Merchandiser - 12 month FTC

Location | Head Office, Tottenham Court Road, London

Working style | Hybrid

About Next Beauty

Next Beauty has become one of the most trusted beauty destinations online having launched in 2018 on next.co.uk, Britain’s number one online clothing and footwear retailer. So much so that we’re expanding into selected Next stores across the UK.

Offering over 250 luxury beauty brands including Tom Ford, Clarins, Estee Lauder and MAC, to name just a few; skincare, makeup and fragrance are all carefully curated by a team of beauty experts for over 8 million customers.

Our mission is to continue to evolve our beauty portfolio to become the number one beauty destination that’s both successful and sustainable.

About the Job

We are currently recruiting for a talented Beauty Merchandiser to join our growing Next Brands team on a 12 month FTC to continually grow and develop our recently launched and highly successful Beauty category. The successful candidate will have demonstrable experience within a multichannel Beauty business. Experience within Beauty at Merchandiser level is essential. Working in partnership with Buying, our Merchandising team uses analysis, expertise and instinct to forecast sales and stock levels to trade the department. Together with Buying, we build a commercial range from our portfolio of Beauty brands to ensure our customers are truly satisfied.

You will be…

Planning:

• Recommends department strategy, working closely with the Buyer and brand to maximise profit. Reviewing the sales for LY, performance against plan, including price, colour, seasonality, sizing and any other attribute pertinent to the brand/department.
• Agrees sales budget by brand and category with Merchandise Manager prior to buying stock for season currently planning.
• Together with the Buyer has ownership for the planning and review of season budgets to maximise potential and opportunity.
• Collates and analyses weekly, quarterly and seasonal sales, best and worst seller across brand performance, identifying potential for sales and profit.
• Effectively manages sales and stock by category, reviewing where currently we are verses plan and coming to category performance review meetings prepared, having analysed performance and ready to propose required action.
• Manages and controls the critical path with the Buyer, to ensure deadlines are met and potential problems identified at line and brand level working to agreed service levels.
• Maximising the profit potential of the department by forecasting accurately and delivers the range into the business in accordance with the critical path
• Manages intake with Buying to actively trade stock in season in order to maximise sales, whilst managing margin / options / newness levels / repeats / continuous lines.

Trading:

• Alongside the Buyer, actively trades the department with the brand, together continually reviewing changes in performance and taking appropriate actions where stock/commitment should be rebalanced to maximise profit.
• Rebalances stock / commitment to reduce markdown, thereby maximising profitability e.g. cancellations of stock where delivered late, changing future commitment where no longer appropriate if brand can support this.
• Runs line flows on styles where brand can offer surplus stock/reorder to ensure good level of stock is offered to customer maximising sales potential on continuity lines.
• Ensure team looks at sizing analysis by category and on flow lines to ensure we are ordering in correct ratio and offering customer well stocked size ranges to maximise sales potential.
• Manages KPI’s to maximise the net achieved margin or profit.
• Regularly reviews KPI’s with Buyer and shares with the brand, ensuring that the BTA is realistic, highlighting changes to their line manager, making recommendations where necessary.
• Effectively manages the OTB for their department ensuring planned stock levels are achieved to maximise sales.
• Ensures regular and productive contact is maintained with brands through review meetings and Monday trade calls to monitor performance of stock and identifies opportunities or areas of concern.
• Works with Site Optimisation team to understand and improve the end to end customer experience.

Managing Self and Others:

• The ability to plan and organise self-whilst managing upwards and developing the team
• Ensures information that is presented or distributed by self or member of team has been checked and is accurate and relevant at time of distribution.
• Manages the team by frequently prioritising workflow and conducting regular team reviews to ensure necessary administration is conducted and deadlines & targets are met.
• Delegates tasks effectively to ensure the workload is appropriately and fairly distributed amongst the team.
• Undertakes regular performance appraisals to set and review objectives along with an assessment of individual performance levels and development needs against the competencies.
• Monitors and reports on the performance of their team in terms of key performance indicators and overall performance against competence for the job role.
• Ensures that the team build cohesive relationships with other departments and key stakeholders.
• Motivates their team to ensure they maximise performance levels.
• Manages relationships both internally and externally developing partnerships.
• Actively contributes to the development of junior members within the Merchandising function.

Your Talent…

• Extensive experience within Beauty, Cosmetics, Skincare or Fragrance.
• Proven experience managing and developing a team.
• Experience forming new and maintaining existing relationships with external brand partners.
• Able to stay calm under pressure and motivate the team through challenging periods of change.
• Shows innovation by challenging existing processes and practices to drive the business forward.
• Strong knowledge of the competition’s product offer, pricing strategy and trading activity.

What we can do for you…

• 25% off a huge selection of Next, Lipsy, GAP and Victoria's Secret products & 10% off most partner brands & up to 15% off Branded Beauty
• Hot deals and exclusive offers from over 3,500 retailers through Perks At Work
• We recognise hard work with our company performance-based bonus
• Life Assurance
• Join our Next Sharesave Scheme
• Digital GP Service for help at home
• Lesson the impact with our Annual Travel Card Loan
• Never miss a package and with Direct to Desk delivery
• Bag a bargain at our sample sales
• Hybrid & flexible working across the business to support your work-life balance
• Learn, develop and grow with our personal development plans
• Start the weekend early, finish at 4.30 pm on Fridays!
• Enjoy more time with friends and family with Early Bank Holiday finishes
• Join in the fun with our year-round office events

Diversity & Inclusion

At Lipsy Group we recognise that our differences are what make us who we are. We want people to want to work for us and be their true selves. We are dedicated to attracting and developing a talent team, and recognise that all unique backgrounds and experiences contribute to our future success.

We want to create an inclusive and inspiring environment where individuals feel valued and respected, and where people can achieve their full potential and be their very best, whoever they are.

Wellbeing

We believe that wellbeing is having the opportunity to achieve your full potential, cope with day to day pressures, be productive and thrive in all aspects of your life. We encourage a culture that promotes and enables us all to achieve positive wellbeing, by focusing on mental, physical and financial health.

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