Senior Product & Merchandising Manager

POSITION TITLE:                   Senior Product & Merchandising Manager

SUPERVISOR:                        Senior Vice President, Executive Office 

DATE EFFECTIVE:                 January 15, 2024

LOCATION:                             Remote

TRAVEL:                                 Light to moderate

POSITION SUMMARY

The NAACP is seeking an innovative, creative, dynamic, highly organized, effective, and articulate systems thinker to serve as the Senior Product & Merchandising Manager. This role embraces the 3Cs (coordination, cooperation, and collaboration) and is primarily responsible for leading the strategic direction, product development, and management of the NAACP Store.

The Senior Product & Merchandising Manager will report directly to the Senior Vice President, Executive Office and work with Marketing, Legal, Finance, Operations and Development teams to drive a full and rich customer e-commerce experience focusing on product development, licensing, supply chain, inventory management, customer experience, vendor management and revenue. 

We're looking for an individual who is able to comfortably navigate a matrix work environment and excel as a self-directed leader. The ideal candidate is entrepreneurial, has a strong background in retail supply chain planning operations, and shows passion for the consumer, vision for innovation, and the ability to collaborate to ensure alignment to the NAACP mission, vision, and values.

RESPONSIBILITIES/DUTIES

Product Development, Management and Sales

• Responsible for establishing and prioritizing a comprehensive e-commerce project and strategy roadmap and timeline based on insights, research, analytics, business needs, and strategic objectives, and partner with various stakeholders and cross-functional departments to drive projects and initiatives from inception to implementation to ensure we are delivering compelling and trend-setting collections;
• Define, manage, and execute an ongoing digital content planning calendar for the NAACP Store; 
• Stay updated on e-commerce industry trends, best practices, and platform dynamics to develop strategies aligned with business objectives; 
• Understand current and future business goals, define success criteria, validate solutions, and evaluate customer needs; 
• Accountable for resource requirements, risk management, and overall budget;
• Execute price changes, product rotation, and special projects designed to improve how products are displayed to the customer; 
• Identify items to maximize marketing strategies to determine the lifecycle of each item while providing input in creating exit strategy and inventory aging standards; and
• Attend trade shows, conferences and market fairs to gain inspiration and research new industry trends, processes, and products.

Merchandising and Licensing

• Manage the e-commerce vendor;
• In coordination with e-commerce vendor, design and set-up the NAACP National Convention onsite store;
• Leverage analytics and insights to understand the desired end-to-end customer experience across all customer segments and markets;
• Ensure the most up-to-date information is displayed in the NAACP Store with imagery, pricing and inventory; and 
• Develop internal staff merchandise request form. 

Inventory Management

• In partnership with our e-commerce vendor, manage an adequate supply and physical inventory all stock items;
• Keep an inventory count of all in-house NAACP merchandise;
• Develop a process and system for staff merchandise requests; 
• Develop a strategic merchandise assortment plan for multiple channels, including all retail locations, e-commerce and marketplace platforms;
• Reduce slow moving items; and
• Develop and implement a system for line reviews and gap analysis.

Managing Effectiveness

• Analyze and communicate adoption, performance, time to market, quality and other metrics to measure success;
• Establish and monitor success metrics to enable data-driven prioritization and identify improvements;
• Provide expertise on current e-commerce industry best practices and actively review analytics to ensure KPIs are being met;
• Gather market feedback and conduct in-depth research to stay ahead of consumer preferences and market trends, allowing us to remain at the forefront of fashion; 
• Collect competitor insights and conduct market-relevant analyses to seize growth opportunities and maintain our competitive edge;
• Prepare reports, presentations, FAQs, and training materials as needed; and
• Perform other duties, which may be assigned by the Senior Vice President, Executive Office or other designee.

QUALIFICATIONS 

The ideal candidate for this position will possess many, if not all, of the following professional qualifications, competencies and personal qualities:

• Bachelor’s degree in a business, fashion merchandising or equivalent experience preferred;
• Minimum five (5) years experience as a product manager, ideally working on consumer-facing, B2B/C products with three (3) plus years in Digital or e-commerce product management within web and mobile; 
• Three (3) years of Agile product management experience;
• Experience driving product growth, revenue, and profit;
• Passionate about working at the intersection of marketing and merchandising in the on-demand delivery space;
• Demonstrated experience with e-commerce platforms, such as Shopify;
• Demonstrated experience working with fulfillment, order processing, inventory management companies;
• Familiarity with product licensing; 
• Effective communication skills, including exceptional written and verbal skills, excellent people skills, and strong relationship-building skills with an ability to collaborate with a variety of internal and external stakeholders;
• Strong execution, analytical and organizational skills and demonstrated experience in prioritizing and executing multiple priorities, programs, and projects seamlessly with excellent attention to detail;
• Demonstrated proactive problem-solving skills with strong decision-making capability;
• Work effectively both independently as well as in a team-oriented, collaborative and collegial environment; and
• Proficient in MS Office Suite, Outlook, and related Project Management Software.