Rachel Lebeau

As Merchandising Director I am responsible for developing and implementing strategies to maximize sales and profitability through brand aligned product assortment, pricing, and presentation. I oversee the selection, purchase, costing, inventory and display of merchandise, ensuring it aligns with the company's value and overall branding strategies.

• Led the merchandising strategy for Fleece and activewear, bottoms and Outerwear categories, collaborating with cross-functional teams to ensure the right product mix, assortment, and inventory levels that aligned with the brand’s vision and goals.
• Analyzed sales trends, customer behavior, and market insights to drive strategic decisions, optimize product placement, and increase revenue.
• Developed and executed seasonal lifecycle plans, ensuring that product assortments were tailored to customer needs for the right amount of time while maximizing profitability.
• In partnership with the Sourcing team, managed vendor relationships, negotiating pricing to secure the best product offerings for the division.
• Worked closely with visual merchandising teams to create compelling in-store displays and marketing materials that reflected the brand’s aesthetic and enhanced the customer shopping experience.
• Provided leadership and guidance to a team of Merchandising manager, product manager and assistant merchandisers, fostering collaboration and driving performance across the division.
• Collaborate and guide the buying and planning teams to ensure alignment on sales forecasts, inventory levels, and promotional strategies.
• Delivered regular performance reports and business reviews to senior management, offering actionable insights for improvement and growth.
• Monitored competitive landscape and industry trends, adjusting strategies as needed to maintain a competitive edge in the market.

Competencies:

• Strong Business acumen: Lead and champion the chase initiative to improve the company's speed to market and deliver thoughtful, curated trends and a strong read and react initiative

• Lead and Inspire: Gather and motivate team members to achieve common goals. Inspire new product ideas by challenging status quo and optimizing processes. Develop future leaders through one-on-one coaching

• Maximize sales by staying connected to the market and product: Partner with all cross-functional teams to ensure outfitting and brand vision comes to life through all selling channels. Stay informed on banner investments to align and avoid cannibalization

• Own 360 product strategy: Achieve financial plans for my departments and impact banner growth. Determine big idea investments, top 40 contenders, and key class distortions. Ensure constant flow of A+ trend-relevant product

• Set OTB targets and monitor team compliance

• Optimize sourcing strategy and fabric positioning

Key Responsibilities:

• Oversee all seasonal buys. Forecast sales, build assortments & pricing strategy, manage inventory and Open to Buy, in order to achieve sales targets and continued growth for all categories for menswear and womenswear business.

• Manage life cycle of products and categories with buyers

• Define the overall vision and positioning of our brand with head of marketing and product team

• Partner with the Lead of Product to develop product strategies

• Partner with the marketing, visual and digital teams to ensure alignment of key investment vs sales targets.

• Measure and optimize customer engagement, retention and conversion in every channel in collaboration with leadership team members (marketing, online, retail)

• In collaboration with the director of planning and the director of digital, mapped out promotional calendar to maximize brand exposure and drive sales and profitability.

• Collaborate with visual merchandising team (both retail and online) on planogram, online sequencing, conversion, store layouts, product launches. Ensure products are bought and merchandised to drive optimal sales

• Manage team performance - setting KPI and coach to improve performance

KEY ACHIEVEMENTS: - While going through NOI process, I had overseen: Payment inventory forecast in collaboration with the Finance team. Re-negotiated new payment terms with vendors, Re-evaluated our supply chain, forecasted traffic and logistic payment while managing the prioritization of inventory shipment.

POSITION OVERVIEW: Responsible to determine product assortment selections and specifications in order to identify and address market opportunities, drive sales and support the company’s strategy and goals.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Develops assortment plans in accordance with divisional direction and aligned with target customer’s profile
• Determines proper quantification and flow of merchandise based on Planning & Allocation analysis
• Determines target customer’s current and emerging needs and ensures all products are trend right
• Determines product strategies (promotion, pricing, marketing, store position and visual merchandising)
• Manages workload and efficiency, coaches, trains and develops team members
• Partners with cross-functional heads to optimize operational and sales opportunities.