Senior Merchandise Planner at Best Search Recruitment

Job Purpose:

• Create seasonal, monthly and weekly plans and forecasts for sales, inventory, markdowns and gross margin. Monitor performance and partner with buying team to develop financial strategies to achieve plans.

Responsibilities:

• Maintains profiles of standard reports and continually ensures the merchants are maximizing the effectiveness of new tools
• Create seasonal, monthly and weekly plans and forecasts for sales, inventory, markdowns and gross margin. Monitor performance and partner with buying team to develop financial strategies to achieve plans.
• Initiate and develop actionable analysis to recap business by classification and subclass at a top-line as well as store level in order to partner with buying team to create strategies to drive sales and achieve gross margin profitability.
• Manage and update monthly open-to-buy.
• Recap business by classification, style, color and size and create best seller/hindsight reports on a weekly, monthly and quarterly basis to allow for thorough analysis of the business.
• Manages monthly core vendor performance and assist merchants in evaluating issues and opportunities
• Supports VP and Merchandise Product Directors/Merchandise Managers with data and analysis; draw conclusions about opportunities and liabilities and follows through to execution
• Partners with Director of Planning, Buyers and Divisional Merchandise Managers to develop long-range seasonal targets; ensures division alignment to these goals
• Forecasts sales, markdowns, receipts and inventory to develop accurate buy meeting goals
• Re-forecasts financial projections based on changes in business strategy, business climate and receipt flow

Education/Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree or a combination of education and equivalent work experience
• 5+ years of experience in merchandise planning or equivalent, preferably in a specialty retail environment
• Passion for numbers and product
• Strong analytical ability
• Proficient in Microsoft Excel and knowledgeable in Microsoft Word
• Excellent organizational and problem solving skills
• Demonstrates the ability to establish priorities in a fast-paced, multi-task environment
• Demonstrates the ability to work effectively with diverse teams
• Experience using Merchandise Planning system preferred