Tony
Video transcript
I’m Tony Baer, I’m the Head of Merchandising for the Electricals directorate. I started off in retail about 18 years ago, in what was the Burton group. I’ve worked in several other retailers including Debenhams and BHS and I joined about five years ago. I joined the Partnership just after Merchandising had been introduced and I joined as Head of Merchandising on Home in the Furnishing/Accessories directorate.
The John Lewis Merchandising Graduate scheme is an opportunity for graduates to join us and get a flavour of different departments. You’ll actually be doing the job of a Merchandising Administrator in the first 18 months to 2 years, but experiencing different departments, different areas of the John Lewis business. You’ll then gain experience before you move into being an Assistant Merchandiser. Similarly, you’ll experience a number of areas and you can expect to be a Merchandiser within four to five years of joining the business.
I think we’re looking for people who really want to make a difference and who have a good ability with numbers. We need people to be quite tenacious and it’s a really tough market nowadays in retail. You need people who are going to be determined, able to form strong relationships both with suppliers, distribution centres, all sorts of different people. And you should really be prepared to take risks, but manage business and really look upon the area that you’re ordering stock for as if it was your business - really taking ownership and responsibility for that.
The Merchandising graduate scheme is being run so that we can get top quality people into this business to drive the Merchandising function forward. John Lewis has got massive ambitions and to match those ambitions our management of stock will really have to become world class. We’re running a number of different types of outlets: we’re looking at every opportunity to grow the business, and how we manage our stock. How we refine that management will be critical in the years to come.
Joining the graduate scheme is really an opportunity to fast track your way into the John Lewis business. There really is a commitment within the business to grow the talent from within and make sure that the people who rise fastest are those who really deserve it.
As a Merchandising Administrator, the job’s quite varied. But fundamentally you’re forecasting and managing stock at line level. That will involve using our replenishment systems to ensure that the stock goes to the right shops, ordering stock from suppliers, looking at how lines are selling and forecasting whether they are going to continue at that level. And generally maintaining our stock and managing the balance between making sure everything’s available for the customer to buy.
I’m really looking forward to the new graduates joining John Lewis,. I think it’s always so exciting when new people join. They bring fresh ideas. There’s the energy and excitement of being in a new business and knowing that everything’s in their hands – and they can really forge an exciting future for themselves here.
