Catherine Lott Email & Phone Number

South Kingstown, Ri, Us

Rhode Island, United States

Rewarded the additional responsibility of managing the soda fountain. Manage 15+ employees between the two stores. • Responsible for managing inventory needed for the day-to-day business needs. • Transitioned a high-turnover team to be functional and trained in 1 month.• Reorganized the schedule to meet the business needs first and then staff availability. Provided a reoccurring schedule to allow for better attendance and work life balance.• Created a food process to eliminate food waste entirely• Developed a system for sales reporting and ordering food weekly with kitchen staff

Rhode Island, United States

Oversee all the front of the house products, managing 20,000+ skus across our Wakefield and Providence locations, plus e-commerce. Responsible for buying, merchandising, analysis, educating, and sales, including the maintenance of the ecommerce website and procurement of pharmacy and soda foundation supplies. • Collaborate with marketing team on store and social media initiatives.• Achieved business growth of 150%, from $400K to nearly $1 million during the pandemic (2020 to present)• Develop private label products to enhance Green Line brand loyalty handling all sourcing, cost analysis, marketing and launch plan. • Negotiate with suppliers and distributors to secure optimal pricing and manage orders effectively • Create and execute merchandising strategies for all orders• Input order details and pricing into the POS system, and process claims/returns to recover profits.• Analyze sales data and prepare weekly, monthly and quarterly performance reports for review with ownership • Built and maintained the Shopify website, adding new products and ensuring inventory accuracy.• Expanded product offerings by adding over 100 new brands to align with market trends and brand vision.• Reported directly to the President/ COO.

East Providence, Rhode Island

Responsible for all aspects of product development, merchandising and sales. o Manage product life-cycle from start to finisho Design and develop new product based on customer requests and trendso Partner with oversees vendors on development, costing, production lead times and purchasingo Prepare templates for retailers to place purchase orderso Work with packaging companies on securing the proper packaging and ticketing within a budgeto Schedule and prioritize shipments with freight forwarders o Direct distribution center on production arrival and customer PO prioritieso Tracked weekly sales of instore orders and provided action plans for buying teamso Managed and maintained inventory of distribution centero Designed and built based webpage www.allisonreedjewelry.como Secured and sought out new accounts to grow existing businesso Maintained and monitored replenishment programs of over 100+ skuso Fostered relationships with 10+ buying teams to help grow their business- coming up with creative ways to boast their margin.o Worked with outside sales reps and provided them with product that meets the needs of their business.o Reported to President

West Warwick, Rhode Island

Responsible for driving a new level of business for Crimzon Rose. With the acquisition by LFUSA additional brands opportunities arose. Manage the process thru all stages-concept-design-development-proto review-pricing-line sheets- market handoff-sales-production.• Manage luxury brands-Rebecca Minkoff, Rachel Zoe and Erickson Beamon Rocks.• Direct a team of 2 associates- junior merchant and merchandise coordinator• Create the sku plan, competitive analysis, packaging, fixturing that is specific to each brand.• Partner with cross functional teams in design, sourcing, sales, purchasing and graphics• Work directly with the licensor on all aspects of the brand to create synergy across all categories to create a consistent brand.

Managed multiple accounts as the business grew. Additional team members were added and I oversaw their development to take on accounts. This position evolved into the director of brand management.• Directed and oversaw development for the following accounts: Jennifer Lopez, Belk Department Stores, BonTon, Burlington Coat Factory, Macy's, Marc Anthony, Kohl's Private Label and JCP.• Projected sales for $30.0 million

Responsible for product development, profit, sales and gross margin on Kohl’s Jennifer Lopez and Private Label accounts. Built a strong partnership with Kohl’s product development team to build the assortments needed for each brand. Drove the development with 4 dedicated design staff by staying current on trends and needs of the customer.• Communicate daily with China on development and needs for each account. Also communicate weekly via conference call to cover delivery issues.• Analyze and react to sales on weekly bases. React by developing back into best sellers or revising assortment if sales indicate a potential poor performer.• After 4 months with Crimzon, given additional account of Kohl’s Private Label. • Projected sales for my accounts is $12.0 million• Promoted to Director of Merchandising.

