Visual Manager jobs

Main Purpose of the Position:

We are looking to appoint an experienced, commercially driven and conceptually strong National Visual Merchandise Manager to lead the Visual Merchandising, spatial and in-store experience agenda across the Coricraft retail network. If you thrive in creative direction, commercial performance, store development and team leadership, then we would love to hear from you.

This is a strategic and hands-on leadership role responsible for translating the Coricraft brand, customer proposition and furniture strategy into compelling physical retail environments that inspire customers, optimise space and drive commercial performance.

The successful candidate will operate at the intersection of brand, customer experience, furniture merchandising, spatial planning and commercial execution – developing the overarching vision while ensuring its successful implementation across the store network.

The role will lead the evolution of how Coricraft presents furniture, creates room solutions, tells product stories and guides customers through the store, ensuring that every environment is both distinctive and commercially productive.

Key Responsibility Areas:

1. National VM, Spatial & Experience Strategy

· Develop and own the national Visual Merchandising and in-store experience strategy in alignment with Coricraft's brand, customer and commercial objectives.

· Establish a clear VM and spatial vision for the brand, defining how stores should look, feel, flow and trade.

· Translate brand strategy and customer insights into tangible principles for space planning, zoning, adjacencies, furniture presentation, styling, storytelling and customer journey.

· Develop scalable VM frameworks and principles that can be consistently applied across different store formats, sizes and locations.

· Continually evolve the retail environment in response to customer behaviour, trading performance, category strategy and emerging furniture retail trends.

2. Concept Development & Creative Direction

· Lead the conceptual development of store environments, room settings, furniture stories and seasonal experiences.

· Create compelling visual concepts that demonstrate how Coricraft can inspire customers beyond individual furniture pieces and present the opportunity to purchase complete rooms and lifestyle solutions.

· Develop clear creative direction, mood boards, spatial concepts, furniture compositions and visual storytelling principles.

· Establish a strong point of view on how furniture should be styled, layered and presented to create aspiration, emotional connection and ease of purchase.

· Partner with Brand and Marketing to ensure campaigns, product launches and brand communications translate seamlessly into the physical environment.

· Ensure creative concepts maintain the integrity of the Coricraft brand while remaining commercially relevant and executable.

3. Furniture Merchandising & Commercial Implementation

· Develop and implement furniture merchandising principles that maximise space productivity, product visibility, customer engagement and conversion.

· Use furniture knowledge, customer behaviour and sales data to determine optimal product adjacencies, room configurations and store zoning.

· Develop approaches to complete-room merchandising, cross-category selling and complementary product presentation.

· Partner with Buying and Commercial teams to ensure the physical environment supports key categories, ranges, launches, exclusives and commercial priorities.

· Identify opportunities to improve the productivity of underperforming spaces, categories and product displays.

· Balance inspirational presentation with commercial density, ensuring stores remain both aspirational and shoppable.

· Translate strategic concepts into practical implementation guidelines, toolkits and standards for the store network.

4. Store Development & Roll-out

· Lead the VM and customer experience workstream for new store openings, relocations, refurbishments, store revamps and format development.

· Translate approved concepts into detailed implementation plans, working with Store Design, Property, Operations, Marketing and external partners.

· Provide VM input into store layouts, customer journeys, zoning, sightlines, focal points, furniture placement, styling and customer touchpoints.

· Develop and maintain national implementation standards to ensure consistency without creating a one-size-fits-all environment.

· Conduct pre-opening planning, store set-up, implementation and post-opening evaluation.

· Identify opportunities to continuously improve existing stores through targeted interventions rather than relying solely on capital-intensive refurbishment.

5. Customer Journey & Physical Experience

· Develop store environments around a clear customer journey, from attraction and discovery through consideration, conversion and return.

· Identify opportunities to make furniture shopping easier, more inspiring and more intuitive.

· Use visual merchandising to help customers understand product benefits, room solutions, scale, styling and complementary products.

· Design environments that encourage customers to spend more time exploring and engaging with the brand.

· Leverage customer feedback, behavioural insights and store observations to continually improve the physical experience.

6. Commercial Performance & Measurement

· Establish clear measures for the effectiveness of Visual Merchandising and store experience initiatives.

· Analyse sales performance, category productivity, conversion, customer behaviour and other relevant commercial metrics to evaluate VM effectiveness.

· Use data and insight to identify opportunities for improved space productivity and commercial performance.

· Conduct structured post-implementation reviews of new concepts, store revamps and major VM initiatives.

