Stefano Esposito

Senior Retail Manager

Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

About

Results-driven Merchandising & Operations professional with 12+ years of experience across fashion and FMCG. Held progressive leadership roles at international fashion and luxury houses including Guess Europe, 7 For All Mankind, Swarovski, and MCM. Led cross-functional teams across EMEA and global markets, owning merchandising strategy, assortment planning, pricing, and inventory management across channels. Managed multi-million-euro budgets and complex regional structures, driving operational efficiency and scalability. Defined go-to-market frameworks aligned with brand positioning and translated strategy into effective retail activation. Partnered closely with supply chain and regional teams to optimize sell-through, margin, and stock efficiency, consistently delivering profitable growth and strong brand performance.

Experience

  • EMEA Retail Marketing Oprations Manager at MCM WORLDWIDE
    Dec 2024 - Jan 2026 · 1 yr 2 mos

    • Develop and implement retail marketing strategies tailored to the EMEA region, aligning with global brand objectives. • Plan and execute integrated marketing campaigns, including in-store promotions, digital marketing, and experiential events. • Build and maintain strong relationships with retail partners, ensuring alignment on marketing initiatives and brand guidelines. • Manage the retail marketing budget for the EMEA region, ensuring efficient allocation of resources and maximizing ROI.

  • SWAROVSKI (Full-time · 4 yrs 10 mos)
    • Senior Retail Operations Manager
      Mar 2022 - Dec 2024 · 2 yrs 10 mos

      • Build and develop mid-long term agreements with suppliers, execute an operational plan to achieve defined goals as financial targets and business KPI. • Managing 25 Million Budget, forecasting and planning marketing merchandise distribution at Global Level (clothing, gifting, packaging) • Lead, coordinate and brief suppliers, ensuring timely deployment, development, lead time production, freight and delivery of high-quality products align with brand guidelines. • Manage existing agreements, ensure compliance with terms and conditions and coordinate with legal and financial teams to draft and review contracts. • Analyzing inventory levels (15 Million value of goods) control supply for restocking or reducing inventory levels of marketing merchandise. • Implement high Levels of end-to-end processes collaborating with the Supply Chain and Merchandising team to deliver high-quality products.

    • Retail Marketing Operations Manager
      Mar 2020 - Feb 2022 · 2 yrs

  • 7 For All Mankind (2 yrs 6 mos)
    • EMEA Merchandising & Planning Manager
      Jan 2018 - Feb 2020 · 2 yrs 2 mos

      • Developing and implementing Retail & Ecomm Merchandising OTB plans (9 Million COGS), including product assortment, pricing, and placement. • Conducting market research to identify trends and opportunities for growth through collaboration partnership or licensing projects. • Collaborating with design and product development teams to ensure that new products are aligned with overall merchandising strategies. • Managing inventory levels and supply chain logistics to ensure that products are delivered to stores on time and in the right quantities.

    • Financial Planning Manager (maternity cover)
      Jan 2018 - Dec 2018 · 1 yr

      • Developing and managing financial Brick and Mortar P&L budgets and forecasts. (35 Million Financial Plan), creating financial models to support business targets. • Analyzing financial Retail performance to identify trends and opportunities for growth.

    • Retail Planner
      Sep 2017 - Dec 2017 · 4 mos

  • Retail Planner at VF Corporation
    Oct 2014 - Sep 2017 · 3 yrs

    • Analyzing sales data and market trends to identify opportunities for growth. • Developing and implementing buying, assortment, sales and promotion plans. • Collaborating with Supply Chain and product development teams to ensure that product offerings are aligned with overall retail strategies and goals. • Monitoring competitor activity and adjusting merchandise plans as needed to stay competitive.

  • Retail Allocation Analyst at Guess Europe Sagl
    May 2013 - Oct 2014 · 1 yr 6 mos

    •Handling allocation of merchandise to stores in order to support company sales, inventory, margin and turn goals. •Creating and implementing a distribution strategy, finalized to support merchandising, planning and buying team, marketing and financial strategies. •Develop knowledge of specific regional variances, store attributes and trends through data analysis.