Associate Merchant

Serving the needs of all families with young children, Carter’s Inc. is the largest North American apparel retailer exclusively for babies and young children, encompassing Carter’s, OshKosh B’gosh, Skip*Hop and Little Planet brands. Meaningful work, constant learning, genuine people, and a community guided by core values that promote inclusion and innovation is in everything we do. There are many reasons to build your career at Carter's.

How You’ll Make an Impact:

Support growth of Domestic and International markets (subsidiary and licensed businesses) through strategy and line structure development, calendar adherence and project management.

• CROSS-FUNCTIONAL PARTNERSHIP / COMMUNICATION (30%)

  • Serve as primary liaison Carter’s, OshKosh and Little Planet Brand merchandising team, domestic and international wholesale sales team, and in-country teams in Canada and Mexico.

  • Support adherence to development calendar; align key dates with cross-functional teams and ensure Domestic and International wholesale deadlines are met.

  • Partner closely with Brand Merchants to understand brand direction/vision and serve as a representative of Wholesale and International subsidiary business needs.  Support communication across teams to ensure brand intent is consistent across global markets.

  • Communicate product changes and updates to cross functional teams.

• BUSINESS ACUMEN & PRODUCT KNOWLEDGE (30%)

  • Gain a thorough understanding of product line and international market trends to provide insight to strategy development; inclusive of competitive analysis and pricing.  Document in-country pricing.

  • Analyze weekly POS reports and present to peers and leadership; identify where trends are similar or dissimilar between countries. Utilize reports and systems to create hindsight decks and specialized business reports.

  • Champion margin improvement with awareness of revenue goals, margins, and cost trends.

  • Lead business "take aways" and "deep dives" to support new strategy development and improve existing ones.

  • Support Director with preparation for key milestone meetings (seasonal business strategy, line structure, competitive review). Present strategies in formal and informal settings to all levels of leadership, to generate support and consensus.

  • Ability to understand timing of internal development cycles and product offering, and impact/complexities of servicing domestic wholesale accounts and global markets with varying seasonality. 

• INCREMENTAL LINE STRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT AND ANALYSIS (20%)

  • Partner with Director and Brand merchants to develop line structure and strategies; communicate with Design/Brand Merchants on creative, costing and margin analysis, and sample management.

  • Ensure product execution through various supply chain methodologies (leveraged CRI, Western Hemisphere, or unique in-country manufacturing, etc.)

  • Provide strategic and creative feedback to licensees with manufacturing rights; in partnership with Director, become gatekeeper of incremental creative, ensuring brands are interpreted consistently around the world.

• PRODUCT PRESENTATION TOOLS, SYSTEM MANAGEMENT, LOGISTICS (20%)

  • Support Wholesale businesses with Flex support as needed (issue style numbers, add/edit/style hierarchy attributes and release styles to other CRI systems for impacted BUs)

  • Ensure products are legally salable in multiple markets - Own packaging requests unique to international market needs; partner with labels team to ensure in-country compliance across all brands (including packaging, labels, tags, logistics, hang & fold codes for Carter’s, Oshkosh, Little Planet, and any new brands in the CRI portfolio).

  • Support successful global sell-in through generation and sharing of sales materials (sample notes, line sheets, pricing charts, etc.)

We’d Love to hear from you if:

Must have:

• Bachelor’s degree required

• 1-4 years fashion merchandising, retail sales, or buying experience

• Passion for the brand

• Strong product knowledge

• Detail oriented and organized

• Demonstrated knowledge of retail metrics and sales

• Ability to manage and prioritize workload

• Strong knowledge of Excel and PowerPoint

• This role typically reports into the Director, Merchandising, and is based in our Phipps office in our onsite work environment.

Preferred skills and experience:

• Experience developing a line structure

• Strong presentation skills

Our Team Members:

• Lead Courageously: Have a strong sense of personal values that align with our Company values

• Collaborates Broadly: Build cooperation, trust, and thrive in a consensus driven environment

• Customer Focus: Proactively seek opportunities to leverage data and fact-based insights to serve customers and/or internal clients

• Drive Growth: Set aggressive goals and implement plans precisely

• Cultivates Innovation:  Respectfully challenge the "we’ve always done it this way" mentality and explore new ways to achieve desired outcomes

Make a career at Carter’s:

• Career Development: Success starts from within, and we have several paths from which you can choose to enhance your career evolution. From Carter’s University to Toastmasters to mentorship programs and more, we encourage you to utilize these tools to elevate your professional prowess.

Carters is committed to creating a diverse environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, veteran status, or any other status protected by federal, state, or local law.