Merchandise Planner

Merchandise Planner

Requirements

• 3-5 years of experience in a retail or wholesale environment, including 2-3 as a planner
• Bachelor’s Degree
• Demonstrated retail math and business acumen, including margin planning, sales forecasting, and inventory productivity measures
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills to work with peers and partners
• Demonstrated organizational skills with an attention to detail
• Adaptable to feedback and pivot based on changing organizational priorities
• Demonstrated ability to work under pressure to meet deadlines while maintaining positive attitude
• Resourceful with the ability to prioritize, problem-solve, and make decisions
• Advanced proficiency in Excel, Word, and PowerPoint
• Knowledge of PowerBI, Microstrategy, 09 MFP, and Oracle RMS a plus

Responsibilities

• Leverage corporate financial targets to develop seasonal sales, inventory, and margin plans by Department-Classification and store groups
• Determine style-color and depth targets by attribute and store group for each area of business to support product selection in market
• Manage SKU & style intensive category
• Manage location intensive assortments
• Develop sales forecasts and buy quantity estimates to determine the appropriate inventory levels for each product considering factors such as lead times, seasonality, and turn targets to optimize inventory investment
• Manage the open-to-buy (OTB) budget for a category of business, $50-150M, to ensure inventory investment funds sales and margin plans, adjusting as necessary
• Manage inventory levels and receipts to ensure optimal stock vs. sales levels, monitoring in season to minimize stockouts and overstocks
• Manage markdown and MOS budgets to balance inventory ownership and margin objectives
• Collaborate with key partners to identify pricing and liquidation opportunities to manage the transition of products
• Analyze sales performance and make recommendations for pricing adjustments, promotions, and markdowns to optimize profitability
• Analyze sales, inventory, and margin performance to assess the effectiveness of merchandising strategies and identify areas for improvement, providing insights and recommendations to Buyers for optimizing assortment and inventory levels
• Leverage weekly business insights to understand item level performance to maximize in season opportunities, minimize liability, and inform future seasons
• Generate regular reports and analysis to provide insights into sales, inventory, and profitability metrics to senior management
• Test multiple business strategies simultaneously, quantifying & communicating business impacts and be able to report results clearly and concisely to Executive management
• Create and maintain alignment among peers on merchandising and allocation teams on forecast changes and inventory strategies
• Participate in regular meetings and strategic discussions to provide input on merchandise planning strategies

Preferred Qualifications

• Knowledge of PowerBI, Microstrategy, 09 MFP, and Oracle RMS a plus