Managing 10 Franchise accounts With a team of three assistants, using two buying strategies, selecting country specific ranges using Buyers Range Plan, in-line with agreed OTB.Working cross functionally within the business to secure and dispatch stock in a timely manner. Teams include UK Merchandisers / Buyers, Warehouse, Customs and Finance.Establishing close working relationships with the Franchise Partner to develop seasonal strategies and trade in season based on performance.Undertaking country visits to review the market conditions/requirements, assessing store layouts and performance and reviewing competition pricing and ranges.Partaking in weekly trade meetings to discuss performance and stock dispatches and advise of any key actions required.Submitting dispatch forecasts and attending meetings with Finance on a monthly basis to discuss variances on profit.In addition to the Assistant Merchandisers, managing a Marketing team of three to deliver brand standard window schemes and instore marketing to partners in the most cost-effective way.Supporting the Marketing team with new stores openings.Managing Social Media accounts with Brand guidelinesEngaging in new Franchise Partner conversations, assessing feasibility of the business for both parties and negotiating terms prior to presenting the opportunity to the business for sign off.

Responsible for trading and planning the Men’s Footwear and Accessories business across 5 countries. Working closely with the buying team to make decisions to improve the offer to the customer, while delivering profit to the business.Planning up coming seasons in line with the business strategy, setting out areas of growth and plans to achieve KPIs. Planning profit positive promotions and gaining marketing support to drive volume. Working closely with store stock planning to ensure stock availability. Trading the department aggressively through regular Risk & Ops reviews, effective markdowns, tactical promotions, managing allocations/replenishment, repeats/cancellations/re-phasing using key Merchandising tools such as WSSIs and Line Cards. Leading Strategy & sign off meetings with Heads of the department / Directors / CEOs.An effective, personable and approachable people manager, supporting and developing teams to deliver the departments Strategy. Driving, supporting and empowering the teams career progression through on the job training and continually stretching their skills. Establishing robust ways of working within the team, and clear responsibilities and ownership of tasks. 100% conversion rate of temporary staff to permanent roles.Additional responsibilities include supporting the development of 1k stores in Poland. Developing the new Turkish business – identifying issues and working cross functionally to solve these.

Managing, developing and driving the Ladies Nightwear business to achieve budgets, with the support of temporary staff and in the absence of a Merchandiser, reporting directly to the Head of Merchandising

Supporting the centralisation of the Central European business by setting up processes and Merchandising tools. Super user for the new system setup and roll out. Managing deliveries, stock levels, promotions and markdowns, line cards and ad hoc analysis.Responsible for inducting new starters

Duties for this role included the responsibility of 63 stores across the South East. With the use of Mainframe and desktop computer applications I was able to view stock packages, delivery dates and stock availability, which provided me with a good basis as the first point of contact for stores. Additional responsibilities included analysis of stock, sales and performance; giving me an opportunity to liaise with stores, allocators and merchandisers.This role involved considerable interaction with store managers and Area Managers, giving rise to visiting stores to discuss stock, space constraint issues, store location, customer base and competitors. Responsibility for grading stores to achieve targets for each season also formed part of my role.I was involved with the ‘Urban Buy’ which allowed me to help choose a range of shoes for stores located in areas with a high Ethnic mix.

My duties included maintaining shop floor standards and providing customers with a high quality measuring and fitting service on the Children's Department. I was responsible for training new staff and demonstrating the underlying principles of the Kids Plus Selling module. I frequently managed the Children's Department, which involved managing staff, customer flow and any issues, which may have arisen. Within this role I interacted with a large and varied customer base and am capable of adapting to customer needs and wants, while still maintaining structure and flow to the sale. I was also involved in managerial tasks such as banking, till reconciliations, producing reports etc. During 2004 I was heavily involved in the preparation, organization, launch and maintenance of the summer sale on the Children's Department. In addition, I was voted 'Store Hero' during the back to school period, for an exceptional contribution during this busy time.