Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Director of Merchandising

🎯 Role Definition

The Director of Merchandising is a senior commercial leader accountable for developing and delivering the merchandising strategy that aligns product assortment, pricing, promotions, vendor partnerships, and inventory planning to drive revenue, profitability and customer loyalty across retail and e‑commerce channels. This role blends strategic category leadership, deep analytical capability, cross‑functional collaboration (marketing, supply chain, finance, product), and hands‑on execution of assortment and lifecycle plans. The Director of Merchandising builds and mentors high‑performing merchandising teams, owns P&L and KPIs, and continuously optimizes assortment, pricing and promotions using customer insights and merchandising analytics.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Senior Merchandiser / Head of Buying
Category Manager / Senior Category Manager
E‑commerce Merchandising Manager

Advancement To:

Vice President, Merchandising
Chief Merchandising Officer / Head of Retail
General Manager / Head of Commercial

Lateral Moves:

Head of Planning & Inventory Management
Head of Supply Chain / Demand Planning
Head of Category Marketing or Brand Partnerships

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Define and own the end‑to‑end merchandising strategy and category vision for assigned categories across omnichannel (brick & mortar, mobile, web, marketplace), ensuring alignment with corporate goals, brand positioning and seasonal business plans.
Lead annual and seasonal assortment planning, SKU rationalization and lifecycle management to maximize sell‑through, reduce aged inventory and optimize space/assortment productivity both in stores and online.
Own category P&L and target margin structure: develop pricing strategies, margin improvement plans, markdown optimization and gross margin forecasting to meet profitability targets.
Develop and execute a comprehensive pricing and promotions strategy (including promotional cadence, depth, and timing) that balances customer acquisition, basket size, margin preservation and inventory velocity.
Drive demand forecasting and inventory optimization by partnering with planning, supply chain and analytics teams to set buy plans, replenishment rules, safety stock and allocation logic that reduce stockouts and overstock.
Lead vendor and supplier negotiations including terms, pricing, lead times, exclusivity, private label development and promotional funding to secure favorable commercial outcomes and protect margin.
Build and maintain the merchandising roadmap and calendar, ensuring product launches, seasonal transitions and promotional events are executed flawlessly across channels with clear activation plans.
Translate consumer and category insights (market trends, competitor activity, customer segmentation, price sensitivity) into actionable assortment, product development and go‑to‑market decisions that drive conversion and LTV.
Partner with e‑commerce/product teams to optimize online merchandising: site taxonomy, category pages, product detail pages, search merchandising, visual storytelling, content strategy and A/B testing to improve conversion and SEO.
Implement robust assortment analytics and KPI reporting (sell‑through, margin, GMROI, weeks of cover, conversion, attach rates) using BI tools and dashboards to inform decision making and provide real‑time performance visibility.
Establish and manage merchandising processes and governance (assortment sign‑offs, vendor scorecards, promotion approvals, markdown policies) to drive cross‑functional alignment and execution discipline.
Lead new product introduction (NPI) and private label programs: concept refinement, pricing, cost negotiation, supplier qualification, quality assurance and go‑to‑market timing.
Oversee visual merchandising and in‑store execution guidelines (planograms, resets, seasonal displays) in collaboration with store operations to ensure consistent brand experience and product visibility.
Drive omnichannel integration initiatives such as buy online pickup in store (BOPIS), click & collect fulfillment, ship‑from‑store and unified promotions to improve customer experience and inventory efficiency.
Champion data‑driven decision making: partner with analytics and data science teams to develop predictive models (demand forecasting, price elasticity, promotion lift), segmentation and personalization strategies.
Create and manage annual merchandising budgets and financial forecasts; provide regular variance analysis and corrective action plans to finance and executive leadership.
Recruit, develop and coach a high‑performing merchandising team; set clear goals, performance metrics and career paths for direct reports and cross‑functional partners.
Collaborate closely with marketing to develop promotional calendars, creative briefs and campaign measurement frameworks that drive traffic, conversion and repeat purchase.
Lead vendor performance management programs: scorecards, on‑time delivery, quality metrics, compliance and remediation plans to ensure supplier reliability and risk mitigation.
Drive continuous improvement initiatives (process automation, S&OP alignment, markdown optimization, assortment personalization) to increase efficiency and responsiveness to market changes.
Conduct regular competitive and market benchmarking to anticipate disruptive trends, adjust assortment and pricing tactics, and maintain a differentiated product position.
Partner with legal, compliance and sustainability teams to ensure product sourcing, packaging and labeling meet regulatory requirements and company sustainability commitments.
Represent merchandising in executive forums and cross‑functional steering committees; present performance, strategic initiatives and resource needs to the senior leadership team.

Secondary Functions

Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory data analysis.
Contribute to the organization's data strategy and roadmap.
Collaborate with business units to translate data needs into engineering requirements.
Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies within the data engineering team.
Manage agency and third‑party vendor relationships for category research, visual merchandising and digital merchandising execution.
Support corporate sustainability and supplier diversity initiatives as they relate to purchasing and assortment decisions.
Serve as a subject matter expert for merchandising systems implementations, ERP and Merchandising Management System (MMS) integrations.
Occasionally represent the company at trade shows, vendor meetings and industry forums.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Merchandising strategy & category management (assortment planning, SKU rationalization)
P&L ownership and financial acumen (margin management, gross profit optimization)
Advanced demand forecasting, inventory planning and allocation techniques
Pricing strategy, markdown optimization and promotion planning
Negotiation and vendor management skills, including supplier contracting and sourcing
Strong analytics skills: Excel (advanced), SQL, and experience with BI tools (Tableau, Power BI or Looker)
Experience with merchandising and planning systems (e.g., Oracle, SAP/ATTP, JDA/Blue Yonder, Manhattan)
E‑commerce merchandising: site taxonomy, product feed management, search relevance and conversion optimization
A/B testing and experimentation knowledge to validate merchandising and promotional hypotheses
Familiarity with ERP, POS, OMS and supply chain systems and integration points
Knowledge of KPI frameworks: GMROI, sell‑through, weeks of supply, conversion and basket metrics
Supplier quality, compliance and sustainability understanding (ethical sourcing, certifications)

Soft Skills

Strategic thinker with a strong commercial orientation and ability to translate vision into measurable plans
Exceptional cross‑functional collaboration and stakeholder management skills
Data‑driven decision maker with a bias for action and continuous improvement
Strong leadership and people development capabilities; coach and mentor teams to high performance
Excellent written and verbal communication, comfortable presenting to executive leadership and boards
Influencing and negotiation skills to manage internal trade‑offs and external supplier relationships
Customer centricity — deep empathy for shopper behavior and the customer journey
Adaptability and resilience in a fast‑paced, ambiguous retail environment
Project management discipline and ability to prioritize multiple strategic initiatives
High attention to detail while retaining the ability to operate at a strategic level

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor's degree in Business, Retail Management, Merchandising, Marketing, Supply Chain or related field.

Preferred Education:

MBA or advanced degree in Business/Marketing/Operations preferred.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Merchandising, Retail Management
Business Administration, Finance, Marketing
Supply Chain, Operations, Data Analytics

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

8–15+ years of merchandising, buying or category management experience, with progressive leadership responsibility.

Preferred:

10+ years in retail, consumer goods or e‑commerce merchandising with at least 3–5 years in a senior leadership role managing managers and owning P&L. Demonstrated track record of driving revenue growth, margin improvement, inventory efficiency and cross‑channel commercialization.