Director, Merchandising, DTC Retail

Job Summary:

As a Head of Merchandising, this role is accountable for creating a successful merchandise strategy and delivering an effective product assortment to support achieving the financial targets for the DTCR Japan omnichannel business. This role also leads the merchandise team in supporting the export of key Japan programs to other regions and will be a key liaison with DTCR leaders in APAC, EMEA and US.

 Responsibilities:

Merchandising strategy development

• Maintain deep understanding of the guest and how they are evolving to get ahead of trends and ensure product plans stay impactful.
• Effectively plan and execute merchandising strategies for both bricks & mortar and eCommerce and develop products to maximize DTCR sales opportunities.
• Lead merchandising strategies including product development, sourcing, inventory management, creative and visual merchandising by understanding our target consumer.
• Fully control the operational aspects of merchandise development; vendor management, product integrity, pricing and purchasing.
• Anticipate trends and drive continued innovation in product plans; push team to try new things.
• Develop immersive guest experience strategies working with Marketing, B&M, Logistics, eCommerce & Tech teams.
• Lead product development for Japan market, Buying and negotiation, pricing strategy and inventory management.
• Lead cross-LOB/cross-company initiatives to maximize new business opportunities.
• Collaborate with global merchandising team / sourcing team to leverage global product.
• Work closely with US/EMEA/APAC retail teams and other support function teams.
• Set 5-year plan for merchandise strategy to support long term growth objectives for DTCR Japan.

P&L Responsibility

• Maintain optimal inventory levels in line with financial targets and support inventory liquidation programs.
• Meet margin targets set by finance thru efficient markdown control.
• Achieve Annual Operating Plan revenue, sales and OI targets for B&M and Ecomm channels
• Deliver weekly/monthly/quarterly financial business reviews to upper management.

Organization Management

• Develop strong, capable and efficient organization to archive the business objectives.
• Motivate team through establishment of clear and challenging strategies and tactics
• Set annual objectives for all direct reports and assess their performance, recommend for performance improvement

 Requirements:

• Over 10 years’ proven experience of Merchandising in retail business in Japan.
• Experience in product development for Japan market in SPA, Buying and negotiation, pricing strategy and inventory management
• Deep knowledge and insight of retail industry in Japan
• 5-10 year’s experience in managing teams in multinational company.
• Demonstrated strong leadership, passion and energy to lead the organization. 
• Proven background in strategic planning and financial analysis/modeling.
• Excellent interpersonal, communication and presentation skills.
• Capable and flexible with the prioritization skills to handle multiple projects and act on high priority issues.
• Excellent business acumen combined with excellent judgment and the ability to identify optimal solutions with a creative and innovative approach.
• Deliverable-focused, strong work ethic.
• Fluent English and Japanese in both written and verbal.