INDUSTRY EXPERIENCE
Take an in-depth look at my professional work history/job titles with descriptions. Images and PDF's and videos are expandable, just click to engage.
Job Title
E-Commerce Merchandising Associate
Since January 3rd, 2023, I've had the pleasure of working with the iconic jewelry brand, Alex and Ani, as their E-Commerce Merchandising Associate. On a daily basis, I work cross-functionally with the Design, Planning, Marketing, Wholesale, Creative, and E-Commerce teams, bridging the gaps between product analytics (KPIs), product design details, creative direction and user experience. Working with different departments allows me to gain insight + knowledge on sales goals, brand goals and product goals which is easily translated within my projects on-site & to key stakeholders as needed.
Soon after hire, I also began working on-set, using my personal expertise to style our products on model, along with the clothing worn to compliment them. See images of my styling, "modeling" and look building at the bottom of this section!
I have become the trusted liaison between "behind the screens" and behind the scenes, ensuring our product is being properly communicated to the customer both on-site and on-set with buys, sell-through (ST), average order value (AOV), conversion rate (CR) and average unit retail (AUR) top of mind.
The work I do is both data + intuition driven [based on KPIs and relevant trends] to ensure the strongest outcome and biggest return on investment (ROI). It is my job to make sure customers have a smooth experience on-site in terms of product, making it easy to navigate, build their basket and convert in-cart.
My day to day responsibilities include, but are not limited to;
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Daily remerchandising of core product landing pages (PLPs) based on customer behavior, marketing campaigns and analytical data
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Optimizing & maintaining site taxonomy to decrease customer frustration + increase product findability – this includes curating a relevant product image gallery at the top-level navigation
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Populating large SKU-count product upload sheets, as well as implementing copy, imagery, tags, upsells and metafields to new launches in Shopify's backend and maintaining the entire catalog as needed
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Creating + pushing new product landing pages (PLPs) and product detail pages (PDPs) live on-site
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Styling + curating looks to shoot on-set to be featured in email, social, top-of-counter retail, wholesale and our online store
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QA'ing all marketing sends to ensure proper imagery, copy, pricing and inventory is being communicated
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Pulling weekly selling data + building out analytical reports to present to leadership during business reviews
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Analyzing and acting on data from Shopify, Google Analytics, Hotjar, Yotpo, Searchspring and Planning to increase conversion rate (CR), average order value (AOV) and product sell-through (ST)
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Hand-selecting assortments to be pushed on socials, online store, email sends and creative assets
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Stand-in model to be showcased on socials, blogs, online store, email sends, top-of-counter retail, wholesale and creative assets
Jewelry Looks I've Styled
Using knowledge of big buys, campaign initiatives and trend forecasting, I successfully build & style looks to increase product sell-through (ST) + support cross/upsell opportunities
E-Commerce Merchandising Associate
Alex and Ani Jan. 3, 2023 –
That's me!
Job Title
Web Designer & Marketing Manager
Website Designer & Marketing Manager
PrimeShippers (FTDI West) 2022
Post graduation, I took on a website design project for Prime Shippers, a national third-party logistics & distribution company under FTDI West Inc.'s umbrella. I used Adobe XD to design logos & creative assets for the company - once creative was approved, I began creating wireframes and mockups for the website (pictured above). I used Wordpress and Pantheon to then create the site. I worked collaboratively with a content writer from Google LLC to conduct SEO & industry research using Semrush. I worked remote for the duration of the project.
To put the size of FTDI West into perspective, they warehouse & distribute products for companies like Steve Madden, Macy's, Target, Stitch-Fix, Lord & Taylor, and Nordstrom, just to name a few. At the start of my employment, the company paid for me to travel to California and capture content for the website, but I primarily worked remote.
While working for FTDI, I had the opportunity to expand my knowledge in the distribution, marketing and web design industries. I introduced the company to Google Workspace & the social media scene, captured and curated all content for the site/social media platforms (Facebook & LinkedIn), and designed the site itself using Adobe XD, Photoshop, Illustrator, and Canva for any niche design needs.
I also performed SEO & UI/UX research to better optimize the site, and even ran an entire e-commerce website (see below). I became very familiar with Shopify, Mailchimp, Wordpress, Pantheon, GitHub, Elementor, Slack, Microsoft Outlook, Adobe, and Wix.
