Junior Merchandiser RTW H/F

One of the most iconic and cutting-edge French fashion Houses, Maison Margiela was founded in Paris in 1988 by Belgian designer Martin Margiela. With both masculine and feminine collections, oftentimes fusing the two genders, the House takes an original approach to deconstructing, reinventing and redefining men's and womenswear silhouettes.

Since 2012, Maison Margiela has held the official ‘Haute Couture' appellation from the Fédération Française de la Couture for its collection entitled ‘Artisanal'. This collection is the key to all the contemporary looks in the ready-to-wear collections and collaborations.

Since 2014, British couturier John Galliano is the House Creative Director, infusing poetic vision of Haute Couture, marrying concepts with arts, and creating a new modern elegance through Martin Margiela legacy.

Within Maison Margiela, the Merchandising Department oversees the Brand Strategy regarding both:

• Collection: Elaborates the strategic plan for all collections working closely with design & product development teams. From creating range plans, undertaking performance and competitive analysis, to ensuring that the brand DNA & commercial goals ratio is well-balanced regarding both product assortment and pricing. Overall margin responsibility.
• Retail: Pilots the WW retail buying assortment and defines the master order selection. Ensures the Strategy and the guidelines from HQ are respected across all regions. Collects quantitative and qualitative feedbacks from all regions on sell-in/sell-out performances. Analysis of sell-out performance (weekly, monthly, seasonal).

RESPONSIBILITES:

The role reports directly to the Merchandising manager in charge of Ready to wear and will be part of the global Merchandising team.

Collection:

• Elaborate seasonal strategic merchandising plan (collection structure, line plans, benchmark analysis..)
• Daily follow-up of the collection development steps making sure merchandising requests are fulfilled
• Monitor margin & pricing strategy with the help of finance
• Support all activities related to seasonal sales campaign
• Provide sell-in end of season analysis to help define key areas of improvement for next season
• Conduct all collections performance and seasonal bestsellers analysis for all categories
• Collect post-showroom regional feedbacks (quantitative and qualitative)
• Collect sell-through reports from key wholesale partners by regions
• Creation and daily update of collection tools (databases, showroom tools...)
• Help monitor all other special projects

Retail :

• Define buying strategy (qualitative & quantitative) together with planning and regions
• Define master order selection & core offer
• Help optimize regions buying strategy making sure of the coherence of the assortment
• Conduct sell-out & best-sellers analysis as requested (weekly, monthly, seasonal)
• Define WW sales strategy & calendar with help of the regions

PROFILE REQUIREMENTS

• First experience in collection / retail merchandising or buying within the fashion industry
• Good knowledge of the RTW market with an understanding of the global trends and customer behaviours
• Analytical and numerical skills (campaign reporting, benchmark analysis, ad-hoc analysis)
• Pro-active and able to demonstrate initiative to constantly improve the brand
• Excellent organisational and presentation skills
• Excel & Powerpoint proficiency
• Languages: fluent in English and French, spoken and written. Italian is a plus