Retail Planner
As the DTC Planner, you will be responsible for developing, executing, and maintaining margin, sales, and inventory plans for your assigned Strategic Business Unit (SBU) or accounts for both eCommerce and Stores. You will serve as a critical link between planning, buying, stores, and eCommerce teams to ensure financial goals are met through strategic partnership and inventory optimization.
Key Responsibilities
- Financial Planning: Manage annual and seasonal financial planning for a specified DTC business. This includes maintaining plans and ladder updates, and OTB.
- OTB Management: In-season, manage the Open-to-Buy (OTB) for a specified DTC business. This includes reconciling bottom-up assumptions with top-down financial goals to maximize gross margin and minimize liabilities.
- Performance Analysis: Conduct deep-dive weekly business reviews; personally analyze style/color performance and collaborate with buying in identifying broader trends and risks.
- Omnichannel Inventory Management: Oversee the flow of goods for both brick-and-mortar and e-commerce, ensuring inventory is balanced to support digital growth and physical store productivity.
- Cross-Functional Collaboration: Collaborate with Buying, Stores, E-commerce, Merchandising, and Marketing to align on seasonal assortments and promotional strategies, acting as the primary planning voice in key meetings.
- Future Strategy: Collaborate with Finance on long-range plans to continue to develop and grow the business.
- Process Improvement: Support efficiencies in planning workflows and systems (Anaplan, RPAS, ERP) to streamline processes.
Qualifications
- Education: 4-year college degree required.
- Experience: 3-5+ years of experience in retail buying or planning.
- Technical Mastery: High level of proficiency in Excel skills and deep experience with planning software (e.g., Anaplan, JDA, Blue Yonder, or similar).
- Financial Expertise: Mastery of retail math, OTB management, and the ability to manage complex financial spreadsheets at the style/color/size level.
- Domain Expertise: Strong understanding of Open-to-Buy (OTB) management and ladder plans.
Personal Attributes
- Analytical Mindset: Ability to analyze complex data sets to solve both financial and merchandise issues.
- Effective Communicator: Excellent verbal and written communication skills to influence internal and external stakeholders.
- Proactive Self-Starter: High level of initiative with the ability to work independently and as part of a team.
- Organized & Detail-Oriented: Ability to set priorities and manage multiple deadlines in a fast-paced environment.
FAQs
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