WHAT DOES AN ASSISTANT MERCHANDISER DO?
The Assistant Merchandiser excels in generating crucial sales and inventory reports, including bestsellers and detailed line-by-line analyses, to guide strategic stock management. This role involves collaborating with allocation and warehouse teams to optimize stock levels and ensure the accuracy of deliveries, thus maintaining the integrity of the supply chain. With a keen eye for market trends and performance metrics, the Assistant Merchandiser plays a pivotal role in identifying sales opportunities and enhancing product offerings, ensuring the brand remains competitive and responsive to market demands.
A Review of Professional Skills and Functions for Assistant Merchandiser
1. Assistant Merchandiser Duties
- Inventory Management: Familiar with POS system for stock entry, allocation, and optimization.
- Communication: Communicate and coordinate with internal parties such as shop levels to improve store assortment and the accounting department for payment issues.
- Product Knowledge: Provide and communicate with internal and external parties on all product-related information for alignment throughout the product lifecycle.
- Stock Analysis: Conduct stock analysis, stock take follow-up, and handle inquiries on discrepancies.
- Data Analysis: Produce and analyze selling reports and provide markdown recommendations.
- Administrative Skills: Handle clerical duties such as preparing reports for management and invoice checking.
- Event Coordination: Coordinate workshops for in-house brands and prepare transfer notes between different entities.
- Order Management: Manage replenishment orders, including providing projection orders.
- Market Analysis: Generate and analyze sell-through information.
- Strategic Planning: Make recommendations on range developments based on sell-through information.
- Problem-Solving: Escalate any issues relating to Stock/Deliveries, Finance, Copy, and Customer Service queries.
2. Assistant Merchandiser Details
- Timeliness: Ensure that deliveries and Business Intelligence (BI) monthly delivery launches are executed in stores on time.
- Product Strategy: Assist the RTW manager in delivering product strategy and monitor/control fashion and seasonal product performance with target sell-through.
- Market Alignment: Organize and update the store profile in line with market business strategy and product strategy.
- Data Analysis: Generate data and reports for sales trading, KPI, and sell-through across all doors.
- Reporting: Analyze and run ad-hoc reports to identify business drivers and possible liabilities.
- Inventory Management: Own product allocation across the country for the assigned product division, including allocation of target stocks (new and replenishment).
- Product Analysis: Analyze product availability/depth/sizes along with its sell-through for pre-buy and in-season.
- Stock Optimization: Build allocation plans and optimize stock levels by store to maximize performance.
- Supply Coordination: Partner with the Supply Chain to check delivery schedules against allocation plans.
- Logistics Execution: Execute and communicate transfers and consolidations by store.
3. Assistant Merchandiser Responsibilities
- Reporting: Run the Monday morning reports, sales reports, bestsellers, line-by-line reports, etc.
- Inventory Control: Work with the allocation team to control stock levels, initial allocations, and in-season replenishment to branches.
- Logistics Liaison: Liaise with the warehouse team to maintain all elements of the critical path, allocation forecast units, delivery discrepancies, booking reports, etc.
- Performance Analysis: Review branch performance using different KPIs and identify sales opportunities and risks.
- Stock Analysis: Carry out weekly line-level analysis to suggest any in-season stock movement between channels to maximize profit.
- Marketing Collaboration: Work closely with the Marketing team to support future decisions on product features and review the performance of previous activities.
- Allocation Planning: Collate and compare all required information for new drop initial allocations, highlighting any potential issues and flagging them to the Branch Merchandiser.
- Invoice Verification: Cross-check invoices against the delivery schedule to ensure they are correct.
- Performance Improvement: Identify underperforming lines, make recommendations, and challenge the VM team/consultants to drive full-price sales.
- Stock Management: Action transfers back to the warehouse on an ad hoc basis.
4. Assistant Merchandiser Job Summary
- Market Analysis: Conduct competitive analysis including pricing analysis and market trends on a seasonal basis.
- Customer Insights: Participate in-store visits to enhance knowledge of the customer base and profile.
- Cross-Functional Support: Work closely with relevant divisions and departments to help support retail opportunities.
- Administrative Support: Deliver any ad hoc administration and assistant duties to ensure the smooth running of the team.
- Team Management: Oversee the workload of 3 Allocators, ensuring they prioritize correctly and meet all necessary deadlines.
- Merchandising Assistance: Assist the Branch Merchandiser in the day-to-day running of the Merchandising department and support with store profiling to help tailor stock packages.
- Stock Analysis: Review performance by store and line to create line lists for transfers.
- Inventory Management: Support with stock takes liaising with branches and investigating any queries raised.
- System Support: Enter data and support systems including PO creation, PO maintenance, style setup, creation and maintenance of Design and Licensing calendars, and other general support for the Cross-Functional Merchandising team.
- Licensing Support: Support the Director of Merchandising with Licensor relationships and communications.
5. Assistant Merchandiser - Mobile Phones Accountabilities
- Performance Monitoring: Monitor weekly performance and make recommendations for activities to ensure successful in-season execution.
- Availability Management: Deliver the target availability across the store estate and the online channel.
- Forecasting Support: Support with the weekly forecasting process.
- Stakeholder Engagement: Build close relationships with internal and external stakeholders such as the warehouse, the Mobile category team, and suppliers.
- Supply Chain Management: Ensure continuity of supply and minimize failed deliveries through effective management and progress chasing.
- Issue Resolution: Assist the Mobile category team with store feedback issues regarding stock and availability.
- Product Lifecycle Understanding: Have an understanding of the lifecycle process.
- Range Support: Support ranges from launch all the way through to executing their exit plans.
- Compliance: Comply with standard commercial processes in accordance with critical paths and business rules.