Merchant - Fragrances

Company Overview

Sephora is a global beauty leader embracing diversity, inclusion, and empowerment. Established in 1969 in France, and part of the LVMH Group since 1997, Sephora revolutionizes the prestige beauty retail sector worldwide. With over 56,000 employees across 35 countries, Sephora offers an extensive portfolio of nearly 500 brands including its own Sephora Collection, featuring fragrances, makeup, haircare, skincare, and more.

Role Purpose

The Fragrance Merchant plays a vital role in implementing merchandising strategies regionally by customizing central assortment, allocation, and activation plans to suit local market demands. The position guarantees product relevance, streamlines inventory, and ensures uniform execution across all stores within the region by collaborating closely with store teams, regional functions, and e-commerce partners. They are responsible for monitoring sales performance, sharing market insights, and driving continuous improvement in product offerings and customer experience.

Key Responsibilities

• Assist the Category Director in shaping and implementing category plans including sales forecasting, stock management, and product lifecycle oversight.
• Manage SKU assortments for assigned fragrance brands to ensure proper product mix aligned with commercial goals.
• Track inventory across physical and online stores to maintain optimal availability during launches, promotional events, and peak sales periods.
• Maintain and enhance planograms to maximize brand visibility and merchandising standards.
• Organize and manage a category calendar covering new launches, assortment updates, store openings, and product discontinuations.
• Create detailed SKU-level sales forecasts per country in line with brand budgets and targets.
• Analyze inventory trends to identify risks like overstock or slow movement and develop corrective strategies.
• Review assortment and performance regularly to find opportunities for optimization and efficiency improvements.
• Oversee regulatory and compliance requirements for new product launches.
• Coordinate with brand partners and internal teams to execute activations, launches, campaigns, and in-store events effectively.
• Arrange product training initiatives with partner brands and Education teams to support growth and launches.
• Manage shelf layouts for fragrance merchandising based on brand performance metrics.
• Lead management of assigned fragrance brands throughout their lifecycle, aligning business goals and market trends.
• Develop strong collaborative relationships with brand partners and key internal stakeholders.
• Design and implement brand strategies to boost sales, market share, and equity.
• Conduct regular business reviews ensuring timely delivery of initiatives aligned with targets.
• Identify and act on commercial growth opportunities.
• Generate compelling business presentations incorporating data, performance indicators, and market analysis.
• Work cross-functionally to ensure smooth execution of brand-related initiatives.
• Collaborate to provide unified and impactful brand interactions across all customer channels.
• Manage brand activations in retail and e-commerce, maintaining consistency in visibility, content, and priorities.
• Ensure availability and management of brand assets for digital campaigns, launches, and in-store events.
• Oversee logistics for samples and gifts covering online, CRM, and promotional activities.
• Coordinate brand participation in PR and influencer campaigns according to Sephora guidelines.
• Plan annual PR, seeding, and gifting efforts in partnership with brand teams and PR department.
• Support timely delivery and execution of digital marketing campaigns.
• Set product priorities for CRM and marketing communications matching category objectives.
• Align social media content, promotions, contests, and gifting initiatives with relevant teams.
• Engage in weekly omnichannel and marketing meetings to synchronize priorities and monitor project progress.
• Define and maintain the online fragrance category assortment strategy.
• Communicate assortment updates promptly to stakeholders.
• Maintain balanced and optimized online brand representation, including launches and key products.
• Collaborate with e-commerce teams to acquire assets, content, and promotions supporting digital activations.
• Identify and secure online exclusives, pre-launches, and digital-first promotions with partners.
• Monitor online sales performance, recommending measures to enhance visibility, conversion, and revenues.
• Prepare monthly reports covering category and brand performance with commercial insights.
• Track budgets by country and store and ensure financial objectives are met.
• Conduct business evaluations with partners to assess performance and uncover growth opportunities.
• Manage budgets accurately, track costs, and perform timely reinvoicing.
• Deliver clear recommendations to management based on sales, inventory, and market data.

Candidate Profile

• Possesses 3 to 4 years’ experience in Merchandising, Category Management, Brand Management, Buying, or similar commercial roles ideally in beauty, fragrances, FMCG, or retail sectors.
• Strong analytical capabilities with proficiency in interpreting data, detecting trends, and applying data-driven decisions.
• Proven track record in managing brands, product assortments, and commercial partnerships.
• Excellent abilities in communication, presentation, and stakeholder engagement.
• Organized with skill to juggle various priorities and deadlines within dynamic environments.
• Detail-oriented, proactive, commercially focused, and demonstrates strong ownership.
• Capable of working autonomously while collaborating effectively across functions.
• Advanced skills in Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint; experience with retail planning and reporting tools is advantageous.

Workplace Culture & Benefits

• A welcoming community celebrating authenticity and the strength found in diversity.
• An empowering culture fostering learning, innovation, and leadership development.
• Work that brings personal fulfillment through client satisfaction and industry inspiration.

Join Sephora and become part of a beautiful and inspiring community.