Merchandise Planner

Main Responsibilities

• Lead and Manage OTB (Open-to-Buy) Process: Develop and maintain comprehensive OTB plans that are aligned with financial forecasts, ensuring a proactive outlook at least six months ahead.
• Budget Compliance Monitoring: Proactively monitor departmental adherence to approved OTB to prevent overspending. Escalate any areas of concern to the Director of Planning & Replenishment and the VP of Merchandising.
• Executive Reporting: Provide bi-weekly executive summaries of OTB by region, offering insightful commentary on significant business trends and changes.
• Business Performance Analysis: Conduct in-depth monthly and quarterly business performance reviews to inform current strategies and decision-making.
• Markdown Process Management: Oversee the entire markdown process for both US and AU sites, coordinating with wholesale and drop ship partners to manage assortments and inventory ownership.
• Seasonal Financial and Assortment Analysis: Analyze seasonal financial performance and assortment effectiveness. Collaborate with Merchandising leadership to develop inventory strategies for upcoming seasons.
• Supply Planning Integration: Collaborate with the Director of Planning & Replenishment to align retail and inventory targets with broader supply planning initiatives, ensuring these targets support strategic decision-making.
• In-Season Opportunity Recognition: Proactively identify and capitalize on in-season opportunities and process improvements to maximize profitability.
• Inventory Flow and Optimization: Review receipt flows and manage aged inventory to ensure optimal stock levels, maximizing sales potential while minimizing excess.
• Strategic Financial Planning: Understand and translate the brand's long-term strategy into actionable financial plans at the category and class level, supporting strategic goals.
• Product Performance Analysis: Analyze in-season performance to inform pre-season inventory investments, ensuring alignment with business goals.
• Pre-Season Framework Development: Develop and share pre-season category and sub-category frameworks to align financial and strategic objectives across the brand.
• Margin and Revenue Optimization:Identify and evaluate margin and revenue opportunities and risks, employing scenario planning to inform strategic decision-making.
• Inbound Planning: Provide weekly inbound receipt forecasts to warehouse partners to support their labor and capacity planning.
• Dailies Forecasting: Provide guidance on daily sales forecasts based on historical data and promotional planning activities.

Skills & Experience

• Strong interpersonal and negotiation skills.
• Exceptional attention to detail and quality control.
• Ability to thrive in ambiguous and fast paced environments.
• Data-driven decision-making mentality, sound business judgment, and the ability to back your recommendations up with meaningful analytical thinking.
• Ability to organize, prioritize, and reorder workload in a dynamic environment.
• Ability to work both independently and as part of a team.
• Strategic thinker with the ability to make sound independent decisions.
• Create and maintain a close working relationship with all internal teams.
• Be familiar with EDI systems.
• Able to learn systems and proficient in various Microsoft tools like excel.
• Organized and detail oriented.
• Practical problem-solving and decision-making skills especially when an issue arises.
• Time management and a sense of urgency to meet deadlines.
• Looking for ways to streamline and improves processes.