Summary
Overview
Work History
Education
Skills
Languages
Timeline
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Josh Fehrens

Toronto,Canada

Summary

Digital Merchandiser with over 12 years experience. I work to create a world class e-commerce environment and think customer first in all scenarios. Successful in years of seasonal storytelling planning and execution, and leading the charge with important campaigns like Best Books of the Year. Experienced working cross functionally with merchants and marketing to make the site experience come to life.

Overview

20
20
years of professional experience

Work History

Digital Merchandising Specialist

Indigo
06.2011 - 01.2024
  • Daily goal to drive sales while creating a joyful and seamless digital shopping experience for our customers while working as a team cross functionally with our various business partners
  • Weekly data analysis and reporting on all book related digital sales with comparisons to last year including revenue, visits, conversion, search, promotions, and trends in the market
  • Merchandising of new releases across the site each week, as well updating Indigo Bestsellers and Most Anticipated Books
  • Manage Staff Picks program online including all monthly merchandising turnovers and sales tracking
  • Maintain dozens of complex shops including #BookTok, Canadian Authors, Diverse Voices, Page to Screen, Top 10 Lists, Heather's Picks, plus elaborate department pages for Fiction, Non-Fiction, Teen, Cookbooks, Wellbeing, eReading
  • Participated in total overhaul of trade taxonomy, helping to select the essential categories to drive business
  • Pull search keyword data daily to facilitate search optimization and feature trending titles across the site in manually merchandized locations and boost anywhere driven by an algorithm.
  • Work with SEO Manager to regularly update and optimize keywords used to drive traffic to key entry points across the site.
  • Create, populate, and manage Books e-commerce calendar. This included selecting key stories to feature across the site, where to feature them, and for how long. This process included soliciting input from our merchant partners on upcoming key buys, filling in a detailed calendar, creating a brief for our studio team which they will then use to create the banners needed. Once this part of the process was complete I would brief our production team on changes to the site, sharing creative along with dates and times for go-live.
  • Experienced programming and scheduling a regular high volume of promotions and markdowns.
  • Experienced merchandising in French and English.

Retail Enhancement Coordinator

Indigo
06.2009 - 06.2011
  • Built complex task plans to guide our retail stores through IndigoKids renovation expansions.
  • The number of linear feet available on shelving units would determine how many returns the store would have to pull from their shelves to make enough space for the expansion.
  • Each section would be shrunk by X number of linear feet and my job was to find a new layout for the store to function with during the renovation.
  • The plans I submitted were clear and concise, consisting of floor plan maps I would colour code and number the tasks indicating which sections to pull returns from and subsequently move to specific areas on the map.
  • If I knew I had X amount of linear footage for Fiction after returns were pulled for space, I found shelving units on the floor plan that could sustain that new volume and have the staff shift the product to that section of the store (it was like a giant puzzle).
  • Successfully collaborated regularly with the Director of Store Design.
  • Built and maintained a fruitful relationship with the Indigo Construction team who provided valuable information about each project that I would take into consideration in my planning.
  • Worked closely with Studio Team and designers who created the floor plans for each expansion.

Customer Experience Manager, Non-Fiction, Kids

Indigo
06.2007 - 06.2009
  • Shift manager overseeing the daily operations of a retail Indigo store location.
  • Was responsible for both opening and closing the store, making bank deposits, balancing the safe and tills, overseeing any customer service issues, and generally directing staff, prioritizing and delegating tasks.
  • Participated in seasonal turnovers after hours where I lead a task force to changeover our store for the next period; this included a refresh of all storytelling in the store on tables, shelving units, end caps, and various other display units specific to Indigo.
  • Was responsible for leading a team of Customer Service Representatives who worked in my department, and was required to write and deliver performance reviews semi-annually.
  • Was ultimately accountable for the success of our Non-Fiction and Kids departments, and this required paying special attention to sales, trends, inventory levels, and managed returns to the publishers for my various categories.

Customer Experience Representative

Indigo
10.2003 - 06.2007
  • Hired as a cashier while simultaneously studying at university.
  • Responsibilities included serving customers and managing lineups, filling A-Frame displays of CDs and DVDs with new and hot releases, merchandising all impulse around the front cash desk, managing all special orders and calling customers when their book had arrived.
  • I was also responsible for balancing my till at the end of my shift, and later went on to be named a Cashier on Duty; the purpose of the Cashier on Duty was to assist the Customer Experience Manger by helping resolve customer service issues, working with their fellow cashiers to double count tills and bank deposits, plus they needed to balance the safe and make runs to the bank for coin and bills to be used as change.
  • Cashiers were also expected to keep the area around the front cash desk looking tidy and this included cleaning and merchandising general merchandise, greeting cards, journals, and more.
  • Trained to work as floor staff which involved exceptional customer service and product knowledge which simultaneously maintaining merchandising and shelving product.

Education

Bachelor of Arts - History and Anthropology

McMaster University

Skills

  • Highly detail oriented
  • Time management
  • Data analysis
  • Adaptability
  • Teamwork
  • Emotional intelligence
  • Problem solving
  • Highly skilled in Ektron CMS (12 years experience)
  • Moderate with Salesforce (6 months experience)

Languages

English

Timeline

Digital Merchandising Specialist

Indigo
06.2011 - 01.2024

Retail Enhancement Coordinator

Indigo
06.2009 - 06.2011

Customer Experience Manager, Non-Fiction, Kids

Indigo
06.2007 - 06.2009

Customer Experience Representative

Indigo
10.2003 - 06.2007

Bachelor of Arts - History and Anthropology

McMaster University

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Josh Fehrens