Fashion Senior Merchandising Manager

Job Mission:

• Aligned with CHANEL’s long-term ambition to grow qualitatively and strengthen enduring brand value for client today & tomorrow.
• The Senior Merchandising Manager plays a strategic role in translating CHANEL’s creative vision and long-term brand ambition into a relevant, desirable and qualitative offer for the China market. This role is critical to shaping category direction, protecting brand equity, nurturing product strategy and enabling boutiques to bring the collection spirit to life with clients.

Key Responsibilities:

MERCHANDISING STRATEGY & EXECUTION PLAN:

• Lead product strategy to the next level by anticipating market trends to strengthen qualitative growth through continuously reshaping the product offer, deepening client understanding & leveraging the collection amplification in each boutique.
• Close collaboration together with global and regional teams, as well as local expertise team from upstream to downstream thanks to strong stakeholder management with growth mindset and long-term vision.
• Define OTB and sales ambition by category, by boutique and by collection, balancing market flexibility with qualitative business growth. Drive strategic assortment curation with local relevancy and cross-functional execution to support both recruitment and retention.
• Innovate and identify new levers in the 360-degree development plan by collaborating with Retail, VM, Marketing, Client, Learning and other key partners to ensure successful implementation.

BUSINESS MANAGEMENT:

• Maximize business opportunities in an evolving China market with continuously improved operation efficiency.
• Develop sales and inventory planning for in charged product categories based on China market dynamics.
• Monitor sales, sell-through, stock-on-hand and key product performance to identify growth opportunities, risks and action plans at same time ensure the right stock level at the right time to support boutique business.

COLLECTION ASSORTMENT & BUYING:

• Prepare pre-buy analysis, with both retail & client insights to onboard retail teams & global / regional teams for Merchandising buying strategy.
• Lead buying in showroom, working collaboratively with Retail, PR, VM, Marketing, Styling and other partners to build the assortment.
• Lead post-buy sharing with retail & office teams through clear rationale, business conviction and openness to boutique perspectives based on each collection’s singularity.
• Own full assortment, order follow-up and submission, ensuring consistency between buying strategy, boutique needs and collection storytelling.

BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE

• Provide relevant merchandising business reports (quantitative and qualitative) to stakeholders to infuse and align the understanding (market trends, collection performance …).
• Quartly sharing with retail teams on key actionable findings to support collective work on action plans with feedback loop.

TEAM MANAGEMENT

• Set clear team priorities and ensure focused execution with strong ownership.
• Coach team members to build and elevate product expertise, business acumen and stakeholder influence.
• Develop team capability and talent pipeline through regular feedback, development plans and stretch assignments.
• Create an open and collaborative team environment where members can share views and challenge constructively.
• Support the Head of Merchandising on strategic priorities and progressively take ownership of broader cross-functional topics.

Internal/external interfaces:

• Internal (Local): China merchandising team, China fashion team (retail, marketing, CEM, VM, styling, etc), China DC & logistic team.
• Internal (Global/ Regional): Global & regional merchandising team, Global DC team.

What you can bring to the team

Qualification:

• Minimum 12 years’ experience in Merchandising, Buying and/or Retail, preferably with experience in luxury accessories, leather goods, or international premium brands.
• Combine passion for Luxury and Arts with solid product acumen.
• Driven by innovation and enjoy working in a fast-paced rhythm with growth mindset & openness.
• Having a strong buying dimension with proactive and hands-on approach and being definitely retail and market oriented.
• Having strong influence, coordination and managerial skills.
• Level responsibility: Upper Middle Management.
• Number of People managed: 1 to 5, with responsibility to build category capability across the retail community.
• Language Skills: English (business proficient), Chinese (business proficient), French would be a plus.