Category Manager, National Merchandising

The Category Manager is responsible for developing business strategies and seasonal assortment plans that maximize Ashley's retail brand, sales, and profitability for assigned categories. This role identifies new product opportunities, optimizes existing assortments, and ensures category strategies are executed across all national merchandising channels.

The Category Manager collaborates closely with product development, sourcing, planning, regional merchandising, pricing, marketing, and visual teams to deliver trend‑right, financially sound assortments. Curiosity and openness to emerging tools - including AI‑driven insights and automation - are essential to improving decision‑making and staying ahead in a fast‑paced retail environment.

Responsibilities:

• Develop business strategies and seasonal assortment plans for assigned categories
• Serve as the category "expert," optimizing assortments by adding new products/categories and removing poor performers. Present key insights with relevant, actionable product strategies
• Build seasonal product mixes by channel and prepare assortment overviews by pricing level, subcategory mix, and SKU counts
• Maintain current assortments through regular category sales reviews, margin analysis, pricing structure reviews, and product turn strategies
• Work closely with product development and sourcing to create trend‑right products that meet financial goals and customer demand
• Collaborate with planning and pricing teams to recommend adjustments that maximize sales - including markdowns and price changes
• Partner with the visual team to recommend and plan floor layouts
• Communicate and execute long‑term and seasonal merchandising strategies across teams
• Ensure internal processes are followed and seasonal timelines are met.
• Perform market analysis and competitive shopping to stay current on industry trends
• Visit stores and connect with regional teams to gather feedback on product performance and customer needs. Use store feedback to improve products and expand collections
• Drive category sales and profitability through the development and execution of promotional plans across multiple channels
• Manage the full merchandising launch process of products from concept to in‑store execution, including product campaign recommendations, POP support, and close collaboration with Product Marketing and Creative teams
• Participate in major furniture markets to evaluate trends, review product opportunities, and support market‑driven decision‑making
• Maintain an exclusive, well‑merchandised product showroom that reflects brand standards and supports the selling process. Support in setup, market preparation and seasonal presentations