Bachelor of Science in Business Administration

Lifestyle

Outdoor

Surf

Daughter is a jr. olympic swimmer
sun

Sand and beach
playing with my dogs

A highly qualified Product Development & Sourcing professional for consumer products.

•  Expert in Product Development bringing quality & margin
•  Brand developer both short term and long term direction
•  eCommerce assortment planning 
•  Expert in the execution of product launches 
•  Over 15 years of Global Sourcing experience
•  Specialist in full product life-cycle management		
•  Adept at process improvement and productivity
•  Proficient in Supply Chain Management			
•  Experience with Import/Domestic Suppliers
• Outstanding leadership and communication skills.


Senior Product Manager & Buyer for 310 Nutrition, Kashmere Kollections and Beachwood Essential Oils
Responsible for the ideation and product assortment planning & development across 3 divisions: 310 Nutrition, Kashmere Kollections, Beachwood Essential Oils to create market-leading assortments. Drove the development & roadmap for all divisions by 150+ new SKU’s that drove sales & profitability by increasing average shopping carts by 50%.  Determined competitive pricing landscape that delivered $450K to companies bottom line by multi-sourcing and volume propositions to vendors. Analyzing marketplace trends to identify new opportunities and create products that are purpose driven and live up to our brand standards.  
	•	Created & delivered $6M in top line revenue for the product assortment and strategies in the supplement, diet products and skin care categories, by providing design direction, and requirements for our web e-commerce products
	•	Implemented and drove the product roadmap for $55M business plan by interacting & engaging with our 250K+ customers in the closed 310 Facebook Community 
	•	Excellent negotiation skills that provided a decrease in COG’s by $1.5M for products
	•	Evaluate current and new vendors to correctly align our quality specifications, resulting in operational improvements, quality improvements, which enabled us to increased speed to market by 15% for both international and domestic vendors
	•	Strong knowledge of procurement processes including compliancy testing, RFQ creation & evaluation, vendor selection, contract negotiation and execution
	•	Work with Asia partners to bring concepts to life in a cost-effective, quality centric and consumer forced manner
	•	Collaborate with design team to estimate, implement, and build features to ensure on time deliverables
	•	Work with Marketing to position, message, and launch products. Conduct market research and competitive analysis to continually own the user experience and feature set, act as the product evangelist to build awareness within the organization
	•	Prioritize and create detailed product specifications, business use cases, data flows, and mock-ups
	•	Use analytics and A/B testing to steer improvements, inform projects, and drive product decisions
	•	Responsible for web shopping experience for our E-commerce channels Shopify & Amazon by ensuring marketing and promotional calendars are adhered to
	•	Communicate with stakeholders and other appropriate cross functional partners

Sr Product Manager

Responsible for the development of licensed and unlicensed products across 13+ Crate Lines by delivering unique, exclusive products for a subscription box service with over 800,000 customers per month.
• Drove subscription rates from 350,000 to over 800,000 subscribers by developing Licensing partnerships
• Increased sales 300% over 15 months with the introduction of 13 new crate collections
• Increased growth in sales from $50M to $200M by creating Licensed Products assortments targeting comic book, video
gamers and pop culture enthusiasts with targeted audience strategies specific to the each unique crate
• Drove down Cost of Goods (COGs) by over $1.2M in savings
• Accountable for all aspects of product execution and calendar timelines from inception through bulk production
• Curated & developed the roadmap for 100+ new & innovative toys, collectables and apparel products
 

Sr. Global Sourcing Manager/Sr. Buyer

Responsible for the brand identity, strategic planning, pricing strategy and marketing direction for cookware & bakeware category for the Bialetti & Good Cook divisions of Bradshaw with annual sales of $600M.
•	Developed (8) new & innovative cookware collections that were debuted at the International Housewares Show in Chicago.
•	Increased sales 20% YTD over LY with the introduction of new collections and improved margins of 6% by introducing a new classification at higher initial retail.
•	Largest growth in 2015  eCommerce sales YTD up $1.2M YTD (51%) by creating promotional strategies specific to the online market and providing a brand experience that is consistent across all channels — online, in-store, or on a mobile device.
•	Created (4) exclusive lines for Bed, Bath & Beyond with 2015 sales of $6.1M & expected sales of 2016 $17.4M.
•	Drove the product development roadmap for 100+ new and innovative products under the brand names of Bialetti and Good Cook that provided assortment growth of 40%.
•	Worked with Creative Team to create product release campaigns & positioning materials to support sales teams.
•	Crafted short term and long term Brand strategies to determine opportunities in the marketplace within the targeted price/product position with optimal value proposition. 
•	Executed a Development Calendar that identified timing of critical milestones including Product Definition, Product Specifications, Product Testing objectives, documents and ownership.
•	Led the Oneida license brand transition to Bialetti license for 40+ SKUs with new packaging graphic designs & branding.
•	Collaborated with Cross functional teams of Product Engineers, Graphic Design and Product Testing to ensure direction and on-time deliverables were achieved for all product launches
•	Work with Asian partners to bring concepts to life in a cost-effective, quality-centric and consumer-focused manner.

