E Merchandising Manager

Role Overview

E Merchandising Manager at Hermès Paris. This role is based in the Middle East region and is part of the Hermès.com Middle East e-commerce launch, which will serve United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, and Bahrain beginning in 2027.

Company Overview

Hermès.com Middle East is organized into three departments: Merchandising, Customer & Services, and Operations. You will report directly to the E-commerce Project Manager and will build and lead the E-commerce Merchandising team, which will consist of one e-merchandiser in 2026 and four e-merchandisers in 2027.

Role Purpose

Lead the e-business growth strategy for Hermès Middle East through ambitious product planning, omnichannel coordination, and visual merchandising. Build and manage the e-commerce merchandising function from inception, driving performance across product offer, traffic acquisition, and editorial content while maintaining alignment with European central teams and Group Digital initiatives.

Key Responsibilities

Team Management

• Build, recruit, and lead the E-merchandising team across four main areas: E-Retail Merchandising, E-Retail Planning, Traffic Acquisition (SEA) & Data Performance, and E-Visual Merchandising & Editorial Animation.
• Drive a shared vision for the subsidiary and the Merchandising & Data team.
• Define clear roles and responsibilities and ensure strong collaboration and synergies across all teams.
• Support team member development through training, methodologies, best practices, and individual career development.

Budget & Category Strategy

• Contribute to the subsidiary's merchandising strategy and key strategic decisions by providing strong business and management perspective.
• Deliver ambitious strategic product vision to support business growth.
• Achieve budget targets for assigned categories while managing sell-through and months of stock objectives.
• Produce accurate and regular reporting on category performance by country and share appropriate levels of information.
• Monitor business evolution including category mix and product performance, and implement action plans or adjust buying strategies accordingly.

Product Strategy & Planning

• Define and deploy a robust and ambitious product strategy to drive sustainable business growth.
• Build product assortments and sizing strategies aligned with revenue targets.
• Define Open-to-Buy budgets in collaboration with the Retail Planner, in line with overall Hermès.com strategy and growth opportunities for each category.
• Prepare buying sessions and propose tailored strategy for each category ahead of Previews and Podiums, addressing specific market needs.
• Execute and oversee buying activities by defining assortments and offer sizing in line with business objectives for assortment breadth and depth.
• Define and manage assortment of Permanent Stocked items in collaboration with Retail Planners to ensure global strategy across Middle East stores and e-commerce.
• Ensure optimal end-of-season stock positioning, taking P&L impacts into account.
• Monitor stock coverage by category and identify risks and opportunities.
• Ensure strong collaboration with Retail Merchandising team to align on omnichannel strategy and optimize stock levels across Middle East.

Visual Merchandising & Editorial Animation

• Ensure that visual merchandising, homepages, and newsletters are compelling, aligned with product strategy, and consistent with Group and Middle East subsidiaries' launch calendars.
• Implement website personalization based on local customer specificities and varying market maturity levels.
• Contribute to continuous improvement of customer journey in close collaboration with Group Digital teams.
• Manage the digital animation calendar with your team and proactively propose editorial initiatives based on business needs and product news in collaboration with Communication teams.
• Ensure all in-stock products have required assets including visuals and product descriptions to be published online, and follow up with Group Digital teams as needed.
• Analyse Visual Merchandising performance using Contentsquare and share findings with your team.
• Analyse emailing and cross-selling performance using Google Analytics dashboards and share findings with your team.

Growth & Omnichannel Strategy

• Identify new business growth levers including e-visual merchandising, traffic, and training, and contribute to omnichannel strategy development.
• Build strong relationships with central European team to ensure clarity around subsidiary strategy and advocate for business priorities.
• Collaborate with retail and merchandising team on omnichannel initiatives.
• Establish strong partnerships with E-Operations to ensure smooth operation flow especially during peak months.
• Train CRC teams ahead of collection and product launches and build strong links to ensure product strategy and key commercial moments are well understood.

Traffic & Performance Data

• Analyse all traffic sources.
• Define short- and long-term SEA strategy aligned with product strategy and business objectives together with the Traffic Manager.

Qualifications & Experience

• Bachelor's degree or Master's degree (Bac +5) from a university or business school.
• At least 8 years of experience in Retail Merchandising.
• Experience in e-commerce.
• Strong product sensitivity and aesthetic awareness.

Skills & Competencies

• Strong strategic vision and ability to manage a business unit holistically.
• Strong analytical and synthesis capabilities.
• Understanding of business dynamics and commercial mindset.
• Coherent decision-making abilities based on analytical thinking and commercial creativity.
• Strong management skills, ability to lead and motivate a team, and drive performance.
• Ability to translate corporate guidelines into local market needs.
• Problem solver mindset and hands-on attitude.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills with customer service orientation.
• Team player mentality to build meaningful relationships and ability to work autonomously.
• Strong IT skills.

Additional Information

• Availability, flexibility, and dynamism required to function in a high-pace environment.
• Flexibility to travel.