Merchandising Specialist

Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE: LOW) is a FORTUNE® 50 home improvement company serving approximately 20 million customers a week in the United States and Canada. With fiscal year 2020 sales of nearly $90 billion, Lowe’s and its related businesses operate or service more than 2,200 home improvement and hardware stores and employ over 300,000 associates. Based in Mooresville, N.C., Lowe’s supports the communities it serves through programs focused on creating safe, affordable housing and helping to develop the next generation of skilled trade experts. For more information, visit Lowes.com.

As a FORTUNE® 50 home improvement company, Lowe’s is committed to creating safe, affordable housing and helping to develop the next generation of skilled trade experts through nonprofit partnerships. Across every community we serve, Lowe’s associates donate their time and expertise through the Lowe’s Heroes volunteer program. For the latest news, visit Newsroom.Lowes.com or follow @LowesMedia on Twitter.

Job summary:
The primary purpose of this role is to assist the Merchant in delivering on the go-to-market strategy and support merchandising activities to ensure operational excellence in the division. The Merchandising Specialist is responsible for executing decisions made by Merchants, including but not limited to setting-up vendors, setting up and maintaining custom/configurable catalogs, inputting costs, and ensuring accuracy of the catalog data. The MS is the primary contact for stores and vendors and a liaison to all internal support functions for Merchandising; including Marketing, Online, Supply Chain, Accounting, and Pricing. The MS will lead Special Order Sales configurable catalog set up, maintenance, and life cycle management. The MS will also partner with product design and engineering teams to react to and support catalog development objectives.

Key responsibilities:
• Under the direction of the merchant, the MS maintains product data integrity within Lowe’s designated software systems (i.e. store product authorization, product assignment, product costs, product specifications, vendor agreement) to ensure that all product costs, product specifications, and vendor agreements are accurate.
• Reviews all pricing and invoicing discrepancies to determine where issues occurred, how to resolve them, and the cost for resolution.
• Maintains a working knowledge of all Lowe’s policies and procedures as well as industry standards and compliance needs for assigned product areas (i.e. MAPP Pricing, Energy Star, BPA) to ensure Lowe’s is not at significant risk.
• Assists with the onboarding of vendors, serving as the vendor’s first point of contact for any set-up related questions and coordinates internally with various functions (Legal, Accounting, etc.) to execute the onboarding process.
• The MS creates, pulls and supplies reporting to Merchants.
• Handles daily requests from stores and communicates these requests to the appropriate internal stakeholders so products can be ordered.
• Set up and maintain product catalogs for store and/or online orders through web-based platform.
• Maintains the integrity of merchandising processes and data.
• Acts as a vendor and merchandising point of contact.
• Review pricing and PO invoice discrepancies & vendor chargebacks if necessary.

Required qualifications:
• High school diploma
• 2+ years’ experience in customer facing role, corporate retail or other project coordination role
• Experience working on a computer
• Ability to be organized and prioritize tasks
• Strong written and oral communication skills
• Experience in Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Outlook & PowerPoint)

Preferred qualifications:
• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Marketing, or related field
• 4+ years’ experience in customer facing role, corporate retail or other project coordination role
• 2+ years’ experience in Lowe’s stores