Fashion

Fishing

Lifestyle

Outdoor

Swim

Health & Fitness

Chief Merchandising Officer

Results-focused, strategic leader with over 20 years of broad-based experience in brand & creative strategies, product design & development, merchandising & marketing. Exceptional in building and recruiting top-performing teams who develop strong brands, deliver & elevate compelling product assortments & maximize profitability.

* Hired to lead brand creative & product expansion, build domestic & international creative teams to work with agents & licensees to deliver elevated product for our core and specialty accounts
* Established a new organization for Merchandising and Analytics, merging Product Management, Marketing and Analytics organizations to focus on data-driven sales and marketing strategies for over $120M of revenue annually.  Report to the CEO
* Increased Gross Profit by +20% through brand positioning, price architecture and diversifying sourcing strategies for the organization
* Lead trend forecasting, development of brand creative assets, design & product development for over 20 brands (license, private label and proprietary)
* Pitched new business and license opportunities, including collaborations with designers & brands to build awareness, deliver compelling product and expand Manhattan Beachwear's' brand portfolio/House of Swim into new tiers of distribution
* Lead innovation & culture of creativity to amplify design thinking, research/data-mine to identify whitespace
* Launched streamlined asset & product approval system with PD workflow, filmmaker & talent participation capture

* Accountable for the driving the merchandising strategies across Women's Apparel, Non-Apparel, Shoes and Home categories
* Oversee the buying and merchandising team to ensure operational efficiency, product assortment, financial and creative goals for ModCloth are met.
* Coach/Mentor to a team of 25 highly performing merchandising professionals by providing feedback and guidance on best-practices and prioritization of tasks to ensure efficient use of resources.
* Responsible for shift in merchandising strategy to grow vertical and exclusive development which maximized margin and profitability; exclusive products now represent 45% of total sales vs. 5% two years ago
* Identified and launched new brand initiatives like Bridal, the introduction of extended sizes (Plus and Petite-sizes), growth of Bottoms and Tops categories (Dresses were 70% of the total business vs 48% currently) and the expansion of ModCloth, offline, via Fit Shops.

Vice President/General Merchandising Manager

* Leading, developing and growing the merchandising efforts for a $250.0M division focusing on the niche market of women's plus-size apparel and accessories product lines.
* Responsible for overseeing the concept, design, execution and development of both internally designed product lines as well as market-based programs.
* Established a highly performing merchant team of 15 associates to efficiently manage women's plus size fashion and basic apparel including major categories like denim, intimates, knits and wovens.
* Pioneering effort to re-launch core/foundation businesses within a vertical business model to build brand equity in fit through quality, inventory positioning and price.
* Established production and merchandising calendars so as to align all cross functional partners towards hitting production and key milestone deadlines within the vertical business model.
* Standardized process and created reports and templates for optimal business presentations to executives

Divisional Merchandising Manager

* Managed a $120.0M division which includes men's, women's and accessories product lines.
* Responsible for creation, implementation, and execution of marketing concepts, promotions and strategies across both brick and mortar and e-commerce channels (factory online)
* Responsible for overseeing the concept, design, execution and development of outlet-specific product which represented around 90% of the assortment.
* Identified and successfully executed new market share opportunities which did not exist for the outlet division such as men's and women's outerwear (+100% comp), woven bottoms and tops (+50% comp) and plus sizes which will be introduced for the Spring 2012 season.
* Played an integral role in the re-launch of the outlet division which included re-merchandising the line (formerly the channel would receive 90% of their product from retail verses now only 10% which has vastly improved the margin), changing the visual displays of our stores, creating new promotional cadences, creating new pricing architectures for the product, etc.

Divisional Merchandising Manager, Outlet Merchandising

* Managed the merchandising of a $200.0M division
* Developed and executed seasonal merchandising strategies for Dinnerware, Linens, Glassware and Flatware categories for the Williams Sonoma Retail channel; 265 stores.
* Responsible for the introduction of new categories; a line of children's dinnerware (+$1.0M), Schott Zweisel stemware (+$250.0) and outdoor product (+$500.0) which helped change the trend of the Dinnerware division from -20% to +3%.

Senior Merchandiser, WSGC Tabletop- Retail

- Retail, Internet and Catalog
* Developed and executed multi-channel seasonal merchandising strategies for Bedroom, Dining Room, Case Goods, Outdoor, Bath Furniture and Lighting categories and collaborated with VP and Director on brand's annual and three year strategies
* Identified new ways to showcase and merchandise furniture on the website including multi-dimensional photography and "furniture facts" pages.  Sales increased by 15% from Summer to Fall with implementation while return rates decreased by 18% because customers were able to clearly understand dimensions, overall aesthetic of the piece and how it looked in a room.
* Identified and successfully executed new market share opportunities, such as the home office category, media category, custom lighting and the co-branding partnership with Hickory Chair.  Results included growing the home office category from 5% of the Case Goods division to 35-45%.
* Traveled overseas to help establish an entirely new sourcing base and partnered closely with sourcing to establish a long-term global strategy for furniture specifically focused on quality.

Senior Buyer, Furniture & Lighting, WSHome

Hold Everything - Retail, Internet and Catalog
* Responsible for growing and revitalizing a newly launched Bedding and Decorative Textile assortments group both online and in our retail stores.
* Revitalized online bath and bedding business in that prior to my involvement these categories were non-existent as the brand's focus was on office organization.  With little to no budget for photography I was able to leverage our catalog photography and quickly get product online taking the overall ecommerce penetration from less than 2% of the volume to over 12%.
* Strategically partnered with new vendors to leverage production by fabrication used by sister brands to obtain better costs; net margins from climbed from 12% to an amended, more profitable 50%.

Buyer, Bath and Textiles

Merchandiser

Assistant Merchandiser

Distribution Planner

Distribution Analyst

Find out detailed information about Nicole Haase, Chief Merchandising Officer in Huntington Beach, CA

Nicole Haase: Chief Merchandising Officer in Huntington Beach, CA

Nicole Haase

Manhattan Beachwear

ModCloth

Torrid

Lucky Brand Jeans

Williams Sonoma Inc

Williams Sonoma Inc

Williams Sonoma Inc

Gap Inc

Gap Inc

Gap Inc

Gap Inc

Gap Inc

Boston College