Ian Kirschner
Farnham,United Kingdom
Summary
Commercially driven with extensive experience delivering sales and profit growth through strategic planning, strong customer relationships and data-led decision making. Enjoy working across teams to solve problems, influence stakeholders and deliver results, with experience in forecasting, category management, supplier collaboration and developing high-performing teams.
Overview
20
20
years of professional experience
Work history
Junior Merchandiser - (Operating at Merchandiser Level) - International Womenswear, Jaeger Brand & Kidswear
Marks & Spencer
London
2023.04 - Current
- Own commercial planning and trading strategy for £230m annual business, driving profitable growth across multiple international markets.
- Delivered three consecutive seasons of sales growth through targeted selling, data-driven forecasting, customer insight and proactive commercial decision making.
- Developed SU26 commercial product strategy across 2,500 product options, increasing seasonal orders by 17% versus previous year.
- Manage weekly trading performance, identifying commercial risks and growth opportunities to maximise sales, profit and stock productivity.
- Built new commercial reporting frameworks including WSSI, Run Rate reporting and Weekly Trade Reviews, improving business decision making and forecasting accuracy.
- Experienced across franchise, wholesale, owned retail and marketplace business models, with strong understanding of both e-commerce and brick-and-mortar trading.
- Partnered with Supply Chain and suppliers to improve launch fulfilment by 14 percentage points, enhancing customer availability.
- Strengthened relationships with international franchise partners, delivering 147% growth in marketing line orders through collaborative commercial planning.
- Led global commercial selling event, securing 16% growth in Autumn 2026 orders.
- Presented commercial performance, forecasts and strategic recommendations to Directors and senior leadership.
- Coached and developed merchandising talent while embedding consistent commercial ways of working across international teams.
Junior Merchandiser - UK Womenswear & Kidswear
Marks & Spencer
London
2017.05 - 2023.04
- Managed £110m Womenswear Outerwear business, delivering exceptional commercial performance.
- Delivered 49% sales growth, generating £5.3m incremental sales and £5.0m additional profit through strategic planning, forecasting and inventory optimisation.
- Accountable for delivering sales, margin, stock and markdown performance across multiple categories.
- Developed commercial business plans, continually reforecasting to respond to changing customer demand and market trends.
- Influenced Buying and Design teams through customer insights, competitor analysis and commercial performance data to optimise product strategies.
- Successfully transformed £30m Kidswear category from -22% sales decline to +14% growth within nine months through commercial recovery planning, supplier collaboration and agile decision making.
- Led cross-functional teams across Buying, Finance, Marketing, Sourcing and Planning to deliver category growth strategies.
- Presented commercial recommendations and investment proposals to senior leadership.
- Built and strengthened strategic supplier relationships, partnering on capacity planning and proactive issue resolution to ensure on-time delivery against critical path milestones
- Developed strong understanding of end-to-end manufacturing processes through factory visits across India, Bangladesh and Turkey, gaining insight into production planning, capacity management and supply chain operations
- Mentored and developed junior colleagues, with several progressing into more senior merchandising roles.
Assistant Merchandiser
Marks & Spencer
London
2006.04 - 2017.05
- Managed Open-to-Buy budgets across £60m product area, maximising in-season commercial opportunities.
- Delivered four consecutive years of sales growth across Hosiery and Socks.
- Implemented merchandise planning tools covering sales, stock, margin, promotions and markdown planning.
- Managed inventory, lifecycle planning and store grading to improve stock productivity.
- Led cross-functional launches of new Beauty and Skincare product ranges.
- Managed promotional planning across Beauty, balancing sales growth with profit delivery
Education
Higher National Diploma - Environmental Health
Middlesex University
LondonSkills
- Commercial Strategy
- Negotiation & Influencing
- P&L Management
- Sales & Profit Growth
- Forecasting & Demand Planning
- Data Analysis
- Strategic Planning
- Cross-Functional Leadership
- Commercial Storytelling
- Team Leadership & Coaching
- Supplier Relationship Management
Accomplishments
- £5.3m incremental sales delivered
- £5.0m additional profit generated
- 49% sales growth delivered in Casual Outerwear
- Department turnaround from -22% to +14% within nine months
- Three consecutive seasons of International sales growth
- 17% increase in seasonal orders
- 147% growth in Womenswear Marketing line orders
- 14 percentage point improvement in launch fulfilment
Affiliations
- Travel and photography are two of my biggest passions, giving me the chance to experience different cultures and see the world from new perspectives
Timeline
Junior Merchandiser - (Operating at Merchandiser Level) - International Womenswear, Jaeger Brand & Kidswear
Marks & Spencer
2023.04 - Current
Junior Merchandiser - UK Womenswear & Kidswear
Marks & Spencer
2017.05 - 2023.04
Assistant Merchandiser
Marks & Spencer
2006.04 - 2017.05
Higher National Diploma - Environmental Health
Middlesex University