We are looking for a Merchandiser to join Team OB in our Support Office.

Reporting to the Clothing Merchandising Lead, your role will be to supporting managing and leading the Clothing Merchandising team ensuring operational standards and deadlines are met, working collaboratively with teams across the business. You will lead and manage the planning, trading & analysis of your categories, maximising sales and profitability while minimising markdown. You will develop strong working relationships with both the Buying and Design team and work in collaboration to deliver department strategy, understanding the vision and direction of the product category.

You will be a confident and dynamic leader, with a real enthusiasm for Oliver Bonas product and people, with a strong commercial awareness. You will have experience in leading a team, be self-motivated to drive results, with a flexible approach.

Our Support Office is based in Tolworth, near Chessington, only a 30-minute journey from London Waterloo. We offer hybrid working with a split of 3 days in the office and 2 days home working per week, 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 …

An OB Merchandiser will:

Gain a detailed understanding of the brand's strategy, including trends and customer profile, ensuring this is delivered within department strategy
Formulate category plans including, sales, optimum stock levels, OTB & terminal stocks - setting targets for the team to trade against
Deliver profit and margin targets, using supplier base to constantly challenge routes to achieve margin
Supporting team to create the optimum range by balancing product and price whilst considering external factors e.g. product trend, competition, store feedback
Formulate and sign off departmental strategies, product ranges, considering lessons learnt
Support department option planning, tailoring the options to achieve sales plan, guiding design and buying. Presenting option growth or risk to HODs, directors and CEO
Support the management of the department WSSI and oversee category WSSIs, ensuring intake is accurate and communicate any significant changes to senior management, as part of monthly reforecasting
Reforecast the WSSI based on current trade, manage OTB budget, being both proactive and reactive to any potential issues
Monitor stock levels to ensure right product is available at the right time. Minimising overstock and markdowns
Optimise Open-to-Buy across your department, including pre-season planning, line flow forecasting, and informed in-season trading decision-making
Understand the brands top-line strategy and align merchandising goals accordingly
Analyse and present weekly performance to the department and HODs proposing actions to drive sales
Generate seasonal weekly sales forecasts in line with business KPI's. Own department markdowns, margins and closing stocks to drive department profitability
Oversee the management of stock levels across all channels to ensure sufficient stock levels for planned trading period by SKU by channel
Manage all aspects of in season trading forecasts, ensuring all categories are performing at optimum levels
Maintain an awareness of current trading conditions, conducting thorough market and competitor analysis to support proposals regarding potential markdowns, re-prices and promotions
Identifying opportunities across multi-channel
Represent the Merch team to the wider business within set Ambassador roles e.g. Web, Stores, Markdown and Marketplace
Develop and encourage high performing teams, who understand and reflect the company ethos

Bonas Benefits:

Generous employee discount up to 50% off all OB products
Free access to our 24 hour employee assistance programme with Optima Health – offering financial, emotional and vocational support
Flexible holiday – 33 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 or Private Medical
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 through 360L eLearning platform

What we look for:

Experience at Junior Merchandiser / Merchandiser level
Proven track record of working cross functionally with multiple departments
Genuine passion for OB product categories
Effective communicator and strong decision-maker
Prepared to take on new challenges with the ability to think outside the box
Self-motivated with a "can do" attitude
Thrives working in a fast paced, multi-tasking environment
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