Senior Product Manager

Responsible for the marketing, pricing analysis and strategic development of household, outdoor, security, electrical  and other accessories for a hardware retailer that operates a chain of 500+ retail stores, eCommerce and mail-order catalog in 46 states with sales of over $2.5B in 2013.  
•	Establish strategic marketing plans to achieve corporate objectives for consumer products in the hardware industry to drive average basket and increase sales per square foot in stores.
•	Emphasis on deep dive analysis on pricing strategies and the monitoring of financial, technological and demographic factors to capitalize on market opportunities and minimize effects of competitive activity 
•	Leverage data analytics to drive product, go-to-market, and monetization strategy insights by product positioning and pricing strategy
•	Oversee and evaluate market research and adjusts marketing strategy to meet changing markets and competitive conditions 
•	Lead organization as overall business owner for assigned product lines with Executive level visibility
•	Develop product roadmaps and business plans by prioritizing product requirements, features and functionality.
•	Ensures effective control of marketing results, and takes corrective action to guarantee that achievement of marketing objectives falls within designated budgets. 
•	Provide product management activities that stimulate the development and introduction of new products utilizing new and/or emerging technologies providing strategic and competitive advantage.
•	Execute defined business plans, including strong and detailed promotional programs. Maximizing GP $ and improving profitability of programs 
•	Collaborate across a cross functional team to maximize sales and profit for assigned business unit 
•	Inventory collaboration for sales planning, forecasting and allocations of products properly

Category Product Manager

Responsible for the development and sourcing of bags, cases, straps and other accessories for musical instruments for the world’s largest music retailer.  $2.1 Billion in 2013 sales from 251 stores and (4) online channels of distribution.  
•	Strong negotiator responsible for a product category of $31 Million in sales for 2013 with an average 64.5% GPM across 
500+ SKU’s.
•	Maintained a sales increase of 9% comp store and over 14% overall during my tenure.
•	Successfully launched a secondary sourcing procurement for highest velocity SKU’s providing an additional gross margin impact of over $500K.
•	Co-chaired design role for Tradestone lifecycle management system $1 Million software upgrade and integration (300+ hours)
•	Evaluate category line performance to identify opportunities for increased consumer engagement, sales and profitability by collaborating with the merchant team for the development of product assortments based on goals including target retail, GM, for the entire life cycle and exit strategy of products.
•	Strategic deep dive analysis of product categories and the understanding of Retail Merchandizing, support and operations.
•	Steer concept-to-distribution process, working in concert with creative, sourcing, legal, licensing and global manufacturing and distribution partnerships to bring product to market.
•	(3) E-commerce channels for web shopping experience; ensure marketing and promotional calendars are delivered to support the e-commerce platform
•	Collaborate with internal departments to improve forecasting, inventory management, and other business processes based on best practices.
•	Manage the overall quality, cost, schedule and development of projects and brands in scope of responsibility.
•	Strong comprehension of raw material costing for product development and negotiation purposes as well as an understanding of the overseas markets.
•	Implemented social compliance and quality audits with International suppliers.
•	Travel extensively to conduct negotiations with manufacturers in China and Vietnam and overseas trade shows.
•	Employee Service Award for 2012 and nominated again in 2013.

Product & Sourcing Manager - Accessories

•	Category Director responsible for sourcing and development of on-trend product with annual sales of $150m.
•	Extensive experience throughout the product sales lifecycle, from initial planning and design through in-store placement, advertising, and sales analysis.
•	Conceptualized and developed promotional and inline plan-o-gram strategies, which were directly responsible for sales volume increases of over 16% in 2007 and 11% in 2008 by increasing product placement in key accounts (i.e. Wal-Mart, Target, JoAnns and MSI).
•	Regularly achieved the highest brand placement in product categories within department. 
•	Analyze product centric business process flows and system functionality for performance improvements, improved short and long term strategies and cost reductions resulting in 2% margin improvement vs. LY. ($2m in 2008).
•	Evaluate current and new vendors to correctly align with suppliers resulting in operational improvements, increased speed to market by 15%.
•	Advanced analytical skills that include make–vs- buy analysis, value analysis and trend identification.
•	Strategic thinker with proficient presentation oral and written communication skills.
•	Extensive international travel to source new vendors, evaluate factory capabilities and attend international trade shows.

Director of Product Development & Branding

Find out detailed information about Susan Smith,  in Agoura Hills, CA

Susan Smith: in Agoura Hills, CA

Susan Smith

iRecon

Loot Crate

Bradshaw International

Harbor Freight Tools

Guitar Center

Creativity Inc.

National University