CHANEL, Inc. a leader in the luxury goods industry seeks a Manager, in Buying – Handbags for the US Fashion Division. This Manager is responsible for managing the seasonal merchandising strategy and facilitating the development of unique assortments in accordance with global and regional strategies.

Position Responsibilities:

Business Management

• Support the Senior Managers, Buying for Handbags in creating/implementing strategic initiatives to drive the business
• Aid in creatively determining the product assortments every collection (6x/year), taking into consideration historical performance, budget forecasts, balance of segmentation breadth/depth, strategic vision by Boutique, and market nuances
• You will own buying of core re-order business
• Manage and optimize inventory across core/seasonal products through ownership of allocations, product transfers/consolidations
• You will participate in annual business planning, financial reporting, and budget forecasting for product category in partnership with Planning
• Monitor and identify business opportunities/challenges by Boutique and deliver business recaps with recommendations
• You will manage the Us pricing process for Handbags and develop expert knowledge on the brand’s price positioning/competitive landscape
• Partner with other product category teams across all distribution channels to ensure a holistic brand approach
• Manage marketing/sample requests and product discovery assortments
• You will partner closely with Account Services on order and receipt management
• Work closely with the Visual Merchandising team to ensure presentation supports the seasonal business strategies/messages
• Develop strong partnerships with additional internal departments: Boutique leaders, Global Product Merchandising, Operations, Education/Style Expertise, Client Analytics, Strategy, Client Engagement, Events and Pr/Marketing
• Actively follow the industry and seasonal trends, while also having a strong pulse on the competitive market and key influencers

Reporting & Analysis

• Accountability and ownership of in-season and market prep reporting including analyses of sales, sell-thru, inventory, months of supply and shipments in Excel/PowerBI
• Conduct/summarize deep dive and ad hoc analysis on the business to impact future strategies
• Present weekly, monthly, quarterly, and seasonal analysis reviews of the category’s performance (by boutique, segmentation, classification, style, and color)

Boutique Support

• Support delivery of seasonal product vision to boutique teams and provide product knowledge tools
• Creatively drive engagement to promote styling, storytelling, and craftsmanship in partnership with Education and Style Expertise teams
• Act as key resource for the Boutique and field teams to address client requests/inquiries for product category
• Actively communicate with Boutique teams to maintain pulse on clients, local market needs, and competitive landscape
• Conduct Boutique visits for trainings, events, and business conversations

You Are Energized By:

• Strong analytical thinking – extremely experienced with numbers and adapting data to varied contexts; comfortable independently formulating theories, drawing conclusions and providing recommendations based on large, complex sets of data in a clear, concise manner driven by creative thinking
• Advanced Excel skills (lookups, sumproduct, index/match, pivot tables, etc.) and Power Point skills (animation, slide master formatting, embedding charts/graphs, etc.) required, experience with PowerBI a plus; Retail math experience preferred
• Ability to thrive in changing and fast-paced environments; proven track record of self-initiative, ability to multi-task and improve processes
• Strong written, verbal, and public speaking skills; ability to articulate to various audiences in many contexts (Boutique/Corporate)
• Exuding enthusiasm, energy, and an ability to inspire others about retail and product with a strong aesthetic understanding and demonstrated taste level
• Collaborative with a service mindset and proven ability to create and foster cross-functional relationships
• Proactive, agile, and resilient – comfortable with complexity and ambiguity
• Innate curiosity, intuition, drive, authenticity, and self-awareness

Position Requirements:

• Bachelor’s Degree Required
• 5+ years in a buying-related, strategic/analytical role with demonstrated results in impacting business
• Up to 30%-40% regular and frequent travel (international and domestic)