Merchandise Planner

Absolutely — here’s a fully confidential version with the company name, specific system names, and other identifying details stripped out while keeping the substance intact. Merchandise Planner – Apparel & Accessories Confidential Opportunity Reports to: Director, Planning & Retail Operations Department: Planning / Retail Operations Key Partners: Merchandising, Ecommerce, Retail, Wholesale, Finance Position Overview The Merchandise Planner – Apparel & Accessories is responsible for driving sales and profitability through effective assortment, inventory, demand, and pricing strategies. This role will focus on maximizing inventory turn and margin, forecasting demand, analyzing selling trends, and ensuring the right product is available at the right time across Ecommerce, Wholesale, and Retail channels. Highly cross-functional, this individual will partner closely with Merchandising, Product Operations, Marketing, Supply Chain, Sales, Finance, and channel leaders to translate data into actionable recommendations that support overall brand and financial objectives. Demand & Inventory Planning • Manage in-season forecasting against key KPIs, including sales, margin, inventory health, turns, aging, and weeks of supply. • Maintain and improve forecasting models using historical performance, business inputs, and market trends. • Partner across Ecommerce, Wholesale, Retail, Merchandising, Marketing, Supply Chain, Operations, and Finance to align demand and inventory plans. • Identify risks and opportunities between demand and financial plans and recommend appropriate actions. • Analyze inventory levels, sell-through, turnover, and aging to identify stockouts, overstocks, and slow-moving inventory. • Monitor and adjust stock levels and replenishment strategies to optimize availability and inventory investment. • Review forecasts and current orders to assess upcoming production needs. • Recommend markdown and pricing actions based on weeks of supply, sell-through, aging, and seasonality. • Develop size-curve analysis to improve preseason and in-season purchasing and reduce stockouts. • Build standardized reporting for in-season analysis and post-season hindsight. Merchandise Planning • Align inventory strategies with seasonal trends, product launches, merchandising strategies, and promotional plans. • Partner with Merchandising to develop SKU plans and improve SKU productivity. • Analyze ongoing business performance to identify key drivers, risks, and opportunities. • Provide quantitative and qualitative hindsight for quarterly business reviews and senior leadership meetings. • Identify product, inventory, and delivery-flow risks and recommend solutions. • Maintain accurate product and inventory data within company systems. • Partner cross-functionally to ensure item, cost, origin, and other product changes are accurately reflected across systems. Financial Planning • Partner on inventory budgeting and financial planning to manage costs and achieve financial targets. • Align inventory investments with broader financial objectives and performance metrics. • Support monthly inventory audits and reconciliations. Wholesale Planning • Support annual and seasonal category sales plans through bottoms-up planning of inventory, sales, margins, discounts, markdowns, returns, and related KPIs. • Partner with Sales to develop seasonal plans based on current trends and annual business objectives. • Contribute to monthly shipment planning and wholesale forecasting. • Support pre-market and post-market planning, including final inventory buys and purchase-order adjustments. Retail Allocation • Manage accurate and timely allocation of merchandise across retail locations using historical sales, current trends, and performance metrics. • Monitor store-level stock-to-sales ratios and identify over- and under-stock situations. • Execute inventory rebalancing, transfers, and replenishment strategies. • Coordinate new-product rollouts with Product, Marketing, and Retail Operations. • Track allocation KPIs including store fill rates, size-level stockouts, sell-through, and inventory turns to improve future allocation strategies. Qualifications • 3+ years of merchandise planning experience. • Strong understanding of retail math, including markup, margin, sales, inventory productivity, and related KPIs. • Experience forecasting demand and managing inventory across multiple sales channels. • Strong analytical and financial acumen with the ability to translate data into actionable business recommendations. • Demonstrated ability to identify business risks and opportunities and influence cross-functional partners. • Strong product and assortment sensibility. • Excellent communication and presentation skills, including the ability to communicate complex information clearly to senior leadership. • Strong problem-solving, organizational, and time-management skills. • Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, highly cross-functional environment. • Strategic mindset with a focus on profitability, inventory productivity, and long-term growth. This search is confidential. Additional company and opportunity details will be shared with qualified candidates during the interview process.