International

General overview

The international team manages the relationships we have with our overseas brand franchises. With now over 400 stores in 29 countries ranging from Malta to Singapore, International is an exciting and rapidly growing area of the business with further expansion planned in Spain, Sweden and Saudi Arabia to name a few.

The international team is responsible for maintaining brand integrity, product merchandising and visual proposition in these stores.

Types of role

• Regional Business Controller
• VM Co-ordinator
• Regional Business Assistant

This team reports into the International Director.

If you are interested in any of these roles please click here to find out if we have opportunities available.

Profile

Emma McLachlan
Regional Business Manager

"My job is to be the first point of contact for the franchise partner for everything concerning our brands in the Far East. I am also the first point of contact for all functions in the UK for anything concerning my region. I get involved in merchandising, marketing, operations, logistics, store design, visual merchandising and training. I currently look after 86 stores in five countries. I travel to my region every couple of months and ensure everything is running smoothly and look for ways to drive the business forward - often visiting new sites, reviewing the competition and working on training and development with partners. I also plan sales and phasing for my stores every season and feedback to the team in the UK on trade during each season.

I love the fact that no two days are the same and that you get a real sense of a whole business when working with franchise partners. It's also great to be part of such a growth area. During my time on International I have seen the business grow into what it is today - now trading in more than 420 stores in 29 countries.

The most important skill in my job is communication. You also need to be analytical and good with numbers. It's also vital to have strong retail operations skills and a passion for international business and its complexities. You need to be able to thrive on managing multiple priorities and rapid change. On my region it's particularly important to be able to cope with jet lag!

I joined the company in 1995 - when it was the Burton Group. I worked in store for Principles, Topshop and Topman whilst studying at University and was bitten by the retail bug. When I finished university I went to work full time at Topshop Manchester when it reopened in October 1998 (after the store was destroyed in the Manchester bomb). During my time in Manchester I became really interested in the merchandising role. The Topshop jersey merchandiser invited me to London to job-shadow her for the day. A month later I moved to London and took my first role in Distribution for Burton and Topman in April 1999. I worked as an allocator for a year before joining the International team as Merchandise Administration Assistant in 2000. I then held various roles in merchandising within International, becoming Merchandiser for Dorothy Perkins in International. In January 2006 I became Regional Business Manager in International - looking after the Far East across all of Arcadia's brands.

Arcadia is a dynamic and diverse business to work for. Working for such a large company means that you can control your career path and that if you want a change in direction it can often be accommodated. When I took my first job as a sales assistant, I didn't intend to have a career in retail. However I stayed in retail because it's such an exciting business and I stayed with Arcadia because I have always had a clear career path and great support in achieving my goals."