Working Pattern: 5 days in office, with core hours flexible between 8am-6pm. A
minimum of 2 days a week in the Clients offices and 3 days at NEXT.
The Role
We are looking for a dynamic Brand Specialist to drive the growth of our Brand’s
full-price sales across NEXT UK and NEXT International. This is a fantastic
opportunity to become a key player in shaping the brand’s presence and success
within a leading retail environment.
Reporting into the Head of Merchandising, the Brand Specialist will work closely
with cross-functional teams including Buying, Merchandising, Design, and
Marketing to accelerate brand growth and maximise business opportunities.
What You'll Take On
You will be responsible for leveraging data insights to optimise product
ranging, trading strategies, and marketing activities that deliver results.
You’ll build strong partnerships both internally at NEXT and externally with key
client stakeholders to ensure alignment and success.
You will:
* Be accountable for growing the Brands full price sales through NEXT UK, NEXT
International and SEASONS (where applicable).
* Build partnerships across key stakeholders at NEXT - including Buying,
Merchandising, Design, Marketing teams - to accelerate brand growth and
maximise business opportunities.
* Build partnerships with the Clients senior leads.
Product Ranging
* Support budget planning, option planning, ranking.
* Support the Buyer on product assortment by using insights from
previous/current seasons, also leverage brand information to drive assortment
decisions.
* Identify growth opportunities through Label data analysis.
Trading
* Continual review of sales by size and responsible for updating size
guidelines.
* Support in season trading and replenishment, access to Brands available stock
file to make quick decisions.
* Implement and review the performance of Label +, continually reviewing
conversion to stock and switching off slow lines.
* Optimise International sales opportunities through data insights.
* Reviews markdown / RTB.
* Conduct regular competition analysis.
* Ensure all new AI functionality is being implemented.
* Daily checks to ensure operations are running to SLA’s, items live, refurb
queries etc…
Marketing
* Work with brand leads to continually ensure best in class content and brands
assets are utilised.
* Responsible for best in class delivery of the brand in terms of copy,
imagery, tabbing, social media exposure (based on tiering).
* Ensure the product is placed in all relevant BAU campaigns.
* Responsible for ensuring the brand is aligned to NEXT’s sustainability
vision.
* Work in collaboration with marketing and clients to drive traffic
initiatives.
* Supports implementation of SEO enhancements.
Meetings
* Responsible for reporting sales weekly/ monthly and driving actions to
support growth.
* Organise monthly and quarterly performance meetings.
* Follow through all actions from meetings.
* Attend relevant internal client meetings.
* Attend all buys.
What You'll Bring
You will be a proactive, commercially savvy professional with a keen eye for
data and detail. Confident in building relationships across teams, you thrive in
collaborative environments and know how to influence decision-making at all
levels. Your experience in trading, ranging, and brand management means you
understand how to translate insights into action. A highly organised
self-starter, you are driven to deliver measurable impact and take pride in
pushing the brand forward within a fast-paced retail setting. A passion for
brand excellence and sustainability will see you stand out in this role.
Sponsorship
Candidates wishing to apply who would require sponsorship for this role will be
required to meet the Home Office sponsorship requirements. For further
information please see: https://www.gov.uk/skilled-worker-visa
[https://www.gov.uk/skilled-worker-visa].
We encourage early applications for our roles, as our recruitment process begins
as soon as the role is advertised. If we successfully fill the position, this
advert may close earlier than planned.
At NEXT, we believe the best work happens when there are no barriers to
collaboration. That’s why we are a Google-powered workspace. From your very
first day, you’ll be using the full Google Workspace suite; Docs, Drive, and
Meet, to stay connected and move fast.
If your previous experience is rooted in other software suites, don’t worry!
We’ll point you to a digital Google toolkit the moment you join, packed with
handy guides and insider tips to help you transition smoothly and hit the ground
running.
#LI-Onsite
You know Next, but did you know we’re a FTSE-100 retail company employing over
44,000 people across the Next group. We’re the UK’s 2nd largest fashion retailer
and for Kidswear we’re the market leader. At the last count we have over 450
stores, plus the Next Online and it’s now possible to buy on-line from over 80
countries around the world! So we’ve gone global!
* 25 days holiday plus bank holidays
* Profit-related bonus - based on company performance
* Management share options
* Company car or car allowance
* Private medical insurance
* Sharesave scheme - make savings from your net pay to buy NEXT shares at a
discount
* Pension - fixed contribution rates from both an employer and employee
perspective, but you're also able to make additional voluntary contributions
(AVCs) if you wish to save more.
* Life assurance
* Group income protection
* Wagestream - helping you make the most out of your money
* Salary finance - offers access to affordable loans repaid through salary,
simple savings and free financial education.
* 25% staff discount on most NEXT products - plus discount on other products
* Direct to work - NEXT orders delivered free to the office for collection
* VIP sale - early access to the NEXT sale
* Access to NEXT staff shops
* Octopus energy - like cycle-to-work, but for electric vehicles
* Free parking (excluding London locations)
* Travel2NEXT - bus services dependent on location
* On site dining facilities (excluding London locations)
* National and local discounts on goods and services - this includes things
like discounted cinema tickets
* Wellhub - includes access to discounted gym membership
* Simply health - a healthcare subscription service
* Aviva Digicare Workplace+ healthcare service - 7 Free services including
Digital GP appointments and an annual health check.
* Onsite GP - Leicester Head Office
* Onsite Physio - Leicester Head Office
* A range of dedicated 3rd party wellbeing partners
* Free eye testing - voucher to use at specific locations
Conditions apply to all benefits. These benefits are discretionary and subject
to change.
We aim to support all candidates during the application process and are happy to
provide workplace adjustments when necessary. Should you need support with your
application due to a disability or long-term condition, feel free to get in
touch with us by email headoffice_careers@next.co.uk (please include 'Workplace
Adjustments' in the subject line), or call us on 0116 284 2486 and leave a
voicemail.
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