Continued –
Website Designer & Marketing Manager
FTDI West 2021-2022
E-Commerce Manager
D2CShip (Internship w/ FTDI West) 2021
Before I earned my full-time position at FTDI West, I completed a remote internship with the company. The warehouse had a large quantity of overstock items sitting in their inventory and needed to move the products, so they tasked me with handling the entire situation. Above is an interactive pdf of my content strategy presentation to promote & sell the products.
I conducted industry research on the items and their target market. I then built "D2CShip" an entire e-commerce website using Shopify where I implemented SEO & keyword research, ghost-imagery to professionally showcase the products, digital merchandising to better organize the site, UX/UI to ensure a smooth & satisfying shopping experience, social media marketing to grow our reach, and e-mail marketing to communicate with subscribers.
After about three months, I successfully generated a positive amount of traffic on our brand-new site, gained subscribers and grew a following on Facebook and Instagram. Before I could continue the growth, I was offered a full-time position revamping FTDI's website and managing their socials.
Thanks to this internship, I became well-acquainted with the back end of Shopify - I was busy tracking site metrics and outsourcing ad space on Google while simultaneously trying to improve our reach. Thanks to this opportunity, I was able to find my passion for e-commerce and digital merchandising.
Job Title
Retail Merchandiser
After I studied abroad, I worked as a part-time retail merchandiser for Hallmark. I was given a company phone & seven different accounts to handle. This position opened my eyes to the technical facets of visual merchandising, as well as having a healthy work-life balance. I was frequently requested by my district manager to travel to new-builds, remodels, and poor-quality displays to assist with work.
For each account, I managed all Hallmark shipments and oversaw the Hallmark departments in each store; this included the process of scanning products into Hallmark's handheld system, organizing & pushing out products in a timely manner, and replenishing stock to withhold Hallmark's brand image. I read planograms daily, built and took apart store-sets & fixtures, and completed consistent seasonal visual updates. It was crucial that I completed every shipment on time to ensure customers had the proper breadth and depth of that store's specialized product assortment, and a clean, visually pleasing display area to browse.
Retail Merchandiser
Hallmark 2020-2021
Job Title
Visual Merchandiser (VM) / In-Store Merchandiser (ISM)
Visual Merchandiser (VM) / In-Store Merchandiser (ISM)
Tilly's 2019
Before I studied abroad, I was the visual merchandiser for Tilly's in the Providence Place Mall. After two months of demonstrating my passion for visuals through my exemplary work, I was offered the new opening for the in-store merchandiser (ISM) position. I worked closely with the district manager, store manager and the company's regional head visual for the upper east coast to implement visual updates and execute proper merchandising to increase sales.
I picked, processed and packaged online store orders, changed signage daily/as needed, replenished the sales floor, updated the store-front windows according to company planograms (and by adding my own flare when we didn't carry certain items), and helped with the front-end registers when the store was extremely busy.
Working the registers wasn't my responsibility, but the Providence Place mall has a great deal of foot traffic during the back to school season; when the store manager wasn't available to help sales associates, I often assisted them with any issues and ensured customer satisfaction in our store. After all, the customer experience is truly the essence of an ISM's purpose and that's especially felt during checkout.
Other Notable Experiences
Johnson & Wales University
Trip to Corporate
Offices & Showrooms
New York, New York 2019
During my senior year of college, I had the opportunity to travel with my fashion lab to New York City. We visited the chic corporate offices of Kate Spade, The Doneger Group, Fashionphile, Saks Fifth Ave and even got a tour of a Topson Downs showroom. This experience gave me a chance to speak with industry professionals firsthand about merchandising for both mainline and outlet brands, managing showrooms, trend forecasting, and what to expect in the actual industry.
I vividly remember feeling a spark ignite inside myself while walking the marble-lined halls of Saks Fifth Ave's corporate e-commerce office. Seeing the web & photo-editing teams in action, live photoshoots with professional models, and the "Saks Fifth Vault" sparked a dormant curiosity within the depths of my brain. It was at this moment that I began to feel an inclination of interest for the e-commerce world – fast forward to today and here I am, creating a life where this is my reality and I couldn't be more grateful.