I am responsible for the development of apparel and branded gear at Vortex Optics. It’s my responsibility to develop a product line and merchandising strategy capable of achieving the financial plan that the Inventory Team and I forecast for the season. My responsibilities include but are not limited too:* Identifying and setting up new vendors to partner with.* Work with new and existing vendors to develop all apparel and branded Vortex gear. * Creation and execution of product road maps, assessing priorities and trade-offs between customer experience, time-to-market, and operational support load.* Strategic planning and execution of product life cycle development plan. * Drive efficiency by ensuring on-time execution of key divisional initiatives.* Establish appropriate marketing pricing for products through research as well as negotiating with vendors.* Utilize market research to affect key product and marketing plans, including but not limited to, competitive position, purchase drivers, pricing, industry trends and technologies.* Define product positioning and messaging that communicate the value, benefits and unique selling points. * Develop product launch strategies through coordination of cross-functional support and collaboration, including packaging, SKU rationalization, social media strategies, point of purchase materials, promotions, etc.

I manage the Business side of Men’s Apparel & Footwear for Duluth Trading Company. It’s my responsibility to ensure the product line and merchandising strategy around the product are capable of achieving the financial plan forecasted for the season. Responsibilities include:• The overall sales performance for specific categories• Obtaining initial gross margins that align with company goals• Negotiating with vendors to obtain initial gross margins• Identifying key strategies and assortment needs to support key strategies • Identifying assortment needs to support company growth • Planning catalog space for styles to support key strategies and increase profitability• Increase sales performance of core products • Determine pricing structure for all products including full price retail, multiple unit price, and promotions.• Determining the in season markdown cadence on poor performing products• Developing seasonal sales plan and allocating email and catalog appearances to maximize the sales plan.• Working with the Product Manager to meet SKU goals.• Working with Web, Email, Retail, Catalog teams to meet sales goals• Aware of customer responses to product assortment by analyzing return rates and comment• Ability to recap sales information clearly to upper management

• Provides the appropriate pre-season product analysis for the assortment at the item and class level.• Develops and maintains the assortment and item plans (assortment plan spreadsheets, buy sheets/key items), translates the assortment strategy into plans, and projects the inventory required.• Creates in season forecasts and demand planning and provides direction to the Replenishment and Allocation Analyst.• Develops and executes historical analysis and forecasts for the class and channel levels to ensure item plans and financial plans are aligned.• Manages the inventory process at the item level for my area of responsibility and develops action plans on item management, re-buys, space plans and canceling orders as required by the Category Manager.• Determines lift quantities by location for all retail ads, Internet, and catalog promos using sales history.

• Responsible for multi-channel (Retail, Catalog, and Internet) product development, assortment selection, and pricing strategies.• Responsible for all retail ad development within my area. This included choosing product for retail ads, setting pricing based on margin objectives, projecting unit sales for the ad time frame, proofing the ad, and working with our Planning and Inventory teams to ensure product arrived at the store on time. • Skilled in identifying and maximizing sales growth opportunities• Developed innovative analysis techniques used to build relative product assortments in order to achieve financial goals• Experience in building merchandise strategies• Monitored in season selling to determine markdown & exit strategies on slow selling or end of season goods• Responsible for developing and presenting assortment strategies and seasonal line reviews to the Directors and VP’s of merchandising.• Knowledge of private label product development • Extensive history of established performance with many national brands• Omni-channel retailing experience (catalog, internet, retail)• Retail management experience• Strong work ethic and a positive attitude• Worked closely with our space planning and visual merchandising departments to build pre-season assortment strategies, planograms, and to make in season changes to the assortment. • I have filled in many times as a buyer for the Direct (Internet & Catalog) side of the business and my responsibilities have included: proofing catalog pages, setting Web pricing strategies, working with our Internet team on web site presentations, and doing informative product videos for our website, as well as other various duties.

Analyzed sales history and selling trends to identify growth opportunities in retailCollaborated with product manager, internal associates, and vendors to develop and execute retail assortmentCollaborated with Category Manager and Creative to ensure retail ad accuracyAssisted in store set ups by verifying floor plans, ensuring accurate product placement, and collaborating with Inventory Team

Provided purchasing specialist and buyers with landed cost estimates for shipping freight from vendors to retail stores or distribution centersDeveloped and maintained necessary reports for the department.Created various databases in Microsoft Access to efficiently track and organize informationCollaborated with internal associates and UPS to develop a new electronic data interchange program to reduce manual entry of data to improve speed and efficiency