Assistant Manager/Manager - Merchandising

Role & responsibilities:

• Develop and execute category strategies aligned with business goals and customer needs; perform market analysis, trend spotting, and competitor benchmarking.
• Define and manage assortment strategy (breadth, depth, product mix) to maximize sales, margin, and customer experience; monitor SKU performance and recommend rationalization.
• Oversee product lifecycle from new introductions to end-of-life decisions; balance core, seasonal, and innovative lines.
• Build and maintain vendor and supplier relationships; negotiate costs, SLAs, and commercial terms; manage supplier performance, compliance, and quality.
• Create pricing and promotional strategies that protect brand positioning while optimizing profitability; collaborate with marketing on campaigns, discounts, and bundles; analyze ROI.
• Own category P&L and KPIs (sell-through, GMROI, margin %, inventory turnover); deliver regular performance reports and corrective action plans.
• Use sales data, market research, and customer insights to drive decisions; identify assortment, pricing, or supply-chain gaps and recommend improvements.
• Lead brand onboarding: due diligence, contract negotiation, and commercial setup; co-create exclusive launches and supplier-led promotions.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with supply chain (demand planning, replenishment), store operations/ecommerce (product placement, presentation), marketing (storytelling, merchandising guidelines), and finance (forecasting, budgeting).
• Implement customer-centric merchandising and visual guidelines to enhance in-store and online experience; drive category innovation to remain competitive.
• Plan and manage Open-To-Buy (OTB) to control inventory investment and ensure optimal stock levels across seasons; set monthly/seasonal OTB limits based on sales forecasts, sell-through rates, and promotional plans.
• Align OTB with assortment strategy by allocating buys across core, seasonal, and experimental SKUs to optimize turns, margin, and availability.

Preferred candidate profile:

• Strong commercial & P&L management skills
• Expertise in category planning & assortment management
• Brand/vendor management & negotiation skills
• Analytical, data-driven decision-making
• Excellent collaboration & communication
• Min Graduate degree any related field, luxury retail courses.
• Min 2 years of experience in Luxury retail, fashion, or a related industry.