As the Senior Visual Merchandiser supporting our employee stores emerging brand channels, you will develop and direct the execution of the Columbia Sportswear Company global visual merchandising standards within North America Columbia retail stores specifically for the Columbia Sportswear Employee Store’s Emerging Brands (Sorel, prAna, and Mountain Hardwear) & Footwear. You will collaborate and support the In Store Marketing (ISM) partners in development and execution of seasonal strategic in-store plans. Will work side by side with Brand Store VM counterpart to ensure consistency and alignment between the two channels. Incumbent must have complete knowledge of merchandising opportunities specific to each store. Integral part of team charged with leveraging seasonal initiatives into store environments to increase sales and brand awareness.
Create and Deliver Visual Merchandising directives for employee stores to follow and implement throughout the season based on pre-season strategy. Number of directives are anywhere between 8-10 per year. Aligning with Brand Visual Merchandise manager to ensure consistency across both channels.
Create and deliver monthly Campaign Directives for mannequin presentations and product placement that aligns to seasonal initiatives and marketing stories.
Create and deliver reactionary updates per merchant and ISM needs (product shifts, promos and new initiatives)
Develop and ensure execution of visual presentation standards for Employee Stores; manage best practices where needed and strategize with retail team and channel manager to implement agreed-upon changes and updates.
Partners to deliver compelling seasonal storytelling initiatives & floor-set directives, etc.
Manage the development, innovation, and management of all visual merchandising & In-store communication training and compliance tools ensuring consistency across Employee Stores and in partnership with the Brand Store Sr. Visual Presentation Manager.
Support in the zone plan for each new/remodel store based on collaboration with Merchant partners to create an elevated brand experience within the Employee Store channel.
Update and maintain seasonal fixture and store capacities for use in new store and remodel planning, fixture development, and program development in partnership with the merchant team.
Drive capacity studies for new programs; provide detailed dimensions or other deliverables as part of collaborative briefing.
Maintain and manage all existing Employee Floor Maps to ensure the fixture plan aligns to strategic business plans. Responsible for updating/revising as needed.
Collaborate with Merchant partners during assortment planning phase to provide retail presentation point of view and guardrails. Provide content and visual slides during each seasonal buy review to help bring the merchant teams assortment to life.
Participate in market visits with Senior Leadership and cross functional partners (as needed)
Understand the local market/competitors. Leverage the market for inspiration and to ensure the Employee Stores are relevant and competitive in the marketplace from a visual merchandising perspective.
Manage WorkForce (online visual tool)
Manage task assignments and completion.
Provide timely feedback for each task to ensure compliance and celebrate great executions.
Work closely with the Merchant team to adjust product placement and inventory levels to react to selling trends at retail. Product changes are communicated to the Visual Supervisors as well as our Merchant partners to execute.
A problem solver.
Excellent at understanding high degree of complexity in dealing with new and sometimes unique processes and situations, as well as recurring situations.
Able to work both independently as well as on a highly collaborative team.
An excellent communicator with skills to establish positive working relationships across various levels and fields of expertise.
BA or equivalent with focus on retail merchandising, retail planning or visual
5+ years of experience in visual merchandising, space planning, assortment planning, or product presentation, preferably with a multi-channel and/or vertical retailer
Strong CAD, InDesign and Photoshop experience
Proven experience documenting standards and directives
Effective communication skills
Ability to meet tight timelines and manage multiple projects at one time.
Agile and flexible in an ever-changing retail environment
Detailed oriented
Collaboration and Influencing skills.
Strong written and verbal communication skills
Microsoft Word, Outlook, XCEL & Adobe
Strong organizational and calendaring skills
Ability to travel 10-15% of time.
Columbia Sportswear is an equal opportunity employer. We evaluate qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status, and other legally protected characteristics. The Know Your Rights poster is available here: https://www.eeoc.gov/poster The pay transparency policy is available here: https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/OFCCP/pdf/pay-transp_%20English_formattedESQA508c.pdf Columbia Sportswear is committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities. If you need a reasonable accommodation because of a disability for any part of the employment process, please notify your recruiter.At Columbia Sportswear Company, we’re proud to offer regular full-time employees a benefits package that includes a variety of services and products to help make your life and work more rewarding. Our benefit programs contribute to overall employee well-being by aligning those programs with the fundamental elements of well-being: physical, social/emotional, financial, career and community. Benefits that can protect your family’s financial future and help you save money through our 401k plan plus a generous company match. Columbia offers medical, dental, vision, life Insurance, disability, flexible spending accounts, health savings account, and an assortment of voluntary benefit offerings (accident, critical illness, hospital indemnity, and legal services). In addition, Columbia offers EAP + which is free and confidential 24/7/365 counseling services. We have extensive wellness benefits, employee discounts and a generous time off program available.
