Merchandise Planner Job Description template and pdf with duties [2024]

Job summary 1

The Merchandise Planner is responsible for the inventory strategy and financial forecasts for a segment of the business. The goal is to maximize company sales growth and profitability by working closely with the Director, Planning and merchandising team on designing and implementing thoughtful inventory strategies that promote profitable sales growth and satisfy customer demand.

Duties & Responsibilities 1

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Manage end-to-end inventory strategy for product category including new product buys, reorders and end-of-life markdowns.
Develop pre-season plans in coordination with department and company targets.
In collaboration with Buyers, forecast sales, margin and inventory at a category level based on changes in trend strategy or business climate.
Lead monthly business review (OTB) to determine actions that will optimize sales and gross margin.
Develop and provide appropriate business analysis to influence future purchases and assortment strategies.
Build strong cross-functional partnerships with Allocation, Merchandising, Sourcing, Supply Chain, and vendors to enable successful business strategies and flawless execution.
- Drive item planning and forecasting for ordering, allocation and cross-functional need.
- Work with Buyer partner to develop promotional strategies to maximize profitability.
- Manage category planning operations, including critical deadlines, coding, hunt paths and product lead-times.

Requirements & Skills 1

Minimum of 3 years in merchandising, planning/allocation, buying or equivalent experience preferred
Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience
Experience with inventory management, IT systems, product pipeline process design, and promotional strategies
Strong financial acumen and experience in presenting data and analysis
Lead or support a collaborative work environment within the
Merchandising Department focused on distinctive products and an engaged customer experience.
- Strong communication skills within team and department; work consistency and accuracy
- Aptitude for spreadsheet and planning tools
- Proven ability to work with attention to detail and accuracy

Job summary 2

The Merchandise Planner actively leads the assigned business area to achieve financial goals by focusing on establishing a business partnership with the Buyer, supporting the development of business strategies, developing the skill sets with the team, and executing defined business processes.

Duties & Responsibilities 2

Requirements & Skills 2

4-year University or College Degree or commensurate retail experience
Minimum 4-years’ experience in Merchandising or prior experience with allocation and/or financial planning within the retail industry.
Ability to gather and interpret data for various reports, as appropriate.
Ability to drive positive change.
- Knowledge of the retail industry; understanding of specific category product lines and core customer behavior.
- Results focused using performance targets and goals to drive own activities as well as help team succeed.
- Office computer skills; able to learn company systems and tools

Job summary 3

The Merchandise Planner assists with creation of product-level merchandising plans using the JDA Enterprise Planning Suite. Sales and Inventory analysis at the store/class level in order to maximize the return on inventory investment.

Duties & Responsibilities 3

Perform ad hoc reporting and analysis for sales, margin, receipt and inventory opportunities and risks at the Store/ Department or Class level
- Assist Merchandise Planning Managers with the creation of Key Item Sales and Inventory plans, including Seasonal merchandise
- Perform weekly Same Store Sales analysis at the Department or Class level to help identify sales trends
- Assist Merchandise Planning Managers with the creation of Class and product attribute plans and forecasts.

Requirements & Skills 3

Strong analytical skills, advanced Excel capabilities, well organized, effective communication skills (both verbal and written), flexible, team player, customer driven.
Knowledge of basic merchandising and marketing principles.
- Knowledge of analytical and planning principles for a retail business; knowledge of merchandise planning process a plus.
- Knowledge of analytical and planning systems and tools such as JDA Enterprise Planning Suite, 1010data, or WebFocus.
- Bachelor’s degree preferably in business, retail, or marketing plus 2 to 3 year of administrative or analytical experience in a marketing or merchandising department in a large retail corporation.

Job summary 4

The Merchandise Planner will develop, execute and communicate merchandise financial plans and strategies that support the merchandising, marketing, and financial objectives of a department.

