MERCHANDISING

Assistant Merchant at Abercrombie & Fitch

Following my graduation from Bucknell University, I started as an Assistant Merchant at Abercrombie & Fitch! I began my time in their competitive Leadership Development Program, designed to fast-track top talent into merchandising leadership roles. Following the program, I transitioned to full time department work in Gilly Hicks Activewear. As Gilly Hicks continues to merge with Hollister, I have also been working as a merchant on Hollister Girls Sweatpants as of December! It's been incredible to experience so many aspects of the company in such a short amount of time.

So what do I do all day?

Support end-to-end product lifecycle management, from assortment planning and line plan development through in-season execution across core and seasonal categories.
Partner cross-functionally with Design, Technical Design, Planning, Buying, Sourcing, Visual Product Experience, and Brand teams to develop commercially viable assortments aligned with brand strategy and customer insights.
Own weekly and seasonal sales, margin, and inventory analysis, identifying risks and opportunities to improve sell-through, profitability, and inventory productivity. I've become skilled in translating data into digestible headlines with subsequent action points in tight turn arounds to present to leadership.
Assist in building and maintaining detailed line plans, SKU-level analysis, and assortment tools to support forecasting accuracy and financial targets for in-season and future season assortments.
Support in buy reviews, style count optimization, and pricing architecture decisions through data-driven analysis.
Stay close to our customer, monitoring market and competitive trends to forecast interests and inform assortment decisions and product direction (one of my favorite parts of the job!)
I get to see my work come to life in stores I've been shopping in since I was little. Doesn't get much cooler than that!