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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for a Merchandise Specialist

💰 $55,000 - $85,000

RetailMerchandisingE-commerceSupply Chain

🎯 Role Definition

A Merchandise Specialist is the commercial architect of a company's product offering. This role is a dynamic blend of art and science, requiring a keen eye for trends and a sharp analytical mind. You are the curator of the customer's shopping experience, responsible for ensuring the right products are in the right place, at the right time, and at the right price. Success in this position means directly influencing sales, margin, and brand perception by creating a compelling and commercially viable product assortment that resonates with the target customer.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Merchandising Coordinator or Assistant
  • Assistant Buyer
  • Inventory Analyst
  • Retail Store Manager with buying responsibilities

Advancement To:

  • Senior Merchandise Specialist
  • Category Manager
  • Buyer or Associate Buyer
  • Merchandise Planner

Lateral Moves:

  • E-commerce Manager
  • Marketing or Brand Specialist
  • Product Development Coordinator

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Develop and execute strategic merchandise assortment plans for assigned categories to meet or exceed sales, gross margin, and inventory turnover goals.
  • Analyze historical sales data, market trends, and customer insights to identify opportunities for growth and inform future product selections and buys.
  • Manage the complete product lifecycle from initial selection and purchase order creation through to end-of-life strategies like markdowns and clearance.
  • Collaborate closely with the Buying team to build balanced assortments that reflect brand identity while also catering to regional and demographic nuances.
  • Partner with the Planning team to create accurate sales forecasts and inventory plans, ensuring optimal stock levels across all channels (e-commerce, retail stores).
  • Conduct regular competitive analysis and market research to maintain a deep understanding of the competitive landscape, including pricing, promotions, and product trends.
  • Set and manage product pricing strategies, ensuring alignment with overall brand positioning, financial targets, and promotional calendars.
  • Oversee the visual merchandising strategy for online channels, including product categorization, sequencing, and the optimization of collection pages to drive conversion.
  • Work with the Marketing and E-commerce teams to plan and execute compelling product stories, campaigns, and promotional activities.
  • Monitor in-season performance at the SKU level, proactively identifying and reacting to fast-selling and slow-moving items to maximize sales and minimize risk.
  • Build and maintain strong, collaborative relationships with external vendors to negotiate terms, ensure timely delivery, and manage product quality.
  • Prepare and present detailed weekly, monthly, and seasonal business reviews to leadership, providing actionable insights on category performance.
  • Manage the purchase order process, including accurate data entry, tracking, and communication with supply chain partners to ensure on-time product availability.
  • Drive the strategy for online product presentation, ensuring all product attributes, images, and descriptive copy are accurate, compelling, and optimized for search.
  • Analyze customer behavior on the website, using tools like Google Analytics to understand navigation paths, click-through rates, and conversion to optimize the user journey.
  • Coordinate with store operations and visual merchandising teams to ensure a cohesive brand presentation and consistent product strategy between online and offline channels.
  • Generate and maintain critical merchandising reports, including best-seller reports, sell-through analysis, and inventory position summaries.
  • Act as the key point of contact and product expert for your assigned categories, providing training and information to customer service and sales teams.
  • Manage product sample coordination for photoshoots, marketing materials, and internal meetings, ensuring all key stakeholders have access to product information.
  • Identify and recommend process improvements within the merchandising workflow to increase efficiency and effectiveness.

Secondary Functions

  • Support ad-hoc reporting requests from leadership regarding category performance, inventory status, and promotional effectiveness.
  • Contribute to the merchandising team's strategy and seasonal roadmap development by providing data-driven insights and competitive analysis.
  • Collaborate with Marketing, E-commerce, and Store Operations teams to ensure a cohesive and well-executed go-to-market strategy for new products and promotions.
  • Participate in planning meetings and cross-functional check-ins to align merchandising activities with the broader commercial calendar.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel, including pivot tables, VLOOKUP, and complex formulas for robust data analysis and reporting.
  • Strong experience with retail math principles, including calculating margins, turn, sell-through, and open-to-buy (OTB).
  • Hands-on experience with merchandising software, ERP systems (e.g., SAP, NetSuite, Oracle), or dedicated inventory management platforms.
  • Proven ability in data analysis and interpretation, with a talent for translating quantitative and qualitative data into actionable business insights.
  • Familiarity with e-commerce platforms (e.g., Shopify, Magento, BigCommerce) and their merchandising capabilities.
  • Competency with web analytics tools like Google Analytics to track site performance and customer behavior.

Soft Skills

  • Exceptional commercial awareness and a genuine passion for product, with a keen eye for emerging market and fashion trends.
  • A highly analytical and methodical problem-solver with an unwavering attention to detail and a results-oriented mindset.
  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to articulate complex ideas clearly and influence cross-functional partners effectively.
  • Superior organizational and time-management abilities, capable of juggling multiple projects and tight deadlines in a dynamic, fast-paced retail environment.
  • A proactive, adaptable, and collaborative team player who can build strong working relationships at all levels of the organization.
  • Strong negotiation skills and experience in fostering positive vendor relationships.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Bachelor's Degree or equivalent practical experience.

Preferred Education:

  • Bachelor's Degree in a relevant field of study.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Business Administration or Economics
  • Marketing or Fashion Merchandising
  • Retail Management

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

  • 3-5 years of direct experience in a merchandising, buying, inventory planning, or a closely related role within a retail or e-commerce organization.

Preferred:

  • Experience working in a multi-channel retail environment that includes both physical stores and a significant e-commerce presence is highly desirable.
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