· Build a culture where creative decisions are supported by commercial evidence and measurable outcomes.

· Clearly articulate the commercial value and return on investment of VM initiatives.

7. National Implementation & Governance

· Establish clear national VM standards, guidelines and implementation tools, ensuring strong and consistent brand presentation across the retail network.

· Develop seasonal, campaign and trading calendars to ensure the store network is consistently activated.

· Conduct regular brand and VM audits and translate findings into prioritised action plans.

· Ensure implementation quality and consistency across the national network while allowing for local store opportunities and customer differences.

· Establish clear ways of working between VM, Retail, Operations, Marketing, Store Design, Buying and other key stakeholders.

· Manage external suppliers and creative partners where required.

8. Leadership & Team Development

· Lead, coach and develop the national Visual Merchandising team, creating a high-performance and accountable culture.

· Build capability across concept development, furniture merchandising, spatial thinking, commercial analysis and implementation.

· Set clear objectives and performance measures for the VM team.

· Create an environment that encourages creativity, initiative, collaboration and continuous improvement.

· Build strong relationships across the broader business to ensure VM is embedded as a strategic commercial capability rather than an executional function.

9. Market, Customer & Competitive Intelligence

· Maintain a strong understanding of the South African and international furniture retail landscape.

· Monitor competitor activity, emerging retail formats, customer behaviour, design trends and innovations in furniture merchandising.

· Translate relevant trends and insights into practical opportunities for Coricraft.

· Benchmark Coricraft's physical experience against leading furniture, home and lifestyle retailers.

· Identify opportunities for Coricraft to differentiate its retail experience and strengthen its position within the furniture market.

10. Budget & Resource Management

· Develop and manage the national VM budget in line with agreed business priorities, ensuring cost-effective execution and appropriate resource allocation.

· Prioritise investment towards initiatives that deliver the greatest customer and commercial impact.

· Manage suppliers, production partners and implementation resources effectively.

· Ensure all projects are delivered within agreed scope, budget and timelines.

Experience and Competencies Required:

· Relevant qualification in Visual Merchandising, Interior Design, Spatial Design, Retail Management, Design or a related discipline.

· 8–10+ years' experience in Visual Merchandising, Store Design, Spatial Planning or Retail Experience, preferably within the furniture or home retail sector.

· Significant experience within a furniture retail environment, with a strong understanding of furniture merchandising, room settings, product adjacencies and customer journeys.

· Proven experience developing and implementing national VM strategies and concepts.

· Strong experience in new store openings, store development, refurbishments and retail roll-outs.

· Demonstrated ability to move from conceptual thinking through to detailed implementation.

· Strong understanding of spatial planning, customer flow, space productivity and physical retail environments.

· Commercial acumen and the ability to connect VM activity to sales, conversion and customer behaviour.

· Experience working cross-functionally with Retail, Operations, Marketing, Buying, Store Design, Property and external agencies.

· Strong project management capability, with the ability to manage multiple initiatives across a national network.

· Strong analytical, problem-solving and decision-making skills.

· High attention to detail with the ability to work under pressure, meet deadlines and manage multiple priorities.

· Willingness and ability to travel nationally as required.

Leadership Attributes:

· Conceptual – able to see the future of the retail environment and translate ideas into compelling experiences.

· Commercial – understands that great design must ultimately support customer engagement and business performance.

· Customer obsessed – starts with how customers shop, browse, discover and make decisions.

· Furniture fluent – understands the category, product, room solutions and the dynamics of furniture retail.

· Implementation focused – can turn a vision into clear, executable plans across a complex store network.

· Strategic – able to connect brand, customer, space and commercial strategy.

· Creative with purpose – creates distinctive environments that have a clear role in driving the business.

· Data informed – uses insight and performance data to continually improve the physical environment.

· Collaborative – able to influence and align multiple stakeholders across the business.

· A strong leader – builds capability, accountability and performance within the VM team.

· Detail driven – understands that excellence is delivered through the quality of execution.

· Agile and solutions focused – able to navigate changing priorities, commercial pressures and operational realities.

The Opportunity:

This is an opportunity to play a defining role in the next evolution of the Coricraft retail experience.

The successful candidate will not simply be responsible for how stores look. They will be responsible for how Coricraft uses physical space to build the brand, inspire customers, showcase furniture, enable complete-room selling and drive commercial growth.

The role requires someone who can think at both ends of the spectrum – from the big idea to the last detail on the shop floor.

Work Location: In person