Assistant Inventory Management and Merchandising Manager

General Summary
This role is responsible for assisting the Product Planning and Merchandising Manager in the management of all aspects of inventory management, new product planning and merchandising for the Direct channel including Direct's Wholesale accounts. This role is a critical interface between the Direct-To-Consumer business and Supply Chain to ensure that the forecast is executed properly and to make mid-course corrections to the forecast as necessary.
Principal Accountabilities
50% - Inventory Management: Responsible for providing back-up support to the Product Planning and Merchandising Manager on Godiva's Inventory Management systems. This includes generating and analyzing inventory reports which highlight real-time product sales and orders, and making inventory level recommendations to management on a weekly basis/daily during peak selling seasons. Requires frequent (7 days/week) monitoring during critical pre-holiday weeks. Provide recommendations/support to Direct-To-Consumer Customer Service team with regard to appropriate product substitutions when products sell out. Responsible for updating monthly Product Tracking report (tracks sales by sku/product categories for total Direct and each of Direct's sub-channels: Internet, Consumer 800#, Corporate 800# and Amazon.com) and providing summary analysis and implications to the Direct teams. Responsible for tracking sales and product movement and partnering with Supply Chain to determine whether sales support the forecast, as well as assisting in converting product build plans into shipment forecasts to prevent product obsolescence. This roles partners closely with Finance and Marketing to develop product pricing studies and make recommendations as it relates to the Direct-To-Consumer business. This role also participates on cross-functional teams that support the Direct business (i.e., Customer Service, Supply Chain, Finance, Marketing, Retail & Wholesale) representing Direct's point-of-view.
30% - Merchandising: Responsible for recommending and implementing merchandising strategy based on product performance on Godiva.com website areas (i.e., What's New, Chocolate Guide, In-Store Events, and Gift Guides); updating site as selling seasons change; and recommending cross-sell functionality (i.e., placement of one Godiva product with other Godiva products to maximize add-on sales). Responsible for monitoring on-line merchandising plans which include: ensuring products are set up correctly and copy is appropriate and current based on a given selling season; providing back-up support with regard to setting up new products and merchandising assets in the Godiva merchandising system; and assisting with product turn-in specification sheets for the Godiva catalog.
20% - Direct to Wholesale: Process, submit and track purchase orders for Direct's Wholesale accounts; process product information specification sheets for on-line Wholesale partners; coordinate product samples for photography shoots and client meetings; and ensure Godiva products are fully merchandised on our Wholesale partner sites and are complying with contractual agreements. This position will also assist Product Planning and Merchandising Manager in managing current SKU's and growing existing Wholesale accounts via recommending SKU expansion and negotiating product placement to uphold brand image.
REQUIREMENTS
Education & Experience
Minimum education required: BS or BA
Education preferred: BS or BA
Minimum Experience: 1-2 yearsQualifications
Strong analyitical ability with experience in analyzing and reporting mark-up and sell through percentages and percentage to total
Ability to make independent, fact-based and well thought out decisions
Strong attention to detail
Proficient with computer systems, especially Excel & PowerPoint
Good merchandising judgement for making decisions on appropriate product placement/presentation on-line Proactively generate solutions to problems or ideas to add value
Professional maturity and business savvy
Strong written and oral communication skills to deal with all levels of an organization
Strong negotiation/influencing skills a plus
Strong collaborative skills