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One of the coolest Austin ecommerce jobs around!
We are working with Living Direct in their search for a Category Manager / Web Merchandise based in Austin, Texas. This is a terrifically cool ecommerce job.
Living Direct is an online retailer specializing in consumer appliances, and indoor air quality products. The firm operates a network of specialty ecommerce websites including CompactAppliance.com, AllergyAndAir.com, LivingDirect.com, WineCoolerDirect.com, and my personal favorite, Kegerator.com …
Under the direction of the Director of Category Development (who’s really cool, btw), Living Direct’s new Catagory Manager / Merchant will work on one of Living Direct’s category teams and will expected to contribute materially to the firm’s profitable growth. Be prepared to bring your A-game!
HARRY’S COMMENTS: Living Direct is a niche retailer that sells really cool stuff, primarily on the web. The firm started with CompactAppliance.com, but they have a lot of sites that niche audiences get excited about, like WineCoolerDirect.com and (my favorite) Kegerator.com. The sites merchandise niche appliances that are unavailable in big-box stores, with the major difference between Living Direct and other companies is that Living Direct manufactures much of what they sell. The firm has a “real” brand, which is their primary edge in the marketplace.
My intake call with Kara for this search lasted nearly an hour, and qualified candidates will be granted access to that information on our new password-protected site, NEXTgig.com. For now, candidates should understand that we’re primarily interested engaging bright up-and-coming ecommerce careerists who can become extremely passionate about the products Living Direct sells.
There’s an old maxim in the recruiting business that says “People get hired for what they’ve done — and fired for who they are.” This is so true! Which is why we’ll be probing to verify that you are happy; self-motivated; opportunistic; “driven” in a way that’s hard on the issues and soft on the people; reality-based; analytically biased; business oriented; and able to prioritize your work to leverage the 80/20 rule.
If any of this resonates with you, then we’d love to hear from you and would invite you to apply below.
View Harry Joiner’s profile
Primary Responsibility:
The Category Manager/Web Merchandiser works with their category team to manage and grow the assigned categories. This includes assisting in the selection, forecasting, inventory management, pricing, revenue, margin, vendor relationships, promotions and site maintenance of those categories.
The duties include but are not limited to:
Assortment Planning and Pricing
- Maintain awareness of trends in the marketplace
- Work with the team on planning and execution of category strategy, product assortment, pricing and promotions to meet company margin and revenue goals
- Assist in financial analysis of categories and report on sales, pricing and other ongoing opportunities for growing our business
- Inventory and Supply Chain Management
- Assist in the forecasting of sales by category and SKU and procure inventory required to support demand and forecasts
- Monitor inventory levels and determine and execute strategies to sell through overstocked inventory
Vendor Management
- Work with existing vendors to gain a strategic advantage over the firm’s competition, develop new incentive programs and ensure a reliable and operationally effective flow of goods to the firm’s warehouses and customers.
- Conduct supplier business reviews
- Develop new vendor relationship to grow to meet revenue and margin goals
- Web Analytics and Online Merchandising
- Develop on-line merchandising and promotion proposals to achieve sales targets
- Site Maintenance including promotion set-up and merchandising changes
- Report on web KPIs for assigned categories
Requirements:
- Bachelor’s Degree from an accredited four-year university
- Buying and/or Category Management experience a plus
- Familiarity with appliance retail industry a plus
- Ecommerce background a plus
- Self-motivated and results driven
- Resourceful
- Ability to work well in ambiguous circumstances
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills
- Strong analytical, organizational and leadership skills
- Ability to work collaboratively
- Proficient in Microsoft Office: Excel, Word, Outlook
UPDATE: THIS SEARCH IS CLOSED.
PS – If you’re thinking about changing jobs this year (through us or anyone else), you might want to check out this post on why even TOP candidates get rejected.
