Merchandise Planner

The Merchandise Planner position requires excellent analytical skills, retail or (ideally AND) ecommerce business experience, and the ability to work well independently and with their cross functional buying team. This role works closely with the Merchandising Teams and is responsible for creating open-to-buy plans and managing appropriate inventory levels across all business lines- wholesale, DTC, dropship, and Amazon. Successful candidates will excel in analyzing sales data, forecasting demand, managing inventory levels, providing margin and pricing recommendations, and diving deep into business analytics.

This position will report directly into the Director of Merchandising.

A Typical Work Day:

• Develop merchandise plans: Create comprehensive merchandise/receipt plans that align with company goals, sales targets, and market trends for the total line across categories and business segments.
• Manage OpentoBuy meetings and monthly reviews with leadership.
• Forecast demand: Utilize historical data, market trends, and customer insights to accurately forecast sales, receipts, and projected inventory on hand.
• Inventory management: Monitor inventory levels, analyze sellthrough rates, and recommend appropriate actions to both increase and decrease on order quantities to optimize sales and inventory turnover while minimizing stockouts and overstock situations.
• Financial analysis: Conduct regular analysis of sales performance, margin trends, and product profitability to identify opportunities and risks, and provide actionable recommendations to management.
• Provide a budget for markdowns and work with the merch team on monthly recommendations.
• Manage the financial success of the company by meeting sales, margin, and inventory turn goals.
• Ensure structured reporting deliverables are met, evaluating reports for accuracy, performance efficiency, and clear comprehension.
• Analyze the business to find actionable data and present findings in a clear and concise manner.
• Be selfmotivated to go above and beyond the everyday business, looking for opportunities to maximize sales potential and growth.
• Perform all other duties as assigned.
  
  

What you bring to the role:

• 5 years Assortment/Demand/Merchandise planning experience preferred, including 2 years in a retail ecommerce environment. Women's swim and apparel experience highly preferred.
• Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent work experience
• Demonstrate strong analytical and problemsolving skills: exceptional aptitude with numbers; retail math skills and demand planning
• Able to develop and maintain strong working relationships and work effectively with cross functional teams
• Exceptional communication and presentation skills. Concisely presents complex information/recommendations in a digestible manner for various audiences
• Collaborative team player
• Flexible and adaptive to changing priorities
• High level of proficiency with Microsoft Excel and adhoc report building; familiarity with FullCircle and PowerBI systems a plus
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Strong knowledge of demand planning and forecasting
• Experience in buying and/or allocation an advantage