Merchandiser – Home Fragrance & Beauty

About the role

A well-established home fragrance, beauty and gifting business is recruiting an experienced Merchandiser for a 12-month maternity cover contract. The role takes ownership of home fragrance merchandising for leading retail accounts, working with global suppliers and creative teams in a hybrid London position (one day per week from home, the rest at the central London HQ).

Key responsibilities

• Take ownership of merchandising across key retail accounts, focusing on home fragrance and supporting the beauty category.
• Manage product costings, pricing and margins to achieve commercial targets.
• Work directly with factories in China and Vietnam, negotiating costs, managing production and ensuring on-time delivery.
• Build and manage seasonal budgets, sales forecasts and trading plans.
• Monitor stock levels, run-rates and orders to maximise sales while minimising stock exposure.
• Manage purchase orders, componentry, minimum order quantities and supplier relationships.
• Work with product development, design and technical teams so product launches stay on track.
• Produce and analyse sales, stock, intake and margin reports, attend trading meetings and guide Assistant Merchandisers.

Required profile

• At least 3 years' experience in a merchandising role, ideally within a supplier, manufacturer or retail business.
• Experience in home fragrance; backgrounds in beauty, gifting or other own-label consumer products are also considered.
• Strong experience working directly with overseas factories, especially in China and Vietnam.
• Solid understanding of FOB pricing, landed costs, margins and international supply chains.
• Confidence managing budgets, forecasting, stock and multiple retail accounts.
• Excellent communication and negotiation skills, and comfort getting stuck in quickly.

Required skills

• Excellent Excel skills, including pivot tables, lookups and trading models.
• ERP systems, ideally Syspro (not essential).