Merchandise Planner

Job Summary

Planners are responsible for the overall financial direction of a category or department(s) with the goal of meeting/exceeding sales, margin and turn targets. Planners are primarily responsible for developing seasonal merchandise financial plans, developing, and managing the allocation strategy, and supporting the Buyer with a department(s) open to buy. Planners also work with Buyers in assortment and buy planning by facilitating layering of assortments and validating the integrity of initial allocation volumes. In-season, Planners provide in-depth analysis of product performance and make recommendations to maximize business opportunities.

Key Roles And Responsibilities

• Manage the financial success of a department by meeting sales, gross margin and inventory turn goals.
• Develop pre-season merchandise financial plans to the classification level that support department strategies.
• Reconcile merchandise plans against top-side goals and assortment plans.
• Analyze historical data and current trends to identify risks and opportunities by department and class.
• Provide analytical inputs to support the Buyer in merchandise strategy planning, assortment planning and buy planning processes.
• Collaborate with merchandising to develop and communicate a comprehensive strategy that aligns future financial and product opportunities by department and class.
• Recap and analyze actual sales results to plan, forecasts in-season sales and inventories on a weekly/monthly/quarterly basis.
• Develop monthly forecasts of sales and inventory for all basic styles and develop strategies to meet department financial goals.
• Lead Open-to-Buy Process; present financial forecast and supporting action plans in monthly open-to-buy forecast meeting.
• Communicate financial results, forecasts, and action plans to manager and buying team on a weekly basis.
• Provide pricing and promotional recommendations that align with department financial goals.
• Present financial plans, forecasts, and strategies in key meetings.
• Support a collaborative, innovative and results-oriented environment with peers and cross-functional team.
• Develop Key Item plans and provide analytics required for planning and managing key items in-season.
• Oversee the development of allocations by store and replenishment analysis/forecasting.
• Oversee style/SKU count analysis.
• Build a high-functioning planning team by developing partnerships, leading, coaching and providing constructive feedback.
• Prioritize and set expectations around key deliverables with direct reports and buying team.
• Oversee store clustering process and provide location recommendations regarding product placement and maximization of trend performance.
• Partners with buyer on development of reinventions, visual initiatives, and collaborations.
• Assist the buy process by performing planning functions within the assortment planning/item planning tool.
• Manage and develop direct report.