Francois Carrara Email & Phone Number

San Francisco, Ca, Us

San Francisco, Ca, Us

• In charge of all product launches on Minted.com, including on-demand stationery, customizable greeting cards, home goods and fine arts• Continually streamlining processes and maximizing productivity Reduced cost of launches by 20% YoY Reduced launch SLAs by 35% YoY• Focused on quality through better training and proactive site audits Product bugs down 60% YoY Reprints down 55% YoY Overall post-launch error rate down from 5% to 0.5%• Cross-functional lead on New Product Development with Engineering, Merchandising and Marketing• Throughput guru Built suite of tools to project needs, scale teams, track productivity and maximize ROI Effective on-boarding methods focused on quality• Quality lead on transition off Adobe Scene7 to in-house customizer tool

• Led Merchandising, Operations and NPD teams for 12 online stores including HBO, Discovery Channel, Food Network, CBS, Fox, Star Trek, Showtime & StandUp2Cancer.• Product categories included apparel, collectibles and home goods.• Sourcing mix consisted of exclusive product development, licensed goods, proprietary brands, dropship and warehouse programs.• Exceeded sales plan by an average of 30% through better marketing alignment, reduced SLAs and exciting new product types.• Built partnerships with licensed vendors to co-create products, secured exclusivities and coordinated major launch events like Comic-Con. • Expanded portfolio of DTG/On-Demand vendors to offer larger assortment and test new categories.• Promoted speed-to-market initiatives for seen-on events, turning show content into ready-to-buy products within hours.

• Created successful weight loss meal delivery business from the ground up and ahead of the trend.• Grew initial customer base through strategic partnership with high-end trainers and nutritionists.• Introduced customer engagement tools including recipe ranking polls and recipe idea contests to improve product offering, increase week-over-week retention rate (95% avg) and maximize referrals (80% of new customers). • Continued to grow the business through education events on nutrition and high-volume “get lean” corporate programs.• Successfully sold the business to SF catering group in February 2014.

Bentonville, Arkansas, Us

• Departments included furniture, decorative accessories, power tools, grilling and gardening. • Increased sales by introducing new product categories, establishing a clearer pricing strategy and reducing Out-of-Stocks on key volume drivers. • Led initiative with inventory team to eliminate stale inventory and lower Weeks-on-Hand metrics in order to fund new product tests. Continued to free up inventory $’s by transitioning slow movers to domestic drop-ship vendors.• Partnered with site merchandising to leverage product search terms and improve site navigation. This allowed us to launch new products customers had been actively looking for and increase conversion on previously hard-to-find items.• Transitioned key programs from domestic to import, allowing us to leverage Walmart’s own shipping options and negotiate early commitments discounts with manufacturers. This new approach increased department margin, pulled up launch dates by 2 months and guaranteed ownership on key programs.• Continued to drive margin by leveraging Chinese manufacturers’ existing catalog for retailers in other countries, allowing for lower minimums, higher margins and special buys. • Trained merchandising team to create best-in-class competitive and pricing analyses, leading to cleaner assortments, fewer price adjustments and higher conversions.

San Francisco, Ca, Us

• Promoted to Buyer of Bakeware in August 2007. Responsibilities expanded to Housewares in May 2009. Product categories included core bakeware, seasonal program, soaps and lotions, scented candles, cleaning tools, food storage and licensed programs. • Drove biggest sales comps in department’s history by creating successful new product categories, reinventing core programs and negotiating exclusive licensed programs. • Increased margin by an average of 500bps/yr through aggressive cost negotiations on core programs and higher sell-though rates on seasonal assortments. • Established strategic relationship with all existing major players in the industry and brought in new vendors to secure exclusivities. Partnerships included USA Pan, Nordicware, AMCO, Chicago Metallic and LeCreuset. • Negotiated $10M in vendor-owned safety stocks to eliminate out-of-stock issues while protecting our own weeks-on-hand metrics. Continued supply chain partnership with manufacturers through long-term forecasting of orders to secure materials and factory hours ahead of holiday rushes.• Built new standards in product development cycles by partnering with vendors and cross-functional teams on realistic timelines and strict deadlines. Along with weekly conference calls, this system allowed us to eliminate rush shipments.• Spearheaded and managed license deals for the entire Williams-Sonoma brand with Star Wars, Disney/Pixar and Marvel. Work included contract negotiations, product design and marketing initiatives. The resulting products created the biggest grass-root online buzz in the brand’s history. • HomeWorld Business 2010 Impact Merchant Award winner.

San Francisco, Ca, Us

• Created new set of centralized assortment tools in order to gather and share information between merchandising and inventory teams on assortment, sku info, markdowns and launches. Tools were then adopted by other departments.• Launched Breville and Magimix on US market. Partnered on assortment growth, allowing us to secure exclusivities and negotiate higher margins.• “Catch the Spirit” Award winner.

San Francisco, Ca, Us

• Coordinated new in-store Culinary Experts program between marketing team and merchants in order to increase sales conversion.• Established new standards in market research, category style-out’s and product testing.

Fr

• From 1999 to 2001, responsible for financial reporting of 3 US-based insurance companies to Parent Company in France, including back-and-forth conversion between American and European accounting standards. • From 2001 to 2005, headed internal audits projects. Results included 10% increase in claims processing speed and bringing company up to full regulatory compliance. Also managed annual company-wide audit process with PricewaterhouseCoopers. • In 2005 became Accounting department manager in charge of accounts payable, payment processing and unclaimed property.

London, Gb

• Worked with Continental Europe team in Paris on design and execution of new product displays for continental Europe. • Other projects included loss prevention initiatives for accessories and the creation of new reporting tools for stores.

Master'S Degree, International Trade & Business

Master'S Degree, Economics & Management

Bachelor'S Degree, English & Business