Produce Demand Analyst

Brief Description

Overview:

The Demand Analyst owns short-term demand forecasting and provides analytical support that strengthens replenishment decisions, sourcing cycles, and overall category performance.

This role builds and maintains forecasting tools, partners closely with Merchant III and Procurement to incorporate market and supply signals, and identifies opportunities to improve forecast accuracy, reduce bias, and improve inventory outcomes.

The Demand Analyst is a critical enabler of daily Produce operations, ensuring merchants have accurate, actionable demand signals for decision making.

Responsibilities:

Short-Term Forecast Ownership

• Own and maintain short-term demand forecasts for Produce, incorporating year over year trends, seasonality, weather impacts, holiday effects, supply variability and marketing or promotional changes.
• Deliver forecasts supporting daily procurement and replenishment decisions.
• Identify anomalies, shifts, and structured risks in demand signals and communicate them proactively.
  
  

Forecast Model Development & Continuous Improvement

• Enhance existing Excel-based forecasting tools with improved logic, time-series methods, and data automation.
• Build scenario analyses to stress-test demand assumptions and support sourcing or pricing decisions.
• Track forecast accuracy and bias at item and category levels, creating visibility and improvement plans.
• Maintain documentation of forecasting methodologies, inputs, signals, and model updates.
  
  

Cross-Functional Partnership

• Partner with Merchant III and Procurement to connect market conditions, supply intelligence, and sourcing timelines with demand expectations.
• Work with Operations and Inbound teams to align forecasts with capacity, constraints, and seasonal throughput.
• Support Finance with volume assumptions for category and portfolio planning.
  
  

Business Insight & Reporting

• Produce daily/weekly reporting packages including demand variance analysis, OOS drivers, trend insights, and category volume projections.
• Highlight risks and opportunities to help Merch III adjust buy plans, promotional activation, and supplier communication.
• Support the Category Review process by providing demand projections and analytics aligned to category strategies.
  
  

Required Qualifications:

• Minimum 1–3 years’ experience in forecasting, analytics, supply chain planning, data science, or related fields.
• Advanced Excel skills required; experience with time-series or statistical models is preferred.
• Strong analytical skills and comfort working with large datasets.
• Ability to translate data into actionable recommendations for Merchants and Procurement teams.
  
  

Success Measures:

• Forecast accuracy & bias reduction across short-term horizons.
• Improved replenishment reliability and reduction in avoidable OOS.
• Adoption and impact of enhanced forecasting tools and methodologies.
• Clarity, quality, and timeliness of demand-related communications to merchants.
• Contribution to sourcing, pricing, and planning cycles through high-quality volume insights.
  
  

This job description is intended to provide a general overview of the responsibilities. However, the Company reserves the right to adjust, modify, or reassign work tasks and responsibilities as needed to meet changing business needs, operational requirements, or other factors.