Fort Myers, Florida Area

Developed and selected all private label jewelry for WH/BM. Partnered with vendors on creating brand right, exclusive jewelry that relates back to brand vision for each season. Selected assortment based on overall trends and how jewelry tied back to apparel. Implemented merchandise strategies for department that drove double-digit increases above plan in down economy.• Mentored and developed 3 direct reports that were promoted under my leadership.• Successfully launched lingerie business from sister brand, Soma Intimates, into WH / BM stores. Developed business from ground up, working with Soma, partnering with existing vendors, creating packaging that worked with WH / BM brand. Under my leadership this was $875.0 incremental business in 2008.• Grew jewelry business from $27.2M 2008 to $31.0M in 2009 and ended 2010 with $36.5M.• Negotiated with vendors for best cost to maintain 83% IMU for year. Allowed for double-digit increase in GM for 2 years in a row, adding $2M in GM$ to company’s bottom line.• Analyzed business weekly, monthly and quarterly; prepared hindsight recap as means to better business, providing key actionable learnings to drive business.

Greater Chicago Area

Provided vendors with glimpse into the world of a buyer allowing them to understand buyer’s perspective and to cater to it more effectively. Used business model tailored to specific needs of clients, included developing line sheets, analyzing sales, participating in sales meeting, strategizing growth.• Fostered relationships with 20+ vendors in LA, NY, VA, IL and PA within first 4 months of business.• Identified trends and market info for clients to stay current with changing market. • Educated vendors on buyer metrics- gross margin, turn, advertising coop, markdown dollars. Equipped vendors with plan to fit metrics into current business model.• Designed professional line sheets for designer collections.• Analyzed sales reports and supplied clients with actionable results.• Created simplified attention seeking press packets to be sent to prospective new accounts.• Improved business for clients through growth in current accounts and attaining new accounts.

Greater Chicago Area

Selected and purchased all bridge jewelry products for 50 full line stores tailoring buy, analyzing buy, reacting to trends while responding to customer preferences and demographics. Responsible for selecting advertising in monthly corporate vehicles, optimizing markdowns, preparing buy plans, managing financial planning, connecting with stores, maintaining profitability with vendors, launching new vendors as well as maintaining corporate goals.• Generated annual volume of over $22M, 25% increase during tenure.• Fostered strong relationships with 30+ vendors, 50 jewelry managers and staff, 5 regional merchandisers, as well as mentoring an assistant buyer and allocator.• Improved turn by 20 basis points to 2.8 in traditionally slow turning department.• Elevated gross margin by 4 percentage points, resulting in adding more than $1.3M margin dollars to company’s bottom line.• Organized special events for all stores, many that produced upwards of $15K in one day for single vendor.• Negotiated discounts with vendors for seasonal orders and for 3 company-wide annual sale events.

Mclean, Virginia

East Coast Belt and Sunglass Assitant Buyer 2002-2003East Coast Fashion Jewelry Assistant Buyer 2001-2002Provided support to buyer with writing orders, product selection, vendor negotiations and building relationships with store level. Managed “always in stock” basics increasing volume of point of sale items.• Increased business by 20% in one year - taking it to $12M.• Promoted to East Coast Bridge Jewelry buyer.

Managed staff of 18 in fashion and fine jewelry while increasing business to over $1 million in 4 years.• Recognized on several occasions as department manager of the month.• Generated #1 company results for fine jewelry with help of seasoned staff.• Promoted to Assistant Buyer of Fashion Jewelry.

Served customers during college breaks and holidays driving strong sales. Rehired every season. • Created lasting relationships with customers, in turn creating repeat business.• Promoted to Department Manager of Fashion Jewelry.

Bs, Clothing And Fashion Merchandising

Activities and Societies: President of Meredith Merchandising Majors

Education record

Activities and Societies: National Honor Society