Lori Wessel

Strategic product and merchandising professional with 8+ years of experience spanning product management, category management, procurement, inventory planning, pricing strategy, and cross-functional product launches. Skilled in using customer insights, competitive analysis, sales trends, and service-level reporting to identify assortment opportunities, optimize gross margin, mitigate inventory risk, and bring customer-focused offerings to market. Known for building productive supplier and stakeholder relationships, managing complex timelines, and translating data into clear recommendations that support revenue growth, profitability, and operational execution.

Merchandising Specialist at Lifetouch (2025-03 – Present)

• Develop and execute merchandising strategies for new products, packages, bundles, and photography offerings, aligning product assortments with customer value, channel needs, and revenue performance goals.
• Manage pricing strategy and merchandise assortment for assigned business lines, using competitive analysis and business insights to recommend product positioning, package structure, and customer-facing offers.
• Partner with marketing, product, analytics, photography, creative, and operations teams to launch pricing, product assortment, and site merchandising initiatives that improve customer engagement and execution readiness.
• Collaborate with design and product partners to introduce new creative offerings, backgrounds, and product concepts, ensuring solutions are marketable, operationally feasible, and clearly communicated to stakeholders.
• Translate product performance, forecast tracking, customer feedback, and margin considerations into actionable recommendations for leadership and cross-functional partners.

Customer Advocate at Owens & Minor (2024-09 – 2025-03)

• Supported territory sales leadership by analyzing product performance, service needs, and customer trends to inform account strategies and fulfillment priorities.
• Managed reporting needs including inventory reports and customer report requests, converting data into clear insights for sales teams and customer decision-making.

Procurement Customer Advocate | Replenishment Buyer | Merchandising Services Specialist at UNFI (2021-06 – 2024-09)

• Enhanced service levels for major retailers including Whole Foods and Wakefern through detailed service-level and trend analysis, strategic inventory planning, and proactive issue resolution.
• Managed multiple product categories, including grocery, frozen, and essential items, balancing inventory levels, fulfillment timing, and customer expectations through coordinated project management.
• Compiled and presented weekly service-level reporting for clients and internal sales, account management, marketing, and merchandising teams, highlighting risks, successes, and actionable improvement opportunities.
• Built strong vendor, buyer, and supplier relationships to resolve fulfillment issues, pursue alternative sourcing strategies, maintain high service levels, and reduce stockout risk.
• Monitored inventory usage patterns, price changes, packaging changes, and vendor backorders, implementing adjustments to maintain smooth operations and support inventory turn.
• Created and maintained vendor workflow scorecards, new vendor documentation processes, and operational metrics; improved documentation and issue resolution contributed to an 87% decrease in pass count.

Product Manager at Fey Industries (2020-08 – 2021-06)

• Defined and executed quarterly objectives and product roadmaps with internal stakeholders, aligning product development, assortment priorities, and launch timelines to strategic growth initiatives.
• Performed market and competitive analysis, evaluated category line performance, supported sales forecasting, and delivered strategic insights for product positioning and decision-making.
• Supported marketing activation by writing product descriptions and messaging, creating sales and informational materials, and collaborating with the marketing team on product videos.
• Led training sessions for new processes and product launch initiatives, improving cross-functional understanding and consistency across internal teams.
• Coordinated with supply chain, operations, marketing, and manufacturing teams to monitor launch progress, resolve issues, and keep product introductions on schedule.

Marketing Specialist | Category Manager at Evans Manufacturing (2016-06 – 2020-04)

• Partnered with product development teams to conceptualize and launch new products, overseeing product setup, specifications, copy, pricing, and market-facing execution.
• Managed marketing strategy and coordinated product initiatives, ensuring clear representation of new offerings across customer-facing and sales support materials.
• Maintained product discontinuation and line refresh recommendations by monitoring sales metrics, category performance, and profitability trends.
• Reduced inventory by 24% and increased sales by 10% in 2019 through strategic inventory management and targeted sales initiatives.
• Planned and managed tradeshow preparations, strengthening brand awareness and product presentation for new launches.

Bachelor of Applied Science in Business Management – Southwest Minnesota State University

Associate of Applied Science in Executive Administrative Assistant & Marketing Design – Dakota County Technical College