Jenny Vanderwalker Email & Phone Number

Highly creative, visually intuitive Merchandising, Purchasing, and Buying Professional with 15+ years of excellence in retail category management and product assortment development.Talent for partnering and negotiating with suppliers to curate unique retail product assortments that resonate with targeted customers, driving sales and increasing store traffic.Skilled in leveraging data analytics to make informed purchasing, pricing, and promotional decisions that increase inventory turnover, reduce carrying costs, and expand profit margins.Leadership Excellence in Category Management & Retail Purchasing:➢ Directed product selection, purchasing, procurement, pricing, and inventory for Housewares within Metropolitan Market's 10 Seattle-area grocery retail locations➢ Curated a unique destination retail shopping experience for a large customer base via targeted brand strategies, in-store merchandising, and promotional marketing➢ Trained and developed junior team members while promoting merchandising best practices, resultingOptimizing Inventory Turn & Warehouse Operations:➢ Streamlined warehouse inventory management via data analysis of stock levels, SKU volume, inventory turn, purchasing lead times, promotions, and customer demand➢ Boosted speed of inventory turn by analyzing inventory and running aggressive merchandising promotions, cutting inventory on-hand while maintaining double-digit sales growth➢ Modernized legacy ordering process by integrating a new warehouse purchasing systemProduct Promotions & Marketing Highlights:➢ Revamped merchandising and promotional strategy with a bigger layout, discount offers, and direct-mail coupons that netted substantial sales volume➢ Moved the majority of stock for a slow-turning private-label spatula product with a new multi-store promotional merchandising strategy➢ Yielded a double-digit increase in annual sales by launching new products, planning and executing marketing promotions and eventsSpecific skills include...Strategic Supplier & Vendor PartnershipsRetail Category ManagementRetail MerchandisingPurchasing & Merchandising LeadershipTeam Training, Mentorship, & DevelopmentInventory Monitoring & ForecastingROI & Pricing AnalysisCost Negotiations & COGS ReductionProduct PromotionsPurchase Orders (PO)Marketing PlansCross-Category Promotional InitiativesKPI AnalysisSKU ManagementProduct Assortment DevelopmentContinuous Process ImprovementPrice OptimizationSupplier Relationship BuildingSupply ChainInventory ForecastingProduct Selection

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  Category Manager

  Metropolitan Market

  Sep 2004 - Present

  ➢ Spearheaded product selection, pricing strategy, purchasing, procurement, and inventory re-stocking for Housewares across 10 Seattle-area grocery retailer locations, driving $6.5 million in annual sales➢ Cultivated a unique destination-shopping experience for hundreds of thousands of retail customers by planning and executing brand strategies, in-store merchandising, and promotional marketing programs ➢ Advised and collaborated with cross-functional partners as a point-person for product information, store schematics, and merchandising, bringing cohesion, clarity, and alignment to the full lifecycle of assigned categories➢ Optimized warehouse inventory by conducting extensive data analysis on stock levels, SKU volume, inventory turn, purchasing lead time, promotions impact, and customer demand, yielding double-digit cost savings➢ Increased inventory turn speed by analyzing inventory and running aggressive merchandising promotions, slashing on-hand inventory value substantially while driving double-digit YoY sales growth➢ Revamped annual kitchenware sale with a new merchandising and promotional strategy featuring a bigger layout, attractive discount offer, and direct-mail coupons that netted hundreds of thousands of sales during the 2-week promotion, vastly outperforming typical sales revenue figures➢ Negotiated with vendors to reduce COGS on promoted items, enabling Metropolitan Market to maintain healthy profit margins during the promotional event➢ Moved slow-turning private-label spatula product by launching a new promotional merchandising strategy; the majority of inventory sold within 2 weeks, generating a high volume of sales revenue➢ Worked with 3rd party vendor to develop a bespoke item as part of an innovative merchandising endeavor➢ Coached and mentored junior team members on best practices for merchandising, purchasing, inventory management, analysis, and re-stocking