lululemon

Who we are: 

lululemon is a yoga-inspired technical apparel company up to big things. The practice and philosophy of yoga informs our overall purpose to elevate the world through the power of practice. We are proud to be a growing global company with locations all around the world, from Vancouver to Shanghai, and places in between. We owe our success to our innovative product, our emphasis on our stores, our commitment to our people, and the incredible connections we get to make in every community we are in.

About this team:

The Merchandising team creates and executes transformative global product strategies that ensure we have the right assortment in the right place at the right time to fulfill our guests’ unmet needs to deepen our guest relationships, grow our brand and deliver on our long-term enterprise goals. We possess deep awareness and intuition of global marketplace dynamics and guest needs and use this knowledge to identify opportunities to maximize guest demand.

A day in the life: 

The Senior Global Merchant is responsible for and brings seasoned expertise in creating, curating and bringing product strategies and the global product assortment to life through seasonal line plans based on guest insights that reflect global and regional market needs. The Senior Global Merchant has a deep understanding of the Global lululemon consumer and is consumer obsessed. The Senior Global Merchant partners with the Product team to deliver products with commercial viability across the global line delivered at GLR to drive seasonal buying, brand and marketing activities. Guided by strategy with minimal supervision, the Senior Global Merchant collaborates with partners across the business to ensure product needs associated with critical enterprise priorities are identified, planned for and executed against and ensure brand consistency and regional relevance to maximize profitability and sales across product classes, key items and channels. The Senior Global Merchant is an expert in their category, product line or class and has significant impact and influence on the financial performance of their business. 

The Senior Global Merchant possesses deep Global Merchandising expertise and experience and is recognized as a subject matter expert and mentor on the team. The Senior Merchant is responsible for coaching, mentoring and guiding junior team members to develop their skills to build functional expertise across the team.

Key Responsibilities: 

• Leads the successful creation, execution and maintenance of a line plan for assigned product categories that contribute to the financial success of the company
• Deliver profitable assortments driving IMU and cost goals needed to meet and exceed targets
• Develops Global pricing product architecture 
• Owns the pre-season planning process, breaking down roadmap stories into seasonal line plan and ensuring regional territory category needs are integrated, through ongoing partnerships with Regional teams 
• Ensure briefs are met throughout product creation process, from line plan through to regional handover
• Brief colour flow for global assortment to ensure clear consistent profitable storytelling
• Proactively gathers, analyzes and drives insight from the competitive landscape, global/regional teams and cross functional partners across all channels for pre-season planning and hindsights
• Manage and create key franchises and product lifecycle for all styles in assigned product categories including introduction, build and retirement 
• Provides leadership and functional excellence for their respective activity/category merchandising and design partners to meet key Merchandising Go-To-Market deadlines
• Communicate category assortment to all stakeholders to drive consistent Merchandising messages globally 
• Bring global storytelling to life in partnership with Brand and Marketing teams
• Builds the architecture of the assortment in collaboration with Design and Product Development team 
• Review, validate and sign-off on sketches and protos against line plan brief ensuring all global guest needs are met and accountable for adoption ratio 
• Partners with Demand Planning and Sourcing teams to provide units and style volumes for global forecasting and vendor allocation
• Be the voice of the guest and provide considered and clear feedback during fittings
• Create and present global product visual flow and communicate seasonal assortment strategies quarterly to all regional partners.
• Responsible for briefing content for packaging, product naming and features and benefits 
• Accountable for data integrity of the product
• Responsible for global assortment handover to Regional Teams 
• The Senior Merchant, in partnership with the Manager, is responsible for mentoring junior team members. The Senior Merchant is required to coach, mentor and guide the junior team members on their team, to develop skills and build functional expertise across the team. 
• The Senior Merchant works in close partnerships with the Manager and assumes Managerial duties in absence of the Manager. 

Qualifications:

• BA, BSc, BBA, BComm, (or equivalent), specialization in Retail or Merchandising Management an asset
• Minimum eight years of Merchandising experience required
• Understanding and experience in working for a Global Brand is preferred
• Proven ability to coach, mentor and teach junior team members
• Proficient in Microsoft Office Programs, Mastery in Excel, proficiency in Merchandising Software, preferred experience in Adobe Illustrator 
• Mastery in analytical skills with the ability to interpret multiple data points across numerous channels and market segments 
• Financial acumen and understanding of Retail Math
• Ability to balance analytical and creative tasks 
• Ability to interpret and apply financial insights on current business performance and leverage insights to guide and inform future range plans
• Acute eye for product and colour trends
• Aware of macro lifestyle and fashion trends and how this relates to the active and wellness industry
• Strong understanding of global marketplace, major shifts in trend and activity
• Ability to apply, interpret and synthesize marketplace data to create global assortment 
• Ability to enrol and clearly communicate vision, class strategy and feedback to key partners, including creative partners
• Strong communication skills, both written and verbal, and demonstrative ability to present to Senior Leadership
• Ability to multitask, pivot, prioritize competing tasks and operate in a fast-paced environment, including the ability to work in multi-category product creation calendars
• Highly organized with a keen eye for the detail
• Ability to work independently to make sound business decisions 
• Willingness to travel (domestic and international) and work on the retail floor

Must haves:

• Acknowledges the presence of choice in every moment and takes personal responsibility for their life.
• Possesses an entrepreneurial spirit and continuously innovates to achieve great results.
• Communicates with honesty and kindness and creates the space for others to do the same.
• Leads with courage, knowing the possibility of greatness is bigger than the fear of failure.
• Fosters connection by putting people first and building trusting relationships.
• Integrates fun and joy as a way of being and working, aka doesn’t take themselves too seriously.