Zumiez, Online Category Manager, 2013 to 2016
One calendar for every team
+20% a yearSales growth in my categoriesMerchandising was fast and reactive. I moved it six months ahead, onto one calendar with every team that touched the customer, and the approach spread to every category.
- Business
- $100M+ online, 9 departments, 20K+ styles
- Team
- Built and led 4 digital merchandisers
- Partners
- Buying, Planning, Marketing, Brand Marketing, Store Operations
What was broken
The merchandisers were good at execution and stuck in it. They reacted week to week, with no view of what was coming and no shared plan with the teams launching the same products in stores.
What I did
I brought Digital Merchandising, Marketing, Brand Marketing, Buying, Planning and Store Operations into one meeting and onto one omnichannel campaign calendar. Merchandisers started building campaign stories six months out, and executing them with every team that took part.
What changed
My categories grew 20% a year. Within two years the approach ran every category on the site, and growth settled into a steadier 5 to 10% a year.
One story, two channels
Six months of lead time meant the site and the stores told the same story at the same moment. A customer who saw a campaign online walked into a store that was merchandised for it.
That alignment is what scaled. It started with my categories and became how the whole site was run.
By the numbers
“The team benefited from his steady-handed leadership and knowledge of not only the dependent systems but also of how the business was run.”