Maria Ottone Email & Phone Number

Scranton, Pennsylvania, United States

Union, New Jersey, United States

★ Directed merchandise allocation and category management for products across the Food, Commodities, and Personal Care categories.★ Supervised a seven-person team while working with suppliers, managers, and other stakeholders.★ Grew sales and margin through market research, trend analysis, and insight into the competitive landscape.★ Worked with buyers and planners to improve the performance of three categories by up to 30%.★ Increased inventory turns through effective visual merchandising and allocation strategies.★ Introduced a new Queue Line process company-wide. Partnered with merchants to procure products to drive impulse purchases by customers waiting in line.★ Automated the allocation process to produce hundreds of thousands of dollars in savings.☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲ABOUT CHRISTMAS TREE SHOPSChristmas Tree Shops is a discount home-goods chain offering seasonal decor year-round, as well as furniture, kitchen items, and gifts. The company operates 82 locations.

Pennsylvania, United States

★ Developed product assortments for new stores, remodeled sites, and pop-up shops. Assembled assortments based on local preferences, trends, and performance data.★ Managed visual merchandising and store design to capture the attention of customers and drive increased sales.★ Overall, handled up to 1000 SKUs for pop-up shops and over 10,000 SKUs for new and remodeled stores.★ Established over 21 pop-up stores within vacant Spirit of Halloween locations. During the eight-week period of operations, these stores produced $7M in revenue.☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲ABOUT CHRISTMAS TREE SHOPSChristmas Tree Shops is a discount home-goods chain offering seasonal decor year-round, as well as furniture, kitchen items, and gifts. The company operates 82 locations.

Moosic,Pa

★ Oversaw the Seasonal, Food, and Personal Care product categories, working with buyers and planners to allocate inventory while conducting category reviews and presentations.★ Managed transfers of inventory between distribution centers to avoid stock-out scenarios.★ Member of the team that transitioned inventory orders from store-based procurement to centralized corporate allocation, generating savings that included $2M in payroll reductions.★ Established and started testing of a 100% allocation feature process that identified top-selling SKUs for allocation to stores for feature setups, which grew to represent 30% of all sales.☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲ABOUT CHRISTMAS TREE SHOPSChristmas Tree Shops is a discount home-goods chain offering seasonal decor year-round, as well as furniture, kitchen items, and gifts. The company operates 82 locations.

Eastern Pennsylvania & New York

★ Supervised as many as 20 direct report merchandise planners across a district of 15 stores, supporting $120M in sales.★ Consistently met goals for inventory levels, SKU assortments, training, and sales.★ Coached five Merchandise Coordinators to advance to management positions. Maintained 100% retention.★ Collaborated with colleagues to develop a training manual for merchandise managers and a company-wide audit process.☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲ABOUT CHRISTMAS TREE SHOPSChristmas Tree Shops is a discount home-goods chain offering seasonal decor year-round, as well as furniture, kitchen items, and gifts. The company operates 82 locations.

Scranton, Pennsylvania, United States

★ Managed up to 20 degreed teachers and all aspects of operations.★ Improved occupancy from below 40% to a forecasted 100%, and achieved an 85% increase in team morale, and a 72% increase in parent engagement.★ Within three months, secured Keystone Star 4 status from the Pennsylvania Department of Education.☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲ABOUT KINDERCARE EDUCATIONKinderCare day care centers offer year-round child care and early childhood education for children ages 0-12.

Scranton, Pennsylvania, United States

• Revitalized store with staff overhaul and morale-based culture in 18 months.• Enhanced communication and efficiency by initiating dialogue channels, fostering collaboration, and encouraging idea exchange.• Minimized turnover using strategies like fostering positive work environments.• Optimized operations and visuals by streamlining daily store management tasks.• Boosted sales, reduced shrinkage, and improved customer service.• Cultivated employee engagement via touch bases, training, and appreciation programs.