Assistant Merchandiser
Since its launch in 1993 with a collection of six essential handbags, Kate Spade New York has always stood for optimistic femininity. Today, the brand is a global life and style house with handbags, ready-to-wear, jewelry, footwear, gifts, home décor and more. Polished ease, thoughtful details and a modern, sophisticated use of color—Kate Spade New York’s founding principles define a unique style synonymous with joy.
Kate Spade New York is part of the Tapestry portfolio – a global house of brands powered by optimism, innovation, and inclusivity.
Job Title: Assistant Merchandiser, Handbags
The successful individual will leverage their proficiency in merchandising to...
- Assist Manager in creating Global category line architecture, taking into consideration individual Market needs & business trend
- Participate in development milestone meeting preparation: Sketch Review, Proto Review, Costing Review, Market Edits, and Internal Market Presentation
- Collaborate with Merchandising, Design, Production, and all Cross-Functional Partners to execute seasonal assortments from concept to Market
- Owner of data entry & maintenance in EC Vision retail software; ensure data accuracy every step of the way & manage all systems related communication
- Responsible for execution & accuracy of seasonal Market Sample Order
- Manage Market preparation including but not limited to sample organization, showroom & system set-up, and Market Materials
- Manage Market communication with Business Units including Change Log (ie. style adds, changes, etc.)
- Analyze global sales, feedback, and historical data on weekly, monthly, & seasonal basis to help better assort for future seasons and communicate trends to Design
- Analyze competitive landscape, identifying trends and staying on top of newness in Market; utilize findings to identify holes in the current business and opportunities for future growth
- Act as the departmental liaison for cross-category special projects, including collaborations
- Manage creative requests, including style naming, marketing special projects, packaging and hangtag requests
- Maintain Product Knowledge & Raw Material Master File seasonally to ensure accuracy of information for all partners to access (ie. Buying, Sales, Creative Marketing, Ecommerce, etc.)
- Maintenance of seasonal metrics files to track key performance indicators: sku count, adoption ratio, global alignment, margin, etc.
The accomplished individual will possess...
- College degree required
- 1-3 years’ relevant experience
- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
- Exceptional attention to detail and strong time management skills; can prioritize and has a sense of urgency
- Ability to work under pressure and meet deadlines
- Must be able to utilize and master internal software systems
- Strong organizational skills
- Independent worker, takes initiative & demonstrates problem solving skills
- Team player and passion for Kate Spade & Leathergoods
- Demonstrated expertise in fashion and merchandising; understanding of competitive landscape
- Proficient in Microsoft office: Excel & PowerPoint
- Retail math training
Our Competencies for All Employees
- Courage: Doesn’t hold back anything that needs to be said; provides current, direct, complete, and “actionable” positive and corrective feedback to others; lets people know where they stand; faces up to people problems on any person or situation (not including direct reports) quickly and directly; is not afraid to take negative action when necessary.
- Creativity: Comes up with a lot of new and unique ideas; easily makes connections among previously unrelated notions; tends to be seen as original and value-added in brainstorming settings.
- Customer Focus: Is dedicated to meeting the expectations and requirements of internal and external customers; gets first-hand customer information and uses it for improvements in products and services; acts with customers in mind; establishes and maintains effective relationships with customers and gains their trust and respect.
- Dealing with Ambiguity: Can effectively cope with change; can shift gears comfortably; can decide and act without having the total picture; isn’t upset when things are up in the air; doesn’t have to finish things before moving on; can comfortably handle risk and uncertainty.
- Drive for Results: Can be counted on to exceed goals successfully; is constantly and consistently one of the top performers; very bottom-line oriented; steadfastly pushes self and others for results.
- Interpersonal Savvy: Relates well to all kinds of people, up, down, and sideways, inside and outside the organization; builds appropriate rapport; builds constructive and effective relationships; uses diplomacy and tact; can diffuse even high-tension situations comfortably.
- Learning on the Fly: Learns quickly when facing new problems; a relentless and versatile learner; open to change; analyzes both successes and failures for clues to improvement; experiments and will try anything to find solutions; enjoys the challenge of unfamiliar tasks; quickly grasps the essence and the underlying structure of anything.
Our Competencies for All People Managers
- Strategic Agility: Sees ahead clearly; can anticipate future consequences and trends accurately; has broad knowledge and perspective; is future oriented; can articulately paint credible pictures and visions of possibilities and likelihoods; can create competitive and breakthrough strategies and plans.
- Developing Direct Reports and Others: Provides challenging and stretching tasks and assignments; holds frequent development discussions; is aware of each person's career goals; constructs compelling development plans and executes them; pushes people to accept developmental moves; will take on those who need help and further development; cooperates with the developmental system in the organization; is a people builder.
- Building Effective Teams: Blends people into teams when needed; creates strong morale and spirit in their team; shares wins and successes; fosters open dialogue; lets people finish and be responsible for their work; defines success in terms of the whole team; creates a feeling of belonging in the team.
Kate Spade is an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer and we pride ourselves on hiring and developing the best people. All employment decisions (including recruitment, hiring, promotion, compensation, transfer, training, discipline and termination) are based on the applicant's or employee's qualifications as they relate to the requirements of the position under the consideration. These decisions are made without regard to age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic characteristics, race, color, creed, religion, ethnicity, national origin, alienage, citizenship, disability, marital status, military status, pregnancy, or any other legally-recognized protected basis prohibited by applicable law. Visit Kate Spade at www.katespade.com.