Merchandise Planner

Merchandise Planner

The Retail Planner is responsible for the overall financial direction of the company owned store inventory with the goal of meeting/exceeding sales, margin and turn targets. The candidate will work with the Buyer in assortment and buy planning by facilitating layering of assortments and validating the integrity of initial allocation volumes.

Ideal Candidate will have a deep understanding of the numbers, the technology and the strategy of a retailer along with the experience in these areas:

• Inventory productivity
• Inventory Planning
• Merchandising
• Buying
• Pricing
• Allocating
• Vendor Management
• Store Operations

• Analyze sales, margin, turn and open-to-buy/forecast performance against strategies and goals
• Ability to create, develop and maintain proper reports to effectively manage inventory
• Manage and oversee OTB implementation
• Develop merchandise financial plans, category and department plans as appropriate
• Provide analytical inputs to support the Buyer in merchandise strategy planning, assortment planning and buy planning processes
• Develop replenishment budget and provide analytics required for planning and managing replenishment items
• Reforecast replenishment budget to inform Open-to-Buy
• Provide forecasts and recommendations to support the Buyer in open-to buy process to manage business in season and maximize opportunities
• Analyzes business to the lowest level to identify opportunities in sales, inventory, and margin by store, department, and class
• Oversee the creation of store plans
• Reconcile merchandise and by-door plans against top-side goals and assortment plans
• Oversee the development of allocations by store and replenishment analysis/forecasting
• Oversee style/SKU count analysis
• Proficiency in use of POS and back office system tools
• Effectively work with store operations and marketing
• Travels to markets and store trips as necessary
• Reacts to business trends in a timely and efficient manner
• Adapts to shifting circumstances in a business environment

Knowledge, Skills, Abilities and Behaviors

• Three to Five years of experience – Soft goods and Retail experience preferred
• Expert merchandising skills and thorough understanding of the product process
• Strong business orientation, analytical aptitude and retail math skills
• Experience with POS back office systems and Microsoft Office Suite
• Highly detailed, organized and able to multitask
• Strong verbal and written communication skills, including meeting facilitation and presentations
• Proven knowledge in financial line planning, business planning and strategic planning
• Ability to make timely decisions, anticipate problems, identify areas of opportunity, and provide creative, logical and efficient solutions 
• Effective ability to communicate complex and/or controversial topics and concepts to a wide and diverse audience
• Ability to effectively elevate strategic concerns to senior management in a timely and accurate manner
• Ability to develop strong working relationships with management and external resources
• Ability to lead complex initiatives and project teams
• Ability to create new ideas, generate consensus and work cooperatively