Associate Category Merchant

As an Associate Category Merchant for Staples, you will be responsible for managing various lines of product in Retail Stores and Dotcom, helping drive an integrated omnichannel assortment and customer experience. This is a diverse portfolio with opportunities that are perfect for an up-and-coming Merchant. Be a part of a team that's leading the way in a new era of working and learning. 

Responsibilities: 

• Develop understanding of customer needs and shopping behavior across stores and ecommerce channels as well as upcoming trends and brands in the marketplace. 
• With support from leadership team, develop and execute omnichannel category strategies that drive business, aligning retail store assortment, dotcom assortment, pricing, promotional activity, content, and inventory availability. 
• Identify products best suited for existing core assortments, trend-right product expansion, extended aisle opportunities, online-only assortments, and omnichannel growth initiatives.   
• Demonstrate financial  
• Partner with cross-functional teams to identify products best suited for Dotcom expansion, extended aisle opportunities, marketplace trends, online-only assortments, and omnichannel growth initiatives. 
• Negotiate with vendors for lower total delivered cost, volume incentives, rebates, advertising, funding, and other applicable allowances.  
• Work with vendors and cross-functional partners to develop and execute omnichannel go-to-market plans that ladder to company, business unit, and category strategies and drive sales and margin opportunities.   
• Merchandise assigned category portfolio to ensure service levels with minimum inventory investment and maximum gross margin. Effectively manage impact on total supply chain by leveraging knowledge of inventory turns and logistics.  
• Review and approve financial and item forecasts with Planners. Forecast and model financial trends, owning all financials of the category and presenting regularly to upper management. 
• Monitor and analyze omnichannel sales, margin, traffic, conversion, average order value, online availability, customer ratings/reviews, and item-level performance to identify growth opportunities and address performance gaps. 
• Collaborate with various internal omnichannel teams including Marketing, POG, Promo, Inventory Management, Store Operations, Portfolio, Site Merchandising, Content, Category Management, and Pricing, as needed to achieve corporate goals. Partner with private label team to manage transitions and develop new on trend product at utmost quality.  
• Interpret financial statements, Circana Market share data and other financials metrics used in Merchandising to understand current and future trends.  
• Lead and coach the Merchandise Specialist on both retail and Dotcom execution, including item setup, content accuracy, promotional execution, vendor follow-up, and performance tracking. 

Essential skills and experience: 

• Bachelor’s Degree.  
• Minimum of 3 years of total experience in buying related functions, including Buying-Merchandising, Planning, and Inventory Management.  
• General knowledge of industry trends, assortment planning, Planograms, customer buying patterns, inventory management, logistics and marketing techniques.  
• Knowledge and understanding of financial analysis and forecasting.  
• Negotiation skills, Influencing skills, verbal and written communication skills.  
• Ability to use performance data and customer insights to support merchandising decisions and identify opportunities to improve sales, margin, and customer experience across channels. 

Preferred Skills: 

• Intermediate to advance Microsoft and Excel skills a must.  
• Ability to drive sales and margin results.  
• Ability to build partnerships.  
• Experience working in omnichannel environment.  
• Strong attention to detail in managing item setup, product content, imagery, attribution, pricing accuracy, and online promotional execution. 
• Ability to evaluate competitive assortments, identify whitespace, and recommend opportunities to improve customer experience and category growth. 

Get great perks. 

• Bonus plan and generous amount of paid time off, including one Floating Holiday each year.  
• Flexible work arrangements, including flexible work hours.  
• 401(k) plan with company match, medical, dental, vision, life and disability insurance with many more optional benefits.  
• Associate store discount and more perks, including discounts on mobile plans, movie tickets, etc.  

The salary range represents the expected compensation for this role at the time of posting. The specific base pay may be influenced by a variety of factors to include the candidate's experience, skill set, education, geography, business considerations, and internal equity. In addition to base pay, this role may be eligible for bonuses, or other forms of variable compensation.  

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