Natasha Borges
Allston,MA
Summary
Goal-oriented manager with distinguished experience in the merchandising industry across both retail and ecommerce, with proven leadership abilities. Expert in increasing productivity and impactful change while driving revenue, sales and market share. Committed to streamlining procedures while optimizing employee talent.
Overview
8
8
years of professional experience
Work History
Senior Category Merchant (Manager)
Staples, Inc.
07.2022 - Current
- Responsible for the strategic planning, vendor management, merchandising, negotiations, promotions, and financial planning of five separate businesses with a combined annual sales portfolio of $340M
- Negotiated $2.5M of incremental funding mid-year across three core vendors for support of store remodels
- Launched a net new category, Console Gaming in a $1.1B market driving over $10M of incremental sales and $3M margin dollars annually for 2023
- Gained 600bps of market dollar share during holiday across the networking category, increasing sales by $1.5M YOY
- Successfully executed category remodels across 8 different departments in over 350 locations in 2023
- Launched variable load gift cards projected to drive $4M of incremental margin dollars for 2023 driving total category growth of +38% YOY
- Developed and manages a robust and organized training program for all retail merchandising associates
- Manages and mentors a team of four across various levels.
Category Merchant (Manager)
Staples, Inc.
04.2021 - 07.2022
- Responsible for vendor management, merchandising, negotiations, promotions, and financial planning of two separate businesses with a combined annual sales portfolio of $220M
- Curated, rationalized, and developed a long-term strategy through line logic analyzation in a down trending category to gain +400bps in market dollar share
- Collaborated with private label brands group to source and develop an entire product line in one of the most profitable core categories to increase topline sales by $2.5 million annually
- Facilitated cross functional meetings, led vendor negotiations and ran analysis for the USB category to achieve the CPI initiative of $2M YoY.
Associate Category Merchant (Manager)
Staples, Inc.
11.2019 - 04.2021
- Responsible for vendor management, merchandising, negotiations, promotions, and financial planning of two separate businesses with a combined annual sales portfolio of $132M
- Led the planning and execution of planogram and seasonal promotional transitions by analyzing the businesses, reviewing market trends, identifying assortment gaps, and improving the customer shopping experience in-store
- Managed and developed one direct report through delegating tasks and projects and building financial acumen
- Led periodic re-forecast meetings by strategizing and implementing tactics to achieve the annual financial budget
- Worked cross functionally with several teams such as inventory planning, marketing, store operations, site merchandising and portfolio to identify and execute activities that drove customer engagement and helped exceed the departments' financial target.
Senior Merchandise Specialist
09.2018 - 11.2019
- Owned the P&L and was responsible for managing financial targets, leading reforecast meetings, vendor relations and the development and execution of strategy, to achieve the annual sales budget of $43M
- Led the planning and execution of planogram and seasonal transitions by analyzing the businesses, reviewing market trends, identifying assortment gaps, and improving the customer shopping experience
- Developed the BTS 2019 pricing strategy for Graphing calculators; growing profitability by $1M YoY
- Drove positive comps in Display Calculators in a double digit, market declining category throughout BTS 2019 increasing market share by over +200bps YoY
- Managed and assisted in the launch of two new brands, growing OB penetration by over +600bps YoY
- Presented a brand defining strategy to the CMO for Digital Storage and Calculators, optimizing cost to serve and providing solution based merchandising layouts.
Merchandise Specialist - Office Supplies
07.2016 - 09.2018
- Analyzed weekly sales and completed recaps for VP and Director using ad hoc reporting, circular ad results and promo sales
- Collaboratively worked amongst various departments to uphold a solid and successful internal team to execute promotions and seasonal offers
- Assisted in Desk Accessory line review by implementing tactics for the go forwards strategy and running analysis on the entire business for both stores and NAD
- Grew the Desk Accessory business by 87% in promotional sales from 2016-2017 by incorporating new off shelf product onto collaborative merchant positions.
Education
Bachelor of Science - Business Administration Marketing
University of New Hampshire
Skills
- Pricing strategy
- Negotiation expertise
- Brand Awareness
- Marketing techniques
- Customer Relationship
- Contract Management
- Sales Reporting
- Decision-Making
- Relationship Building
- Account Management
- Networking Events
- Cross-Channel Marketing
- Market Trend Analysis
- Competitor Analysis
- Sales Presentations
- Business development and planning
- Review of contracts
- Change Management
- Teamwork and Collaboration
- Problem-Solving
Leadershipcertificationsawards
- Gap International, Professional Development, Advanced Negotiation Workshop, 12/01/22
- Boston Cares, Active Volunteer, 07/01/21, Present
- Merchandising Process Improvement Award, 03/01/24
- Merchandising Associate of the Year, 03/01/23
- Merchandising Employee Choice Award, 03/01/22
Timeline
Senior Category Merchant (Manager)
Staples, Inc.
07.2022 - Current
Category Merchant (Manager)
Staples, Inc.
04.2021 - 07.2022
Associate Category Merchant (Manager)
Staples, Inc.
11.2019 - 04.2021
Senior Merchandise Specialist
09.2018 - 11.2019
Merchandise Specialist - Office Supplies
07.2016 - 09.2018
Bachelor of Science - Business Administration Marketing
University of New Hampshire
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