Assistant Merchandiser

Assistant Merchandiser role at Oliver Bonas

Join us to support your Merchandiser in collaborating with the Buying team to range plan, forecast and trade your department or product area. You will maximise sales and profitability and, through your understanding of the company vision and strategy, deliver the OB brand values working cross‑functionally across Buying, Design and Merchandising.

Our Support Office is based in Tolworth, near Chessington, only a 30‑minute journey from London Waterloo. We offer hybrid working with a split of 3 days in the office and 2 days home working per week, and are open to having conversations about working flexibly.

As part of a dynamic Merchandising team, your role will also be to provide support and lead as an example to the MAAs. You will support and assist the wider team in providing sales analysis and administrative support in addition to independently managing a WSSI managing opportunity and risk.

• Set up and manage monthly reforecasting for your category WSSI with support from the Merchandiser
• Manage projections and repeat line buys through weekly trade meetings and propose ways to minimise risk for the department
• Make frequent suggestions for improved forecasting – e.g. looking at rates of sale and apply this to future range planning
• Work with the Merchandiser and Buying team to integrate lessons learnt from the previous season into new department strategies
• Assist in constructing the optimum range for the target market by balancing price architecture and category
• Create data packs and present in trade & sign off meetings
• Plan intake to deliver new options as appropriate to keep newness flowing through the business considering space & layout requirements with support from Merchandiser
• Use the WSSI to inform trade and stock management decisions weekly through updates of stock levels, sales, intake and monthly reforecasts
• Make decisions regarding risks and opportunities to put forward proposals for improvements to Merchandiser
• Identify lines for markdown and mark‑up activity as well as forecast markdown spend and evaluate profit implications of markdown activity
• Assist in planning promotions, when necessary, in order to improve stock position and minimise markdown
• Monitor critical path dates and maintain an accurate delivery schedule liaising with the Buying team, Merchandiser and Logistics team
• Make suggestions on phasing of launch, grading and peak intake to help manage the distribution of stock
• Suggest and implement process amendments to help with departmental efficiency and reporting
• Conduct regular visits to stores, identifying opportunities and threats, and making recommendations for process improvements in support of business objectives
• Represent the Fashion Merch team to the wider business within set Ambassador roles e.g. Web, Stores, Markdown and Marketplace

• Generous employee discount up to 50% off all OB products
• Free access to our 24‑hour employee assistance programme with Care First – offering financial, emotional and vocational support
• Flexible holiday – 30 days (including bank holidays) – increasing to 35 days with length of service
• Annual discretionary profit related bonus scheme
• Free membership for our Westfield Health Cash Plan or Private Medical
• Free access to our onsite gym
• Cycle to work scheme
• Refer a Friend incentive
• Quarterly free lunch
• Enhanced maternity, paternity, adoption and shared parental leave

• Retail experience and genuine interest in the industry
• Knowledge of internal databases / Net Suite and NSPB would be advantageous
• IT Literate with Intermediate / Advanced Microsoft Office skills – Word / Excel and Power Point
• Analytical and numerical skills, having attention to detail
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
• Have good organisational skills and effective time management
• Team player and have collaborative approach
• Motivated and able to work well to tight deadlines
• Initiative, decisiveness and effective problem‑solving skills
• Proactive forward thinker and resilience, being agile and open to change
• Strong leadership skills ability to coordinate actions to meet deadlines

At Oliver Bonas, our promise is to do our bit to make living a joyful experience and give cause for optimism. This promise is central to our work in equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI). To bring joy to others, we must first ensure everyone at OB feels valued, included and most importantly, can be themselves at work.

We welcome all eligible applicants for this role and are particularly interested in speaking to eligible candidates from the Black, Asian & Mixed Heritage communities.

Oliver Bonas is a Disability Confident commitment employer under the Disability Confident scheme.

Associate

Full‑time

General Business and Supply Chain

Retail Apparel and Fashion

London, England, United Kingdom