As an Exclusive Brands Curated Merchant, you will develop, execute and drive assortment strategies for our Exclusive Brands (Wayfair’s super set of products that capture our highest % of revenue). In this role, you will be responsible for category ownership and product curation, influencing how your category comes to life across all Wayfair marketing channels (print, digital, social, and Physical Retail), ensuring accurate product representation and appropriate shelf placement. The Exclusive Brands Curated Merchant will foster strong cross functional relationships to ensure all strategies and goals are achieved, acting as the representative of the customer in strategic decisions on the cross-functional team. The Merchandiser will partner with teams across Brand Management, Category Management, Marketing, Analytics & Operations, Physical Retail, and external suppliers to ensure the strategic vision is executed all the way to the customer. Leveraging data-driven qualitative and quantitative insights, you’ll make a direct impact on overall sales, Wayfair share gains, and power customers to create a home just right for them.  

What you’ll do on any given day as a curated merchant...

As an Exclusive Brands Curated Merchant, you will build, curate, and maintain category assortment strategies for our priority Exclusive Brands, inclusive of developing a shelf space plan and actively selecting and iterating on the product offering (own identifying and filling assortment gaps from strategic supplier catalogs). You will ultimately decide what products should be highlighted and amplified across all marketing channels with crisp business justification to support your selections and in alignment with key stakeholders. You will study the competitive market and collaborate with cross-functional partners in Category Management, Suppliers, Physical Retail, Promotion Operations, Marketing, Brand, Creative, Merchandising Operations and Analytics in order to shape and solidify the direction for your category and to ensure it is competitive in product and price.  You know our customer’s needs better than anyone else for your category and are constantly thinking about what tomorrow’s best sellers will be to continue to surprise and delight our target market.

Your success requires tenacity, agility, speed, an analytical mindset, collaboration, influence, and a competitive spirit. You’ll use your executive presence to work with and influence stakeholders at all levels and navigate interesting, complex assortment challenges. You will own the performance results though regularly monitoring assortment health though various KPIs and OKRs. 

What You’ll Do 

• Build and maintain category assortment strategies, inclusive of developing a shelf space plan and actively selecting, developing and iterating on the product offering
• Identify opportunities for category growth, utilizing competitive analysis, trend research, and internal performance monitoring as data points
• Partner closely with Category Management, Suppliers, Creative, MCS, and Physical Retail, Analytics and Brand to determine how best to bring the selection to life in both digital and print
• Maintain a close pulse on trends and customer needs to identify new assortment opportunities.  Partner with category management, suppliers and physical retail when curating the line plan to find products that deliver compelling newness and tomorrow’s best sellers.
• Own the financial outcomes for the performance of the products you placed on the premium shelf spaces.  Regularly assess performance and revise assortment and shelf space allocation strategy as needed.  
• Travel [1-3x / year] Attend industry trade shows relevant to your categories to partner with strategic suppliers and further optimize our catalog  

Who You Are

• Min of 3+ years experience within a retail and/or omni-channel buying role with demonstrated growth trajectory of P&L size and scope of category/team responsibility  
• Experience buying trend-driven categories, curating assortments from a wide range of vendors and classifications, and developing compelling assortment presentations are all highly preferred.
• Strong ability to analyze data and think critically about the business, understand and interpret performance trends, and apply learnings to the business  
• Strong creative sense, elevated taste level, and love of product.  A genuine passion for industry trends, product design, and home decorating is a plus.
• Excellent communication/persuasion skills and ability to influence internal and external stakeholders to align behind and execute against a common goal
• Capable of thriving in a high-growth environment in which defining clarity amidst ambiguity and operating in “scrappy start-up building mode” are everyday activities.  Demonstrated experience piloting and implementing new processes and hiring/staffing new teams are a plus.
• Self-starter motivated by the potential to define a creative and strategic vision and have an outsized impact within a team and company
• Ability to work from Wayfair’s Boston headquarters 4 days per week (work from home 1 day a week), with travel for competitor diligence, trade shows, and/or vendor meetings