Merchandise Manager - Bottoms

JOB SUMMARY: Responsible for achieving sales, gross margin, and profit goals of a specific business through the selection, pricing and promotion of merchandise, and by utilizing appropriate merchandising and management techniques to maximize the company's return on inventory investment and space in stores. Develops and implements a strategy, analysis and appropriate reaction sales trend in order to maximize business. ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS: Qualified candidates must possess the ability to: Support the Brand objectives and distort merchandise assortments at the category level Complement key item base with a breadth of selection to include newness through novelty items without over-assorting Work with General Merchandise Manager and counterparts to ensure that a cohesive viewpoint transcends departmental lines Coordinate vendor resource, calendar and costing strategies Partner with Marketing Visual Merchandising and Stores to provide product knowledge and to serve as an informational resource Conduct regular scans of benchmark competitors to identify opportunities and challenges for in-season business and future season line planning Supervise product selection process to ensure that the merchandise consistently appeals to customers' taste Communicate competitive data to the organization to recommend “first in market” changes and ways to increase sales and profit results Partner with Creative Team and stay current on fashion and technology trends Bring customer and market prospective to the design and product development process Act as customer representative to report on quality, fit and construction issues Develop a merchandising strategy that is incorporated into the annual and seasonal business plan to achieve sales and profit plans for one or more merchandise categories Develop with Planner an overall plan to cover financial goals Manage in-season business by tracking and analyzing sales information in order to identify opportunities to increase sales, improve margins, maximize inventories and decrease markdowns Partner with Creative team to ensure seasonal plan utilizes historical performance and current business and trend data Provide leadership direction to influence the Merchants, Associate Merchants and Assistant Merchants ability to translate customer and competitor information along with merchandise fashion knowledge into action, which drives category specific sales growth and increase profitability Directly supervise and coach Merchants (at all levels in some departments) to achieve their objectives Provide direction to Merchandising team in order to create a cohesive product assortment that mirrors the Brand Hire, direct, evaluate and develop Merchants, Associate Merchants, Assistant Merchants and leads departmental efforts to align with overall merchandising brand strategy Thoroughly understand the target customer by tracking and experiencing customer attitude and lifestyle Maintain an intimate understanding of the competition, target customer and the brand specific fashion trends QUALIFICATIONS: 8-10 years related work experience in Brand Development and Merchandising Broad based business acumen with potential to grow to MM level High intelligence True entrepreneurial risk mentality BA/BS degree in a related field from an accredited institution preferred #cb# xchicox NOTICE: Chico's FAS, Inc. and its affiliates (Chico's) do not accept unsolicited candidate referrals or resumes from recruitment agencies. Chico's will not be responsible or liable for any fees or costs associated with such unsolicited submissions.