reporting, working closely with the UK Merch and Ecommerce teams regarding product launches, trading stance and marketing to drive growth across the web platform

Additional responsibility:

• Support the Head of Merchandising with quarterly business reviews and multi-year reforecasting for the US Market
• Ensure all documents are checked and correct for the use of the Merchandising and wider BSI teams.
• Ensuring the BSI Senior Management Team are communicated to in an effective and timely manner
  

Knowledge & Skills:

• The ability to cope with the pressure of having to make important decisions and meet tight deadlines.
• Understanding the importation of goods into the US including required tariffs and duty
• Knowledge of relevant product categories and competitors
• Presentation skills - visual, verbal and written
• Strong negotiation skills
• Organisational skills - the ability to manage the critical path from product development to customer delivery date
• Team player - ability to manage working relationships at all levels
• Numerate - working with margin calculations and budgets
• Analytical skills – ability to analyse and interpret various data sources and reports
• Problem solving skills - able to make the right the decision when faced with sales / margin / supply issues
• Understanding of the clothing industry & trading environments. Broad knowledge of wholesale environments
• Strategic thinker - able to look forward and innovate
• Self-motivated
  
  Qualifications & experience:

• GCSE level C in Maths & English
• Ideally to have Business, Merchandise or Fashion degree
• At least 2 years as a Senior Assistant Merchandiser/Junior Merch - ideally in a related category with previous Wholesale exposure

The Merchandiser will lead the commercial relaunch and merchandising management of a newly acquired brand license for the US Market. Based in the UK, this role acts as a vital strategic bridge connecting our UK based product creation team with our US based Wholesale Sales team. The primary focus is to drive profitable revenue growth by delivering strong range plans, accurate stock forecasting and seamless supply chain execution tailored specifically to the US market. 

Key Responsibilities:

Strategy:

• Collaborate with the UK design and buying team to build commercially viable range plans specifically for US Wholesale accounts. Ensure the right delivery date, pricing architecture and desired margin has been agreed between all parties to maximise sales and profits
• Lead the commercial launch and rebuilding strategy for the US license, establishing merchandising operations tailored to both full price and off price Wholesale Channels
• Provide the wider team with analysis by category and customer by season, feeding the results into the range plan and providing forecasted sales by line that achieve the budgeted sales and margin; setting target margins for the buying team to facilitate
• Ownership of US Selling Windows: Defining and driving the US seasonal selling, go to market week and intake calendars, ensuring alignment with US market expectations and key buying dates
• Budget Management: Build, monitor and deliver annual sales, margins and stock budgets for the US territory, ensuring alignment with financial targets. Liaising with the sales teams to ensure the most accurate information to cover sales, agents’ commissions and margins.
• Ensure all brand strategies are executed in line with the overall business needs and communicate these to the wider team

People:

• Develop a collaborative cross functional working relationship with the US and UK teams across sales, design, buying and tech to ensure the right product is booked for the market and is executed in line with required delivery dates

Trade and planning:

• Establish and manage WSSI models specifically tuned to US delivery windows and trade cycles
• Delivery – Working with the buying team reviewing information from suppliers collated by the team, attending CP meetings and acting where needed to improve deliveries and ensure goods arrive on time and in full. Communicating all deliveries to the US Sales team to make sure customers are kept fully updated throughout the season
• Shipping - Management of all commercial paperwork - PI, packing lists, draft BL and tariff documentation ensuring on time clearance through US custom and delivery into the US warehouse
• Working closely with the US team who will control the importing, exporting, invoicing and payments to make sure nothing is delayed to the customer, supporting with all required documentation
• Lead weekly trade meetings and develop comprehensive trade reports to continuously re-forecast sales and intake on a weekly basis to ensure deliveries are on time and budgeted sales and margins are achieved. Highlighting any anomalies to the relevant parties and Senior Management
• Management of the weekly cashflow document to forward plan all future stock payments in line with the most up to shipping dates
• Management of the US Ecommerce sales reporting, working closely with the UK Merch and Ecommerce teams regarding product launches, trading stance and marketing to drive growth across the web platform

Additional responsibility:

• Support the Head of Merchandising with quarterly business reviews and multi-year reforecasting for the US Market
• Ensure all documents are checked and correct for the use of the Merchandising and wider BSI teams.
• Ensuring the BSI Senior Management Team are communicated to in an effective and timely manner
  

Knowledge & Skills:

• The ability to cope with the pressure of having to make important decisions and meet tight deadlines.
• Understanding the importation of goods into the US including required tariffs and duty
• Knowledge of relevant product categories and competitors
• Presentation skills - visual, verbal and written
• Strong negotiation skills
• Organisational skills - the ability to manage the critical path from product development to customer delivery date
• Team player - ability to manage working relationships at all levels
• Numerate - working with margin calculations and budgets
• Analytical skills – ability to analyse and interpret various data sources and reports
• Problem solving skills - able to make the right the decision when faced with sales / margin / supply issues
• Understanding of the clothing industry & trading environments. Broad knowledge of wholesale environments
• Strategic thinker - able to look forward and innovate
• Self-motivated
  
  Qualifications & experience:

• GCSE level C in Maths & English
• Ideally to have Business, Merchandise or Fashion degree
• At least 2 years as a Senior Assistant Merchandiser/Junior Merch - ideally in a related category with previous Wholesale exposure