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:

The Little Planet Merchant will lead end-to-end product strategy for one of our fastest-growing initiatives. Centered on sustainable design and a timeless aesthetic, Little Planet is a premium, differentiated brand within our portfolio. This role owns line architecture, ensuring profitable, channel-aligned assortments while partnering cross-functionally to execute the vision.

This role reports into the VP of Merchandising and is based in our Buckhead office.

60%: Strategy, Line Structure and execution: 

• Lead marketplace “deep dives” and maintain ongoing awareness of competitive landscape to identify opportunities, generate new strategies, reinforce existing ones, and drive innovation
• Analyze multi-channel Little Planet business trends and develop actionable takeaways to accelerate growth
• Partner with Consumer Insights team to understand mindsets to meet the needs of today’s young families 
• Develop line structure needed to support strategies; with awareness of merchandising best practices, good/better/best, lifecycle/product pyramid, category roles, and channel segmentation approach
• Partner across Channels and working teams to bring strategies to life
• Lead cross-functional team meetings weekly, communicate selling insights, drive calendar deliverables
• Responsible for preparation for internal milestone meetings, internal channel handoffs, and external account sell-ins  
• Support cross functional teams with product knowledge and storytelling, ensuring consistent brand communication across broad network of partners (Marketing, Retail Buying/Planning, Store and Site teams, etc)

30%: Product Execution: Costing, Pricing, Margin Management: 

• Manage pricing strategy and margin requirements to deliver revenue goals based on financial plans
• Partner closely with cross-functional team to build an assortment that fits within margin model and executes against product strategy
• Support team during sample reviews with understanding of costs, garment execution, and ticket strategy;  communicate sample details to channels

10%: Style Set Up/System Management:  

• Manage large SKU count across multiple categories and SBUs in PLM system
• Support Little Planet Assistant/Associate with systemic attributing and style set ups, be accountable for accuracy

We’d Love to hear from you if:

Must have:

• 4+ Years of Experience in Merchandising or Buying; experience developing a line structure is critical
• Experience working with design, sourcing, product development, sales, and other cross-functional partners; ability to communicate ideas clearly and listen with intent to learn
• Strong knowledge of retail metrics to effectively analyze results across channels and markets
• Strong communication skills, proven success partnering cross-functionally within a retail environment, ability to influence and drive strong outcomes
• Experience working with external partners and accounts
• Well-developed presentation skills and professional polish, comfort presenting to all leadership levels and external accounts
• Passion for leadership and developing talent across Merchandising organization
• Entrepreneurial spirit, can-do attitude and an optimistic problem-solving approach; ability to be open minded and flexible
• Bachelor’s Degree required

Preferred skills and experience:

• Ability to understand and translate trend for our brand
• Ability to develop product and assess creative
• Proficient in Microsoft Office Suite  

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.

NOTE:  This job description is not intended to be all-inclusive. The duties described may be changed or reassigned at the discretion of management, and the employee may be required to perform duties that are not listed in the job description.

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.