Digital Merchandising Manager- 12 months fixed term

About the role

We are looking for an experienced and highly organised Digital Merchandising Manager to join our Marketing team on a 12 month fixed term contract, covering maternity leave.  

The Digital Merchandising Manager is responsible for leading our Digital Merchandising team and ensuring our vehicle stock is presented online to the highest possible standard.

Working closely with our dealerships, Marketing team and key suppliers, you will make sure vehicles are photographed, filmed, described and published quickly, accurately and consistently across our websites and third-party advertising platforms.

This is a hands-on role for someone who enjoys managing a busy team, improving processes and using data to continually raise standards.

Key Responsibilities

Team management

• Lead, support and develop the Digital Merchandising team.
• Manage workload and resource across the team to ensure dealerships receive the right level of support.
• Set clear expectations and monitor individual and team performance.
• Hold regular 1-2-1s, provide coaching and identify training and development opportunities.
• Support recruitment, onboarding and training where required.
• Build strong relationships between the merchandising team, dealerships and wider Marketing department.

Vehicle merchandising

• Ensure used and new vehicle stock is merchandised quickly and accurately across Swansway websites and  relevant third-party platforms.
• Maintain consistently high standards for vehicle photography, video, descriptions and supporting digital    content.
• Ensure vehicle imagery follows agreed brand and presentation standards.
• Monitor vehicles that are missing photographs, videos, descriptions or other required content and work    with dealerships to resolve issues quickly.
• Support the team in creating engaging vehicle content that helps customers understand the features,        benefits and condition of individual vehicles.
• Ensure merchandising activity reflects our aim to make the online car-buying journey helpful,              approachable and informative.  approachable and informative.

Performance and standards

• Monitor key merchandising KPIs, including speed to market, stock completeness and content quality.
• Produce regular reporting on individuals, team, and dealership performance
• Identify dealerships or processes where processes need additional support and agree appropriate actions
• Carry out regular quality checks and audits across vehicle listings.
• Use performance data to identify opportunities to improve efficiency, consistency and customer experience.

Process improvement

• Review existing merchandising processes and identify opportunities to make them quicker, simpler and more effective.
• Work with website, photography, stock and technology suppliers to resolve issues and improve systems.
• Support the introduction and rollout of new merchandising tools, technology and processes.
• Maintain clear operating procedures and ensure these are consistently followed across the Group.
• Keep up to date with developments in automotive digital retailing and vehicle merchandising.

Stakeholder management

• Work closely with Heads of Business, Sales Managers and dealership teams to maintain high merchandising standards.
• Act as the main point of contact within Marketing for digital vehicle merchandising.
• Work collaboratively with Digital Marketing, Content, Social Media and Web teams to ensure vehicle content supports wider marketing activity.
• Manage relationships with relevant external suppliers and partners, ensuring agreed service levels are maintained.

About you

You will be a confident people manager who is comfortable working in a fast-paced environment where priorities can change quickly.  You will ideally have:

• Previous experience managing a team.
• Experience within digital merchandising, automotive retail, eCommerce, digital marketing or a similar environment.
• Strong organisational skills with the ability to manage competing priorities.
• High attention to detail and a strong eye for presentation and content quality.
• Confidence using data and reporting to manage performance.
• Strong communication and stakeholder-management skills.
• The ability to challenge constructively and drive improvements.
• A practical, solutions-focused approach to problems.
• Good working knowledge of Microsoft Office, particularly Excel.
• Experience of automotive stock-management, website or advertising platforms would be advantageous.
• A full UK driving licence.

What success looks like

Success in this role means:

• Vehicles are merchandised online quickly and to a consistently high standard.
• Dealerships receive reliable and responsive support from the merchandising team.
• Photography, video and vehicle content are accurate, engaging and customer-focused.
• Performance is clearly measured and areas requiring improvement are acted upon.
• The Digital Merchandising team is engaged, well organised and clear on expectations.
• Processes continue to improve, making vehicle merchandising more efficient for both dealerships and customers.