Vice President of Merchandising

This role requires a Merchandiser who is highly collaborative, builds strong partnerships both functionally and cross-functionally and can influence change while driving bottom line results. Strong business and financial acumen, coupled with effective communication skills, will help quickly build credibility with internal and external partners.

We are looking for a leader with strong experience and understanding of the product creation process from concept to consumer. This leader must have a strong understanding and experience within the North American retail landscape in both the licensed and branded apparel space.

The VP Merchandising has strong knowledge and understanding of our target markets to create products consumers desire, when they’re most interested in purchasing them. Additionally, we are looking for someone who can balance art with science. We are a data driven company and need a leader with a rigorous analytic background, an understanding of creating balanced and inspiring assortments, deep insight into trends and the products our customers want to purchase with goal of achieving profitability goals.

This role will report to the SVP of Product and Merchandising and will work closely with heads of Design, Product Development, Sourcing, Marketing to drive the merchandising strategies to create an exceptional experience for our customers.

Key Responsibilities:

• Owning the strategy and vision of merchandise product creation for Fanatics Commerce across all Fan Verticals and Brands, to develop/execute annual and seasonal product plans which meet revenue and margin targets.
• Overseeing, planning, and directing product creation activities from an omnichannel perspective to include a spectrum of licensing rights (Leagues, Teams, Brands)
• Establishing and executing short-term and long-term financial goals and merchandising objectives.
• Providing direction to your team on concept, color direction and price-value relationship to balance the Fanatics Commerce business & customer needs.
• Approving product recommendations based on demonstrated knowledge of customer and marketplace.
• Analyzing and understanding market trends and consumer behavior as well as the competitive landscape to develop product strategies.
• Researching and analyzing consumer behavior to determine product opportunities for the marketplace
• Developing Merchandise Strategy to ensure all key functional and cross functional partners understand the merchandising direction and vision. Partner closely with Design, Product Development and Sourcing teams to provide a world class customer experience.
• Develop plans for the introduction of new products based on the results of consumer research.
• Championing creativity and innovation in the merchandising process to promote growth, brand development and differentiation.
• Cultivating knowledge of market trends and competition to identify key brands and product categories of growth.
• Attracting and developing a world class team in a high-performance culture and help create an environment that inspires creativity and one that motivates others to achieve excellence.
• Establishing product assortment strategies to meet customer demand and maximize sales and profits.

Education/Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Apparel, Merchandising, or equivalent work experience with a strong understanding of the product and sales creation process
• 10 years of progressive experience with appropriate management experience specializing in licensed apparel, sporting goods, or related experience in retail buying, apparel category management, merchandising and/or buying, operations, and/or wholesale sales
• Experience and understanding of U.S. retail and consumer trends, preferably in sports licensed merchandise

Job Requirements/Skills

• Have strong strategic planning abilities with significant P & L responsibility achieving profit margin and inventory turn
• Bring many years of experience in retail and apparel industry with extensive knowledge and experience in general merchandising in a multi-location, omni-channel environment
• Have excellent communication skills (written and verbal skills) as well as leadership and management abilities.
• Have a strong business acumen with a track record of general management experience
• To grow a business or division while remaining on-brand, and on-trend
• Be comfortable and participate in an analytical and quantitative, data driven environment with mastery of retail math and analytics
• Be a Culture Carrier and inspiring leader for both functional and cross functional teams
• Enjoy travel - both domestic and international