Oliver Bonas
We have an amazing opportunity for a Junior Merchandiser to join Team OB in our Support Office on a fixed-term contract until the end of January 2025.
As a Junior Merchandiser at OB, you will plan and trade categories within your department. You will develop strong working partnerships with both the Buying and Design teams, working collaboratively to understand their vision and direction of the product category.
Reporting to the Senior Merchandiser, you will ensure a smooth running of the department as well as maximising sales opportunities and profit potential.
You will be confident and dynamic with an analytical approach, and real enthusiasm for Oliver Bonas and our products. You will have experience in reviewing critical paths, and planning and analysing seasons.
Our Support Office is based in Tolworth, near Chessington, only a 30-minute journey from London Waterloo. We offer hybrid working and are open to having conversations about working flexibly.
A bit about us …
At Oliver Bonas (OB), our values of Work Hard, Play Hard & Be Kind are integral to everything we do. Collaboration, imagination, curiosity, and teamwork are key to our success, and everyone has their part to play in making OB a special place to work.
Having fun is key, and a playful and positive approach creates an optimistic environment. We don’t take ourselves too seriously, but we are serious about what we do.
Our team knows their stuff. They’re confident and creative and unafraid to challenge convention to find solutions, taking accountability for their actions, but always with kindness and humility.
More about the role …
OB’s Junior Merchandiser will:
• Plan areas at top line across sales, options, MD and profit to be signed off by Senior Merchandiser
• Drive lessons learnt, season analysis and strategy meetings prior to pre-season planning
• Plan intake to deliver new options as appropriate to keep newness flowing through the business
• Contribute to the development and review of the department critical path, use key dates to ensure deadlines are met
• Plan promotions in conjunction with the brands promotional calendar
• Update and reforecast the WSSIs to make sure all categories are performing at optimum level and manage sales / stock flows
• Manage projections and repeat line buys and propose ways to minimise risk for the department
• Make frequent suggestions for improved forecasting – e.g. looking at rates of sales and applies to range planning
• Clearly communicate any upside or risk to sales to the Senior Management Team
• Provide key suppliers with intake forecasts for the upcoming season
• Oversee the intake process across departments to ensure timely launch
• Maintain an awareness of current trading conditions, conducting thorough market and competitor analysis to support proposals regarding potential markdowns, re-prices, and promotions
• Analyse and present weekly performance to the department and propose actions to drive sales, across all channel levels.
• Review best and worst sales information and suggest appropriate trading actions
• Propose price changes and markdowns in line with each department KPIs. Evaluate markdown performance learning lessons to improve future decisions
Bonas Benefits:
• Generous employee discount up to 50% off all OB products
• Free access to our 24 hour employee assistance programme with Care First – offering financial, emotional and vocational support
• Flexible holiday – 30 days (including bank holidays) – increasing to 35 days with length of service
• Annual discretionary profit related bonus scheme
• Free membership for our Westfield Health Cash Plan
• Auto-enrolment into our pension plan
• Free access to our onsite gym
• Cycle to work scheme
• Refer a Friend incentive
• Quarterly free lunch
• Enhanced maternity, paternity, adoption and shared parental leave
• Equity, Diversity and Inclusivity Voice network and EDI team
• Mental Health First Aider support
• Education and support throughout Looop eLearning platform
• An opportunity to work at the highest placed retailer in Glassdoor’s Best Places to Work in the UK list 2022.
What we look for:
• Experience at Junior Merchandiser level and owning your own categories
• Genuine passion for OB product categories
• Effective communicator and strong decision-maker
• Self-motivated with a “can do” attitude
• Strong analytical skills with attention to details
• Ability to plan and organise an ever changing workload
• Confidence in presenting to Senior Management Team and ability to flex the style depending on an audience
• Strong Microsoft Office skills in particular, Excel
• Excellent commercial awareness and proven ability to drive profit
Equity, Diversity & Inclusion at OB
At Oliver Bonas, our promise is to do our bit to make living a joyful experience and give cause for optimism. This promise is central to our work in equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI). To bring joy to others, we must first ensure everyone at OB feels valued, included and most importantly, can be themselves at work.
It is important to us that our brand reflects wider society and the communities in which we operate. As a result, we welcome all eligible applicants for this role however we are particularly interested in speaking to eligible candidates from the Black, Asian & Mixed Heritage communities.
Oliver Bonas is a Disability Confident Committed employer under the Disability Confident employer scheme.
To read more about our ED&I commitments, head over to the EDI page on our website: https://www.oliverbonas.com/meet-the-team/diversity