National Visual Merchandise Manager - Durban, KZN at JAM Clothing SA

Criteria:

• Matric
• Relevant Tertiary qualification
• 5 years experience as a Visual Merchandising Manager

The successful candidate will have the following characteristics:

• Strong leadership skills
• Excellent visual merchandising skills
• Exceptional people skills
• Attention to detail
• Good planning and organizing skills
• Must live the company values - Real, Value, People

Duties

Visual Merchandising

• Investigating the industries best practice and initiatives in relation to new ideas and trends.
• Identifying and making use of all opportunities to improve the overall visual appeal of stores of stores, thereby maximizing trade.
• Develops merchandise strategy for group, ensuring the best value for business and a uniform image across all stores.
• Ensure that the company merchandise is displayed effectively.
• Creating effective merchandise strategies to get a return on trading space.
• Create and updates merchandising tools, merchandise guide, merchandise key controls, Store Managers merchandise checklist.
• Ensures that all stores are optimizing floor trading space to increase the trading densities.
• Clear understanding of all stores and product to maximise the potential of certain product lines

New Store Openings

• Liaise closely with buyer/director to ensure product type is in line with the location and demographics
• Developing subtle strategies with new store opening promotional product to introduce customers to the brand and the optimise the chances of them repurchasing
• Ensuring the combination of great product skills and being analytical to increase sales.
• Ensuring that the stock holding is aligned with the sales target.
• Supervising the execution of all signage, graphics and visual elements.
• Create floor plan and layout to dictate the flow of customer traffic and shopping habits.
• Departments are located correctly to maximise sales.

Markdowns and Odds

• Responsible for the execution within all stores.
• Conducts regular store visits and spot checks to ensure compliance around markdowns and price changes.
• Maximising company sales and reducing further markdowns by implementing correct location, merchandising and timeous implementation throughout all stores.

Training and Development

• Facilitates merchandise workshops to ensure that all Area Managers and Store managers are trained and aligned with the groups visual merchandising strategies.
• Management of a Visual Merchandise team and responsible for their overall development and performance
• Trains best practices on customer service skills, store standards and selling points.
• Conducting regular store visits ensuring all staff are fully trained.

Product Knowledge

• Analyze product in 1-star stores to formulate a turnaround strategy.
• Works closely with Buyer/Planner to maximize profitability with core/seasonal product.
• Identify unproductive stock across stores to formulate clearance promotions / stock movements.
• Constant communication with Planning team to ensure stores are stocked according to turnover required.

People Management

• Clearly and concisely communicate business and operational objectives to VM team so that they remain well informed of business activity and of their required contribution to targets
• Develops an effective network of communication to ensure shared knowledge and understanding of business activity
• Recruits accurately profiled staff and ensures the full implementation of induction programmes for newly recruited staff
• Effectively manages the performance and development of staff to drive and maximise the sales performance
• Identify and implements training interventions in order to achieve exceptional stock service levels across all stores
• Plan for succession in the business through the identification of individuals with potential for development and growth
• Create a positive environment that results in employee retention and a reduction of staff turnover
• Manage with HR, any employee relations issues which may arise within your team, including the counselling, discipline and grievance processes, within the framework of applicable labour legislation and company policies.