Ecommerce Inventory & Merchandise Planner - Emerging Blue, Inc.
Acton, MA 01720
About the Job
We are searching for an eCommerce Inventory & Merchandise Planner to be responsible for the development of category sales forecasts and inventory plans for our client's website. This position is accountable for providing analyses to improve profitability by identifying opportunities and risks at a granular level. The Inventory & Merchandise planner will be highly collaborative with retail buyers and allocators to ensure that objectives are met at a higher level. He/she will also collaborate with the eCommerce team to review classification performance and upcoming strategies.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:
- Develop sales forecasts, inventory plans, and margin goals for. Able to communicate these plans clearly to VP, eCommerce and Digital Marketing
- Sales forecasting/re-forecasting at a monthly level to reflect current classification trends.
- Present Buyers and Allocators with units, sales, and margin goals for eComm needs
- Identify risks and opportunities within classification and use both high level and granular analytics to support potential profitable solutions/ideas.
- Promotional cadence and management based on inventory and sales trends
- Monitor in-stock and on-order inventory levels, proactively report all opportunities to internal teams to ensure there is enough inventory to meet sales goals
- Communicate over and under stocks with the necessary cross-functional teams to manage a healthy inventory turn
- Maintain strong in-stock rates across the catalog, while maintaining a healthy inventory sell- thru rate
- Using analytics, identify inventory and sales opportunities in each business category
- Oversee all aspects of e-Commerce inventory management and financial forecasting and planning
- Maintain high levels of promotional product availability during promotional periods while minimizing aging and discontinued inventory levels
- Partner with category managers and assortment managers to determine correct quantities for buy-ins and maintain accountability for stock turns by brand
- Develop key item plans for sales and inventory utilizing history and lost sales to identify growth opportunities.
- Expert on classification level and product performance within those classifications
- Support director(s) in creation of pre-season item or classification level plans to align with top-level category plans by providing insight into current trends, historical analytics or related categories.
- Monitor weekly sales performance/trends to react to in-season product and business needs.
- Provide ad-hoc analysis to support director(s) and merchandising team on in-season item level forecasts.
- Provide weekly analytics on markdowns, seasonal performance, and top performing categories and skus.
- Provide recaps on key occasions and events for use in future planning processes.
- Analyze product performance & pricing to make thoughtful recommendations to ensure financial targets are met (sales, gross margin).
- Validate presentation minimums to ensure enough inventory is available to support planned events: promotions, catalog and print marketing efforts, digital marketing
JOB REQUIREMENTS:
- Bachelor’s Degree
- 3-5 years of experience in planning including knowledge of allocation
- Possess a strong sense of urgency and a high level of attention to detail.
- Able to think independently and objectively to develop well thought out strategies based on both quantitative and qualitative data.
- Highly proficient in Microsoft Excel
- Strong Communication skills; provide clear direction and ideas.
- Able to work in an extremely collaborative environment.
- Strong organizational and time management skills with the ability to work under pressure and adapt to changing priorities and directions.
Source : Emerging Blue, Inc.
