Sr. Merchandise Planner

About the role

At Five Below, our growth is driven by associates who embrace our purpose: creating an amazing experience where life is way better when you can Let Go & Have Fun with unlimited possibilities, all priced so low you can always say yes to the newest, coolest stuff. With over 27,000 associates, Five Below thrives on a culture defined by The Five Below Way—our values and behaviors that inspire big ideas, super energy, and passion, making the workplace a WOWplace.

Responsibilities

• Merchandise Financial Planning: Leverage corporate financial targets to develop seasonal sales, inventory, and margin plans by Department-Classification and store groups.
• Assortment Planning:
  • 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 categories.
  • Manage location-intensive assortments.
• Demand Planning: Develop sales forecasts and buy quantity estimates to determine appropriate inventory levels, considering factors such as lead times, seasonality, and turn targets to optimize inventory investment.
• Open-to-Buy Management: 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.
• Inventory Management: Manage inventory levels and receipts to ensure optimal stock vs. sales levels, monitoring in-season to minimize stockouts and overstocks.
• Markdown and End-of-Life Management:
  • Manage markdown and MOS budgets to balance inventory ownership and margin objectives.
  • Collaborate with key partners to identify pricing and liquidation opportunities to manage product transitions.
  • Analyze sales performance and recommend pricing adjustments, promotions, and markdowns to optimize profitability.
• Performance Analysis:
  • Analyze sales, inventory, and margin performance to assess merchandising strategies and identify areas for improvement.
  • Provide insights and recommendations to Buyers for optimizing assortment and inventory levels.
  • Leverage weekly business insights to understand item-level performance, maximize in-season opportunities, minimize liability, and inform future seasons.
  • Generate regular reports and analysis to provide insights into sales, inventory, and profitability metrics for senior management.
  • Test multiple business strategies simultaneously, quantifying and communicating business impacts, and report results clearly to Executive management.
• Leadership:
  • Create and maintain alignment among peers on merchandising and allocation teams regarding forecast changes and inventory strategies.
  • Participate in regular meetings and strategic discussions to provide input on merchandise planning strategies.
  • Grow and develop Associate Planners, providing training, career development, and talent retention opportunities.

Qualifications

• 5-7 years of experience in a retail or wholesale environment, including time spent as a planner.
• Bachelor’s Degree.
• Demonstrated retail math and business acumen, including margin planning, sales forecasting, and inventory productivity measures.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including the ability to present complex information clearly and compellingly.
• Peer leader capable of creating alignment among cross-functional stakeholders by building strong business cases and driving execution.
• Attention to detail and strong time management, organizational, and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.
• Advanced proficiency in Excel, Word, and PowerPoint.
• Knowledge of PowerBI, Microstrategy, 09 MFP, and Oracle RMS is a plus.

Benefits

Explore our benefits site to discover all the perks and support we offer, including health coverage, financial and personal wellness programs, and more. benefits.fivebelow.com/public/welcome.