National Visual Merchandise Manager

**JAM is no ordinary Company. The words, conventional and average are not part of our vocabulary.**

**It takes a front footed, passionate person to exceed in JAM. We love people that think out the box & who are able to bring the best out of other people whilst maintaining world class standards.**

**So if you want to work hard and make your life count then JAM is the place to be.**

**_ Criteria:_**
- Matric
- Relevant Tertiary qualification
- 5 years experience as a Visual Merchandising Manager
- Strong leadership skills
- Excellent visual merchandising skills
- Exceptional people skills
- Attention to detail
- Good planning and organizing skills
- Must live the company values - Real, Value, People

**Duties**

**Visual Merchandising**
- Investigating the industries best practice and initiatives in relation to new ideas and trends.
- Identifying and making use of all opportunities to improve the overall visual appeal of stores of stores, thereby maximizing trade.
- Develops merchandise strategy for group, ensuring the best value for business and a uniform image across all stores.
- Ensure that the company merchandise is displayed effectively.
- Creating effective merchandise strategies to get a return on trading space.
- Create and updates merchandising tools, merchandise guide, merchandise key controls, Store Managers merchandise checklist.
- Ensures that all stores are optimizing floor trading space to increase the trading densities.
- Clear understanding of all stores and product to maximise the potential of certain product lines

**New Store Openings**
- Liaise closely with buyer/director to ensure product type is in line with the location and demographics
- Developing subtle strategies with new store opening promotional product to introduce customers to the brand and the optimise the chances of them repurchasing
- Ensuring the combination of great product skills and being analytical to increase sales.
- Ensuring that the stock holding is aligned with the sales target.
- Supervising the execution of all signage, graphics and visual elements.
- Create floor plan and layout to dictate the flow of customer traffic and shopping habits.
- Departments are located correctly to maximise sales.

**Markdowns and Odds**
- Responsible for the execution within all stores.
- Conducts regular store visits and spot checks to ensure compliance around markdowns and price changes.
- Maximising company sales and reducing further markdowns by implementing correct location, merchandising and timeous implementation throughout all stores.

**Training and Development**
- Facilitates merchandise workshops to ensure that all Area Managers and Store managers are trained and aligned with the groups visual merchandising strategies.
- Management of a Visual Merchandise team and responsible for their overall development and performance
- Trains best practices on customer service skills, store standards and selling points.
- Conducting regular store visits ensuring all staff are fully trained.

**Product Knowledge**
- Analyze product in 1-star stores to formulate a turnaround strategy.
- Works closely with Buyer/Planner to maximize profitability with core/seasonal product.
- Identify unproductive stock across stores to formulate clearance promotions / stock movements.
- Constant communication with Planning team to ensure stores are stocked according to turnover required.

**People Management**
- Clearly and concisely communicate business and operational objectives to VM team so that they remain well informed of business activity and of their required contribution to targets
- Develops an effective network of communication to ensure shared knowledge and understanding of business activity
- Recruits accurately profiled staff and ensures the full implementation of induction programmes for newly recruited staff
- Effectively manages the performance and development of staff to drive and maximise the sales performance
- Identify and implements training interventions in order to achieve exceptional stock service levels across all stores
- Plan for succession in the business through the identification of individuals with potential for development and growth
- Create a positive environment that results in employee retention and a reduction of staff turnover
- Manage with HR, any employee relations issues which may arise within your team, including the counselling, discipline and grievance processes, within the framework of applicable labour legislation and company policies.

**Pump up the JAM, pump up your CAREER, pump up your LIFE