Visual Merchandising Manager – New Store Openings and Space Planning

Department: Visual Merchandising

Reports to: Director, North America Visual Merchandising

Location: North Vancouver, BC

Your Opportunity at ARC’TERYX

As the Visual Merchandising Manager- New Store Openings and Visual Space Planning, you are responsible for leading the strategy for product space planning, including the development and execution of in-store layout design and how the visual merchandising standards show up for new and existing retail locations. In this role, you will own the end to end visual merchandising process for new store openings, optimizations and relocations from concept development and fixture planning to collaborating with the Regional Visual Merchandising team for the on-site execution. You ensure every store reflects our unique brand identity, is set-up to drive commercial performance, and has an elevated premium guest experience.

Meet The Future Team

The North America Visual Merchandising team is accountable for driving regional consistency of Visual Merchandising within all retail stores, curating the guest journey to visually bring the design, merchandising and brand visions to life in an authentic and premium way. The team creates, delivers and trains on evergreen brand standards and seasonal directives informed by collaboration with cross-functional teams.

If you were the Visual Merchandising Manager now, here are some of the core activities you would be doing

Strategic Planning and Layout Design

• Partnering with Store Design and Store Development to create optimal store layouts that optimize the product flow, guest journey and commercial productivity
• Partnering with the North America VM Planning Team to determine optimal seasonal guest journey, fixture and product placement to create seasonally relevant store facing strategies
• Managing and maintaining store capacity documents for all stores across North America supporting our premium product presentation philosophy alongside Store Planning and Regional Merchandising partners
• Partnering with Store Planning and Regional Merchandising as a consultant to determine store clustering in order to best support getting the assortments to the right store type
• Evaluate store performance data and guest behaviour insights to continually refine store layout standards

New Store Opening Process

• Leading all visual merchandising and store layout deliverables for new store openings, optimizations, relocations and refreshes
• Coordinating with partners on project timelines related to managing the fixture, hardware, mannequins and propping orders
• Partnering to ensure the best assortment is chosen for all new store openings, optimizations and renovations
• Preparing and delivering clear and strategic VM direction for all new store openings, optimizations and relocations based off of seasonal VM directives
• Traveling to select store openings to collect feedback on the process and to ensure the highest level of in-store execution

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Serving as the primary partner between North America Visual Merchandising, Store Design, North America Merchandising, Retail Brand Marketing and Retail Operations for all store layout and opening related initiatives
• Participating in fixture development and testing as needed
• Communicating layout decisions and updates to direction clearly to all cross functional partners

Standards, Tools & Process Improvements

• Maintaining and evolving the Store Layout Library, Store Capacity documents and VM Evergreen Standards documents
• Ensuring consistency across our store fleet while adapting layouts to meet regional needs
• Identifying opportunities to improve layout execution
• Monitoring retail trends to ensure we are constantly staying innovative and guest-centric

Here are some of the things you could be working on in the future

• Partnering to develop new store opening specific training resources for new store teams
• Work cross functionally to develop updated product and fixture layout principles
• Consult on future fixture development with our Global Teams

Are you our next Visual Merchandising Manager?

• You have a university degree in Visual Merchandising, Art & Design, Marketing or Business Management
• You have 4+ years’ Visual Merchandising experience with outdoor or sportwear apparel, including 2 years’ experience in a Visual Merchandising management role
• You have experience managing a budget with strong organizational skills
• You have excellent planning, organizing and project management skills and ability to multi-task and meet deadlines
• You have strong analytical, communication and presentation skills
• You are passionate about Visual Merchandising with an eye for detail and keen to progress with a career in retail
• You are enthusiastic and creative with a flair for design and color with an interest in popular culture and current trends
• You have a strong understanding of the active apparel market within the outdoor industry, and the key outdoor activities we make product for
• You are proficient in Microsoft Office 365 & have experience with Adobe Create Suite inclusive of InDesign and Illustrator…