Assistant Merchandiser – Fashion Retail – Al-Futtaim Group

Al-Futtaim’s retail division carries a portfolio of major international brands, including Marks & Spencer in the UAE, and an Assistant Merchandiser supports the buying and merchandising team in managing product ranges for the fashion business. This is a UAE National role focused on developing local talent within the merchandising function.

The day-to-day work involves supporting range planning, tracking sales and stock performance by category, helping analyze which products are performing well or poorly, and coordinating with suppliers and internal teams to make sure stock arrives on time and in the right quantities. Merchandising in fashion retail is a numbers-heavy discipline: an Assistant Merchandiser spends a lot of time in spreadsheets and reporting tools, translating sales data into recommendations about what to reorder, discount, or discontinue.

Because fashion retail moves on seasonal cycles, the role also involves supporting the planning process for upcoming seasons, working alongside buyers to understand what’s selling and feeding that insight into future range decisions. Strong attention to detail matters here, since stock and pricing errors can have a direct and visible impact on the shop floor.

This is a strong entry point into retail merchandising for someone early in their career who is analytically minded, interested in fashion retail, and wants to build a foundation in how a major international retail brand manages its UAE product range.

Merchandising decisions, what to stock, how much, and when to discount, directly determine a fashion retailer's sell-through rates and markdown losses, which are among the most significant profitability levers in retail. An Assistant Merchandiser who tracks performance data accurately and flags slow-moving or fast-selling lines early helps the wider team make better reorder and markdown decisions, protecting margin across the range. Because Marks & Spencer and Al-Futtaim's other fashion brands operate on seasonal cycles, timing matters enormously: a range that arrives late or is sized wrong for a season's demand can mean lost sales that can't be recovered until the next cycle. This role's attention to detail on stock accuracy also has a direct customer-facing effect, since pricing or availability errors are visible on the shop floor and affect customer trust and experience immediately. As a UAE National development role, it also carries a broader strategic purpose for Al-Futtaim: building a pipeline of Emirati talent into retail leadership functions like buying and merchandising, which supports both the company's Emiratisation commitments and its long-term talent strategy in a function that has traditionally been harder to nationalize. Getting the fundamentals right in this entry-level seat is what sets up future range decisions to be made on accurate, trustworthy data.

Merchandising is one of the most transferable and commercially central skills in retail, because it sits at the intersection of data analysis, commercial judgment, and product knowledge. Starting as an Assistant Merchandiser builds foundational fluency in how retail businesses actually make money: which products to buy, how much to buy, and when to intervene when something isn't selling, skills that apply across virtually any product retail category, not just fashion. Working within Al-Futtaim's structure, and specifically alongside an internationally recognized brand like Marks & Spencer, gives exposure to retail processes and standards that have been refined across a large multinational operation, a genuinely useful benchmark early in a career. The role also builds strong Excel and data analysis habits early, which compound in value as a merchandising career progresses into planning, buying, and category management roles that rely even more heavily on forecasting and range strategy. As a UAE National talent development role, it also typically comes with structured mentorship and a clearer path toward more senior buying or merchandising positions than an equivalent open-market entry role might offer. People who build a strong foundation as Assistant Merchandisers often progress into Merchandiser, Senior Merchandiser, or Buyer roles within a few years, and the analytical and commercial skills built here translate well into category management, retail planning, or even supply chain roles later in a career.

• Bachelor’s degree in business, retail management, or a related field
• UAE National (Emirati) candidate, in line with the role’s talent development focus
• Strong Excel skills and comfort working with sales and stock data
• Interest in fashion retail and understanding of seasonal merchandising cycles
• Good communication skills for coordinating with buyers, suppliers, and store teams
• High attention to detail, particularly around stock and pricing accuracy
• Willingness to learn and take direction within a structured retail merchandising team