Category Merchant - Furniture

Position Summary

The Furniture Merchant is responsible for the end-to-end strategy and performance of the furniture category, including assortment strategy, product selection, pricing and promotions, inventory optimization, product lifecycle management, and financial performance.

This role serves as the primary business owner and leads the relationship with Rent A Center’s largest supplier. The Furniture Merchant will develop and manage the Supplier relationship to ensure we deliver compelling products, strong value, appropriate inventory levels, and profitable growth.

The Merchant will use customer insights, competitive intelligence, financial analysis, and performance data to develop category strategies and identify opportunities to improve revenue, margin, inventory productivity, and overall category performance.

Key Responsibilities

Category Strategy & Assortment

• Own the overall furniture category strategy and assortment architecture.
• Develop targeted assortments that meet specific store / customer needs while achieving revenue, margin, and inventory productivity objectives.
• Analyze category, product, customer, and competitive trends to identify growth opportunities.
• Manage the product and promotion lifecycles, including new product introductions, transitions, markdowns, and discontinuations.
• Continuously evaluate assortment productivity and optimize the mix based on performance.

Supplier Relationship Management

• Serve as the primary business owner for RAC’s largest single supplier, with annual purchase spend of $250M+.
• Lead joint business planning and regular performance reviews.
• Partner with Supplier on assortment development, product innovation, and new product introductions.
• Strategically negotiate product costs and other commercial terms favorable to the RAC business
• Partner with Supplier and internal cross functional departments to improve product quality, availability, lead times, and overall supply-chain performance.

Inventory & Business Performance

• Own category performance across key inventory and Supply Chain metrics. 
• Identify opportunities to improve product economics and overall category profitability.
• Monitor performance against plan and develop corrective actions when necessary.
• Develop business cases supporting major assortment and product decisions.
• Partner with Supply Chain, Planning, Operations and others to ensure appropriate inventory levels, and optimize where needed

Promotional Strategy

• Lead the overall promotional planning and buying process.
• Evaluate promotional performance and continuously improve promotional effectiveness.
• Partner with Supplier to not only deliver, but improve overall promo planning process

Cross-Functional Leadership

• Partner closely with Operations, Marketing, Pricing, Supply Chain, Finance, Digital/Product, and other teams to execute the furniture strategy.
• Translate category strategy into clear priorities and execution plans for the field.
• Lead major furniture initiatives and product launches from strategy through execution.
• Communicate category performance, opportunities, risks to senior leadership.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Merchandising, Finance, Supply Chain, or related field preferred.
• Experience in merchandising, category management, buying, retail, or a related discipline.
• Furniture or home furnishings experience preferred, but not required
• Strong financial and analytical skills with the ability to translate data into actionable business decisions.
• Demonstrated ability to manage and develop strategic supplier relationships.
• Strong negotiation and influencing skills.
• Experience managing assortments, promotions, inventory, and product lifecycle.
• Ability to operate effectively across multiple functions and influence without direct authority.
• Strong executive communication and presentation skills.
• Highly organized with the ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.