GUCCI Retail Merchandise Manager - West

Role Mission

The goal for the Retail Merchandise Manager is to take categories and stores within the Western market to full potential and deliver a unique client experience through a 360-degree approach. This role is meant to ensure that all cross-functional teams think and act like merchants. The Merchandise Manager will help to shorten the distance between the regional corporate offices and the stores. This role is responsible for providing market expertise and providing feedback to influence the assortments for West stores in collaboration with buyers. They will work closely with Retail, Visual and the buying office to ensure individual market needs; Retail KPI’s, visual standards and financial goals are met. Communicate frequently with buying and retail teams to support and execute key strategies and decisions made in market while also ensuring these are reflected on the selling floor. Build strong partnerships with members of other cross-functional teams such as CRM, Inventory Planning, Events and Marketing.  Recommend actions against results and follow through on executing these actions. Coordinates daily activities across cross-functional team members.

Key Accountabilities

Retail Support

• Ensure all West stores are visited with frequent cadence and all LA Metro stores visited weekly;
• Continuous sharing of information to guarantee alignment of cross functional partners;
• Create quarterly store visit calendar considering all other major activities (ex. Buying campaigns, Seasonal Product Trainings, SMMs etc.);
• Define monthly goals and topics to be addressed during weekly meetings;
  • Product training
  • Major visual merchandising display rotations
  • Planned retail activities/retail tool roll outs.
  • Special events

• Leverage reporting to be used before and during store visits to identify critical issues and opportunities for improvement;
• RDM 2.0 standard reports by store;
• LUCE: performance by category/typology, best/worst sellers, retail KPIs evolution, clientele analysis;
• ELITE Surveys;
• Identify critical areas/opportunities to address based on business performance analysis;
• Follow-up on actions implemented/to be implemented and define tasks and responsibilities;
• Participate in morning briefing meetings and give a general overview of the business performance and consequent points of attention for the day;
• Create team building activities to build strong relationships with sales associates;
• Host in-store walk throughs of all departments with retail and visual teams;
• Complete store visit check list and communicate with cross-functional teams to address short and long-term actions;
• Foster understanding of local market needs and segmentation by eliciting feedback through constant collaborative communication with retail teams;
• Support and participate in in-store activities and events to increase customer loyalty;
• Frequent communication of new product arrivals and business trends.

Training Support

• Deliver a weekly in-store training on a specific product or set of products to enhance client advisors’ product knowledge;
• Provide small training sessions during morning briefing, at the end of day or on a one-to-one basis;
• Support selling-ceremony enhancement trainings such as, but not limited to 4 To the Floor.

Visual Support

• Attend and lead collaboration with retail and visual merchandising to ensure the most optimal floorsets ;
• Enhance the visual display to better serve the local or tourist clients and maximize category potential;
• Create consistency and maintain visual display in line with WW guidelines, business strategy and stock availability;
• Ensure that new arrivals are on display;
• Identify cross selling opportunities in terms of visual display to facilitate the store to maximize retail KPI’s.

Stock Productivity and Proximity

• Improve stock productivity to improve overall store newness sell thru;
• Review store product category zoning, visual display space dedicated and key focuses based on sales and current inventory;
• Push slow movers by ensuring a strong display;
• Gather qualitative feedback on the new collections, best sellers, and slow movers;
• Update store on the upcoming deliveries and update inventory planning on major stock out issue;
• Ensure adequate assortment to fully exploit the potential of special events;
• Ensure BOH is efficiently organized and that the products are well stored and protected;
• Maximize potential of proximity stock and FOH drawers;
• Maximize cross selling opportunities through a dedicated organization of the BOH.

Clienteling and Customer Experience

• Observe clients in the store in terms of traffic flows, clientele profiles and selling ceremony;
• Fine-tune assortments based on the specific clientele profiles to maximize the potential of the categories and increase retention;
• Get an in-depth knowledge of the VIGs of the store and their purchasing habits;
• Review store environment from a client’s perspective to identify potential improvements in terms of fixtures or layout (seating, lighting, etc.);
• Support the team in ensuring a client matching experience and enhance retention through clienteling activities (OTOs etc.);
• Work closely with CRM and Special Events teams to ensure seamless execution of client facing events or brand initiatives;
• Ensure the development, implementation, and execution of company CRM initiatives by providing action plans to the team.

Competitive Landscape

• Dedicate time to visit the stores of key competitors in the area/mall to analyze their assortment, clientele traffic and profile, in store activities to identify potential areas of improvement for Gucci;
• Study and report on competitors pricing, product, and merchandising presentation strategies;
• Report local market trends to regional buyers.

Reporting / Results Tracking and Monitoring

• Deliver both qualitative and quantitative feedback monthly to all cross functional teams;
• Monitor evolution of pre-defined metrics for West stores vs. other stores within the region;
• Evolution of the performance by category (and/or by typology, function, line based on the actions implemented);
• Evolution of KPIs in terms of cross selling, UPT, average ticket, AUR, conversion, retention, % VIGs;
• Set cross-functional monthly meetings key stakeholders (ex. Store planning, HR, operations etc.) and all category buyers to share;
• Best practices in terms of actions put in place for stores and which have delivered strong positive results to evaluate roll out to other stores.

Buying Support

• Align with buyers prior to market on the specific needs in terms of assortment by store/by category;
• Host roundtable to present to the buyer a recap of the key insights by store in terms of client profile and assortment needs;
• Create client book prior to market for the top customers of the stores with purchasing history, sizing, and any detail which could help the category buyer address his/her needs during buying campaign;
• During market, actively participate to all categories in-depth presentations, walk-throughs, reviews, and selection for most if not all categories;
• Discuss at the end of season across all categories what worked/what didn’t work, main reason and realign on next seasons buying strategy.

Key Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Fashion, Business, Finance, or related discipline desired;
• A minimum of 4-5 years of relevant buying experience gained within a fashion and/or luxury environment;
• Experience in managing and developing a team;
• Advanced proficiency with Microsoft Office software including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook;
• Flexibility to travel with short notice and to work a demanding schedule, which can include on an adhoc basis: evenings, weekends, and holidays.

Work Authorization

• Qualified candidates must have the proper work authorization to work in the United States

Accessibility

Our Gucci community is committed to providing a culture of inclusivity and accessibility in all aspects of the employee life cycle – starting with the candidate experience.  If you are   interested in becoming a Gucci Dream-maker and applying for employment and require a reasonable accommodation to assist with any part of the application and/or interview process, please contact us by email at accessibility.americas@gucci.com.  

When contacting us, please provide your contact information, the role you have applied to, and the nature of your accessibility issue. Please only send inquiries concerning requests for reasonable accommodations.

Salary Range – California 

For individuals assigned and/or hired to work in California, GUCCI includes a reasonable estimate of the salary or hourly rate range for this role. This takes into account the wide range of factors that are considered in making compensation decisions; including but not limited to business or organizational needs, skill sets, experience and training, licensure, and certifications. In addition, where a candidate falls within the disclosed range estimate may be dependent on the applicable geographic differential associated with the location in which the position may be filled.   

A reasonable estimate of the current base salary range is $120,000 to $135,000.   

Eligible employees may also participate in an employee benefits program as well as an incentive program, subject to the rules governing the program, whereby an award, if any, depends on various factors, including, without limitation, individual and organizational performance. 

Benefits include:   

• Medical  

• Dental  

• Vision 

• Paid Time Off (PTO)  

• 401K 

EOE M/D/F/V