Online Stock Merchandiser

The role:

To continuously review the product offering within selected client groups, to optimise product development & selection; replenishment order volumes; promotion & discounting decisions – with the aim to maximise sales & commercial return.

This role would suit an experienced assistant merchandiser with 3-4 years’ experience or someone already in a merchandiser role looking for a new challenge.

Key Responsibilities:

• Evaluate product range, considering demand data, price points, categories, aging, and seasonal phasing.   Evaluation should also include feedback from market, key stakeholders, internal team, channel sales data, category & price point analysis (including comparison of other BA clients / wider retail market) and web analytics.

• This evaluation to inform recommended actions, such as:
  • marketing activity to drive sales of aged/surplus stocks.
  • Putting into the sale or moving on the web page
  • when to discontinue / refresh or replace items.
  • Propose new items for introduction

• Any proposals for new items for introduction should include number of styles, ordering quantities and price points - to optimise sales, without splitting or cannibalising sales of other items in the range.

• Proposals would be subject to an initial BA internal discussion.  Product Analyst will then present the proposal to the client, to outline the data, proposed actions and rationale, for their approval.

• Identifying slow moving stock and highlighting them for marketing activity or adding them to upcoming campaigns to push sales without the need for discounting.

• Liaising with Account managers on aged stock and offering special prices to customers, based on previous order history.

• Review site categorisation, photography quality and page positioning to ensure optimum visibility & reach.

• Work with BA commercial, IT & inventory teams on agreeing, scheduling and arranging system updates to product pricing in March & September, including FX adjustments for coming period.

• Working with the investment team to justify our investment requests, based on sales, lead times and launch data from similar products.
  • Using knowledge of the account, events, and planned marketing as client intelligence to support those analyse instead of using the general rule of thumb.
  • New investment should also include recommended reorder quantity for pricing, so to maintain / protect margin.

• Taking responsibility for determining price points of Offshore produced items, to ensure all cost elements are taken into consideration such as addition finance and warehouse costs

• In conjunction with the Inventory Planner, review stock reports each week to agree replenishment quantities, considering lifecycle of item, usage & lead times, and any planned new item introduction.

• Decisions on replenishment orders and any new item introductions should consider the stock investment thresholds set for each client.  Staying within investment threshold and cash invested is a key KPI for the role.