Pros
Opportunity to build connections and friendships Pretty straightforward once you get used to it Growth opportunity, usually within the first year 401K + Health insurance You *really* build your Excel skills Fair wage as a merchandising manager [around $50k] Decent professional experience Decent work life balance - strict 9-5p for most.
Cons
Overall, I give it a 2.5-3. Decent experience for someone entering the workforce, but I would not recommend this company to a friend. I think part of the reason why the business has a difficult time communicating what these roles entail is because ultimately, I'm not sure that the business honestly communicates what we do. The titles / descriptions of the job lead to high turnover, proving them ineffective. The company is responsible for putting products online (merchandising) and making sure those products sell (account managers). I feel that we do very little to "elevate" brands -- so the pitch feels a touch disingenuous, from the inside. Shame really, BJ represents quite a few incredible brands - I often wonder why they don't hire internal e-commerce teams - this is the direction of the market, wouldn't you want to get ahead of this in house? As a Data Analyst (more like Product Coordinator) and Merchandising Manager - the job is 8 hours a day in front of Excel, manipulating thousands of lines of product data (e.g. dimensions, colors, materials) and loading that data onto templates to be submitted to Home Depot, Wayfair, Overstock. From there, we're responsible for the products online. Correct pricing, correct product data, inventory quantities, shipping logistics - we are 100% responsible for the online presence of the products. Not a super enriching role for most, but you do build your Excel skills. The business model is around getting as many products online as quickly as possible, which makes for kind of a high-pressure/low reward situation for those who don't work off commission. The job is fast paced and high pressure. The team is consistently overloaded - management does know this. The merch team is responsible for the execution of the labor. We're frequently referred to as the "bread and butter" of the team, while the account managers manage relationships and sales strategy (crust of biz?), and make their salaries off of commission earned by the work the merch team executes in large majority. Despite this, the merch team is highly undervalued - this leads to low morale, high turnover, low engagement. The sales/marketing strategy seems to begin and end with quick product uploads (thanks merch team) and marketing opportunities - if Wayfair/Build/the retailers allow it. Account managers do have their own cross to bear, will leave that to one of them to explain. Emphasis is on-boarding new brands, as opposed to building up + "elevating" existing brands. New brands = more items online = more opportunity for commission. Where's the return on fostering a brand that you don't really own? It's marginal, and not worth the time. So in my opinion, there isn't really any "merchandising" happening here either. Makes for a rather dull m.o. The office vibe is (sadly) not too much a vibe at all. I would agree with the last review in that there is no culture. Just look at the values on the website, they're not values, they're instructions. This is also a shame as the CEOs are lovely, and much of the team is young and talented. We're all a bit stifled by the workload and certain members of leadership. No perks, no lunches, no team outings, no bonuses - just the truth.
