Summary Description:
This position is responsible for leading the Buying & Merchandising function for Lacoste for all product categories in North America including Men’s & Women’s Textiles, Footwear, Leather Goods & Underwear. This Director will create the buy strategy, develop appropriate assortments ensuring brand goals and objectives are met through historical analysis, trends, and the specific needs of our Boutique, Outlet, Ecommerce, Wholesale and Concessions channels. The Director will lead a Buying team of 12 employees and report directly to the Vice President, Merchandising, Buying & Planning, North & Central America.
Essential Job Responsibilities:
- The Director is responsible for all retail buying accountability for all Lacostecategories in North America in partnership with the VP, MBP.
- The role will own all Pricing and Gross Margin related tasks & goals
- Collaborate closely & often with the Sr. Director, Planning to alignon Buying, Planning, Pricing and Inventory strategies.
- Lead the buy during market;product selection and assortment planning, while meeting the sku and merchandise plan and meeting financial & strategic objectives of the region.
- Strategize key items,promotions and mark downs with planning and retail team.
- Liaise with supplychain, as well as planning and allocation to ensure availability and the timely delivery of merchandise.
- Work in close partnership with Global and Regional partners in Product, Planning, Marketing, Visual Merchandising, Retail,Ecomm, Wholesale and Finance teams to manage pre-season & in-season deliverables
- Maintain strong & constant communication with team & stakeholders
- Stay current on future of business by identifying market trends, assortment opportunities, and understanding the Lacoste customer.
- Leading and developing the Buying Team to ensure business objectives are achieved and create internal career growth & development opportunities.
Requirements/Qualifications:
- 8-10 years of Retail Buying and Merchandising experience and at least 8 years of Management experience for markets in North America.
- 5+ years managing a team.
- DTC & Wholesale buying/merchandising experience is a must. Outlet experience is a strong plus.
- Proven success buying and managing assortments for a branded retail organization, and ideally, experience working with a European corporate office.
- Strong analytical and retail math skills
- Strong strategic skills, ability to find opportunity & white space for the North America market.
- Excellent communications, time management and presentation skills.
- Ability to speak up and be the voice of the region.
- A critical thinker who drives solutions.
- Exhibits strong leadership skills with ability to motivate a team and create a sense of urgency while driving a culture of positivity and teamwork.
- People first leader who leads by example with a strong desire to train & develop team.
- Strong ability to work collaboratively & partner across all departments.
Core Values and Traits:
Play as One Team:
- Showing respect towardseveryone
- Commitment for the team’s work and decisions
Play with Elegance:
- Striving for excellence
- Treating others with fair play and humility
Play by Daring:
- Having the courageto speak up, experiment and take initiative
- To explore new opportunities
Play with Tenacity:
- Constantly seek continuous improvement
- Learning from our failures
* This job description is not intended to be exhaustive. It can be changed orally or in writing at any time by the discretion of management. We as Lacoste associates must always ensure that all functions of our position are represented with our core values being: Accountable, Audacious, Collaborative, and Respectful.
