Merchant/Sr. Merchant

About the Role:

The Pink Lily Merchant is accountable for maximizing sales and profitability in alignment with company strategies and departmental goals. This involves developing and executing a robust merchandising strategy, driving product development, creating and analyzing merchandising architecture, building cross functional relationships, and maintaining a focus on continuous learning and improvement. This role is responsible for sourcing and developing exclusive branded products that will continue to enhance the company’s brand, drive sales and maximize profitability.

Ideally, this candidate is a self-starter who is detail-oriented, nimble, curious, well organized, comfortable with product, trends, customer data and is passionate about the digital space. This candidate will also have strong and demonstrable eCommerce experience in a high-turnover, SKU intensive apparel and accessories environment as well as possess strong analytical skills, exude creative problem solving, and be able to excel in an environment that is fast-paced and can change daily.

This position reports directly to the Director of Merchandising and will be on site in Nashville, TN, Q1 of 2025.

While the Nashville location is under construction, this position will be temporarily located in Bowling Green, KY.

Responsibilities:

• Work with Planning to ensure inventory and product costs are in line with Company margin objectives.
• Support processes across the business to assist with scale as the Company continues its rapid growth.
• Review and analyze consumer demographic and psychographic characteristics, fashion trends, retail landscape and other relevant data to stylistically interpret, financially plan for and react to emerging market trends and conditions.
• Determine appropriate competitive strategies to drive product development, good/better/best quality merchandise assortment and quantity, purchase, pricing, margin, promotion, and clearance to complement the other product categories and maximize return of advertising investment.
• Partner cross functionally and with the merchandising team to develop and implement a balanced strategy by department.
• Research and shop competitors to ensure Pink Lily is a leader in product and value.
• Negotiate with manufacturers and others to maximize profitability and achieve financial objectives by securing the best opportunities in pricing, quantity, and delivery based on the plan.
• Develop and execute merchandising strategies aligned with the company's goals and brand vision.
• Consistently demonstrate an ability to turn consumer insight into actionable recommendations as it relates to assortment strategy.
• Monitor and analyze sales performance and key merchandising metrics, making data-driven recommendations for optimization and improvement. Lead product growth strategies to reach sell-thru targets and meet sales/margin goals.
• Train and mentor by motivating and encouraging success.
• Foster and leverage all cross-functional relationships to create opportunities for the brand.

Required Skills:

• Bachelor’s degree
• Accomplished merchant with 6 years of experience in women’s specialty apparel.
• Strong business acumen and a deep understanding of merchandising principles, including assortment planning, product lifecycle management, and pricing strategies.
• Results-oriented mindset with a focus on achieving sales targets and driving business growth while always keeping the customer in mind.
• Exceptional communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to work effectively across cross-functional teams.
• Experience working with vendors and negotiating product quality, cost and delivery.
• Able to thrive in an entrepreneurial environment.
• Proactive and takes the initiative to drive business and think outside of the box.
• Strong skills in agility, along with the ability to pivot easily when directions and priorities change on short notice.
• Preferred experience using Shopify as an eCommerce platform.
• Product development experience and an understanding of how a garment should fit and be constructed.

Pink Lily offers a complete benefits package including medical, vision, and dental insurance, 401(k) with company match, paid time off, and clothing discounts.

Pink Lily is an Equal Opportunity-Affirmative Action Employer – Minority / Disability / Gender / Identity / Sexual Orientation / Age / Veteran