Product Manager

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About the job

This vacancy was posted on 06/04/09

Summary:
Your main goal in this role is to increase profitability, drive sales and build brand equity. You will be expected to stay current with the state of the marketplace and trends in retailing and report these to management and your merchandising partners.
You will be responsible for the development of brand and product level strategies that are consistent with the overall division strategy. By managing the new product pipeline, you will work closely with a cross functional team including Merchandising and Marketing to deliver products that generate exceptional margin. You will take a active role in developing marketing, packaging and promotional plans to help drive sales.
As the primary vendor contact, you will build and maintain excellent relationships between vendors and us in order to achieve mutual goals of sales and profitability.

Primary Responsibilities:
Deliver financial requirements. Meet all stated category and brand sales and profit goals across all business units. Collaborate closely with merchants at the VP, Director and Buyer level to develop branding strategies that drive sales and profit dollars.
Chair monthly operating reviews to review brand performance and provide critical project updates. Review key performance indicators vs. actual plan. Determine root causes of why execution worked / didn't work and develop action plans to maximize opportunities and minimize risks.
Assist Director in the annual budget building process by delivering “bottoms-up” budget at the project level.
New Product Management.Drive and manage new product pipeline by supporting the Product Design & Development process through facilitation of program details, sourcing, and creative problem-solving. Evaluate trends in marketplace to determine new product direction and summarize research analysis, identify key items and communicate trend direction. Develop product, plan assortments and pricing accordingly.
Motivate, educate and train internal team to be product experts. Work with internal and external marketing teams to ensure the voice to the customer is incorporated into new products. Develop category and product specific packaging briefs and provide direction for physical package design. Lead sub-brand development including name generation, trademark approval process, and logo generation. Support merchants on import process, product knowledge and vendor relationships.
Manage Brand/Product execution, including source selection, negotiating terms, warranty, cost and delivery, and ensuring tests for quality, safety, specs, regulatory issues are completed, documented and in compliance.
Brand Strategic Planning. Spearhead the development of brand equity statements, brand positioning, and brand identity guidelines. Define the product/quality positioning of proprietary branded products through competitive and national brand equivalent benchmarking. Manage internal and external research resources to incorporate insights into brand strategy and product development.
Sourcing. Review and manage vendor relationships. Develop vendor negotiation strategy;
communicate with overseas team and vendors on systems, objectives, expectations and processes to ensure product development and sourcing objectives are achieved. Building strong vendor partnerships and expanding product knowledge. Negotiate desired quality, design, trend, delivery and pricing objectives with maximum bottom-line impact.
Marketing/Promotional Planning. Lead development and execution of marketing strategies designed to help build the brand and drive sales. This will include product/brand launches, special events, artist relations, web based campaigns, etc., coordinated across all business units. Motivate, educate and train internal team to be product and brand experts.

Qualifications:

Minimum 5 years product development, marketing or product management experience.
Prior design, manufacturing or engineering experience with stands and support devices for musical instrument, lighting, live sound and professional audio applications.
Familiarity with musical instruments is a plus.
Proven analytical, interpersonal and communication skills and the ability to move projects through cross-functional teams.
Continuous improvement orientation.

In connection with an application for employment and/or promotion., investigative consumer reports, which may include credit reports, criminal history consistent with applicable federal and state laws, motor vehicle reports, employment records, educational background or other sources of information may be requested.

For consideration, please send your resume and salary requirements