The Merchandising Director plays a pivotal leadership role in shaping and executing Louis Vuitton merchandising strategy for Benelux, Nordics & Poland region. As a member of the Management Team, you will drive strategic merchandising initiatives, translating market insights into actionable strategies that maximise sales performance and improve the client journey across our store network. You will assess, monitor and optimise the product assortment, visual merchandising, and related services to unlock the full potential of each store in the region, which is spread over 8 countries. The position is based in Brussels and regular travel is expected.
Job responsibilities
Strategic Leadership & Business Driver
Build annual budget and targets by product category by store and ensure their achievement
Outline key product priorities for the year/semester/quarter and follow up the performance
Identify growth opportunities and emerging product trends and translate insights into actionable strategies, tools, and campaigns to drive results
Be a key stakeholder and an active contributor of the regional management team, work collaboratively with all departments and stores to drive valuable growth of the business
Develop and own commercial reporting on a weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual basis to provide insight, support prioritisation and align on key actions
Partner with EMEA and Global Teams to ensure consistency and excellence in merchandising execution across markets
Product Assortments & Store Offers
Attend buying sessions to influence the relevance of assortment in store according to client demographic
Influence product potential by sharing local feedback and insight
Regularly review maximum product levels with supply chain
Drive client strategy through newness, by capitalising on each product launch to elevate our client development approach
Create and update product launch plans; coordinate cross-functional launch efforts; communicate plans to stores and track results
Collaborate with supply chain to ensure correct availability at launches and further replenishment
Maximise sell through on all categories, supporting store teams with client requests to secure each opportunity
Visual Merchandising
Ensure store standards are maintained in line with Louis Vuitton standards and business targets
Pro-actively assess and leverage VM to maximise sales performance
Support store projects including pop-ups/ins, new store openings
Plan and budget all VM animations
Partnership with Stores
Support, challenge and coach the stores on implementation of priorities and ensure the achievement of business goals
Partner with HR and learning to determine expertise required in store and create strong product expert community for key product categories
Lead the creation and roll-out of engaging training programs and workshops that build skills, motivation, and consistency in expert categories
Collaborate with Clienteling and store teams during international and national events, providing product expertise, insight and following up on post-event invoicing
Team Development
Coach and lead a high-performing Merchandising team, fostering a culture of trust, accountability, and professionalism
Define the team structure, roles, and responsibilities in alignment with business priorities, ensuring clear ownership, agility and empowerment
Establish individual and team goals and objectives; as well as growth plans and development paths to develop internal talent and elevate the team performance
Regularly assess team performance and engagement through structured feedback, goal setting, and development reviews
Profile
Education/Special Skills
Substantial previous experience in a similar role, ideally within a multi-country environment