Lori Venturi

Freelance Sales and Merchandise consultant. Analytical study of the North America Market, feasibility to expand, competitive market trends, financial budget and profitability by product/area/retail. Logistics and Operations import/export.

Responsible for Developing and Managing Sales in North America. Set up showrooms / trade shows in NYC, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and Tokyo, Japan. Management of appointments and orders procedures, commercial policy and delivery follow up. Analysis of the current market trends and products development input.

Support and help developing the Brand Awareness within Specialty and Chain Stores. Setting new strategies to adapt the actual coastal business model to a Seasonal area within different stores and seasonality. Open-To-Buy by season/ locations. Identify premium stores for the POP concepts, training and mentoring salespeople, work on assortments, reorders, mark down, profit margin and special private label orders. Trades shows in NYC, Boston, Orlando, Miami, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Europe. Show Room in Los Angeles. 2 Main Collections + stock program. Reviewed each store location's buying trends to ascertain correct assortment of apparel for maximum sales and profits.

Identified products to match customer's demand and provide analysis of the competitive European/US/Canada market landscape. Collaborate with US Global Merchandising team to determine the European seasonal buying guidelines Developed a Master Order plan for the line including product assortment / retail prices / delivery windows / profitability targets. Sales Meeting in Switzerland and Milan with the European Sales Force (Distributors and Reps); Sales Meeting with North America sales force, US and Canada Reps and Distributors. Worked with Planning/Distribution/Retailers to identify priorities and streamline processes to achieve the Open-To-Buy and corporate goals. Decreased the number of overlapping styles of 40% increased the sales turnover by 23%.

Yoga and Travel - Luxury Sportswear Apparel Conduct market analysis to help to define the product assortment for seasonal and year round stores. Collaborated with head of design on merchandising strategies for developing collections layout by price/category, sales forecast by delivery. Selected and trained staff for North America (US and Canada) as well as worked on expansion of the business model within Department Stores (Bloomingdales, Saks, NM), Yoga Studios, Special Retailers (Equinox) and Resorts. Sales Campaign Show Rooms in Miami and New York. Trade Shows in Las Vegas, San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York. Trunk Shows in US and Canada. Liaised with marketing and product development departments to maintain brand consistency. Negotiated and closed agreements with large customers and monitored and analyzed performance metrics. Forecast sales, managed and motivated sales teams. Worked with marketing department to create targeted advertising strategies for key customer demographics.

6 seasonal Men, Women and children collections per year. Set sales goals by chain/market, forecast assortment by market. Division and monitor performance. Direct responsible of a Team of 25 independent reps, 5 distributors and 3 corporate sales Managers. Worked with the Operation Manager to identify new retail partners and business opportunities by evaluating location and operating expenses.

YSL - Apparel, Shoes and Watches. Attending Show Room Sales in Paris, Milan and New York. Managed sales and administrative structure in offices in Switzerland (10 people staff) and coordinated order management with third parties supplier and HQ in Florence and Paris. Worked with Operations and Visual Teams to assure the appropriate assortment within each product delivery windows considering replenishment, mark down, best sellers and out of stock items. Helped set up customer database to streamline product allocation and developed a new return policy for retail stores as well as vendors. Managed logistics and administrative handling of multiple categories of apparel, shoes, bags, leather accessories, eye-glasses. Monitor budget performance by store, post sale activities and client's assistance worldwide.

Lifestyle company offering the active collection VERSACE Sport. EMEA Regional Sales and Worldwide Customer Service Manager - Apparel, Shoes, Jewelry and Watches. Recruiting and training new sales as well as reviewed assigned KPI. Contracts with Dept. Stores and Key Accounts. Management of the European Sales Team, independent reps and corporate sales managers (10 agencies). Sales Meeting in Milan, Show Room preparation and appointments schedule. Open-To-Buy by season, profitability, geographic area. Worked with HQ to develop product training procedure and key selling points.