Duties & Responsibilities 4

Requirements & Skills 4

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience required
1-3 years of retail buying, planning or related analytical experience
1-2 years experience as a planning Analyst or equivalent
Demonstrate strong analytical and problem solving skills
Able to develop and maintain strong working relationship with peers and cross-functional teams
- Flexible and adaptive to changing priorities
- Able to organize and prioritize workload to meet deadline
- High level of proficiency with Microsoft Excel and strong aptitude to learn technical applications quickly

Job summary 5

The Merchandise Planner will work in tandem with the merchant team to help drive sales and margin through optimized inventory management. You will use data to analyze historical results, risks, and opportunities to create plans with the merchants to meet the company’s financial objectives. The ideal candidate will have a proven track record of applying analytics to produce business results. They will be a proven leader with the passion for the retail industry. They will be a self-starter, ambitious in nature, and work well cross functionally. They should have strong organizational skills and the proven ability to work closely with buying teams.

Duties & Responsibilities 5

Participates in the financial planning process with merchant buying teams
Collaborates with buying team to develop annual category and vendor plans
Communicate and update long-term strategies for in-stock inventory
- Implement and monitor strategic initiatives with merchants
- Inspires and influences others by setting a high-performance standard through ownership, self-development, and collaboration
- Drives a culture of innovation, change, and continuous improvement

Requirements & Skills 5

Bachelor’s Degree
A minimum 5 years’ demonstrated track record in planning roles
Leadership of in-stock management with buying teams
Ability to lead a presentation to managers
Ability to work autonomously and manage a wide variety of projects simultaneously and under deadline
Outstanding analytical and strategic thinking skills, including demonstrated general problem-solving skills and an intense curiosity to identify emerging business trends and ensuing needs.
- Excellent quality control ability and strong organizational skills
- Highly proficient in MS Office tools (i.e., Word, Excel, and PowerPoint)
- Ability to execute strategies

Job summary 6

We are looking for a Merchandise Planner to join our corporate Planning team in our office. As a Merchandise Planner, you’ll maximize sales and margin in your product categories while optimizing inventory. This role will report to the Planning Manager.

Duties & Responsibilities 6

Build and present pre-season merchandise plans that align with the company’s financial objectives, buying strategy, and business trends. Utilize history and relevant data trends to develop a viable forecast that delivers the corporate and merchant vision.
Create a quantitative pre-season assortment plan that supports the qualitative vision. Identify key investments with merchant and partner with cross-functional teams, including digital, marketing, and operations, to deliver sales plan.
Analyze in-season sales trends to recommend promotional pricing and chase inventory, in conjunction with your buying partner. Present strategies at monthly planning & buying review and quarterly hindsight.
Identify ideal flow buys of core items that support sales forecast and optimizes sell-through, turn and warehouse capacity. Use creative problem solving to minimize inventory investments.
- Maximize profitability. Analyze opportunities to increase margin, via mix shift in products, pricing opportunity, and optimal liquidation strategies.
- Help build best-in-class planning processes with the launch of a new planning and allocation system.
- Bring an entrepreneurial mindset with the customer centered at core of inventory planning decisions.

Requirements & Skills 6

5-7 years of inventory management or retail planning experience.
Passion for optimizing sales, margin and inventory
Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience.
- Strong analytical abilities and detail orientation.
- A strong sense of ownership over work and driving results.
- Team dynamic and willing to roll up your sleeves.

Job summary 7

As a Merchandise Planner you will contribute to Company’s results by working closely with the Buying and Allocation teams to develop and review assortment plans and manage OTB strategies. This role works as an integral part of the Merchandising, and Planning & Allocation teams by identifying risks and opportunities and making recommendations to ensure that we are maximizing the profitability of the assortment.

Duties & Responsibilities 7

Develop and maintain merchandise plans for several categories of product.
Recommend product receipt and liquidation timing actions and strategies to the buying team.
Deliver financial objectives of the area through accurate and proactive management and forecasting of sales, mark-up and markdowns.
Provide merchandise analysis to inform and educate executive decision making.
Collaborate with allocation on the timing and quantity of receipts of new and existing product to flow into the stores.
- Support the department’s weekly reporting needs.
- Open-to-buy ownership including daily, weekly and monthly updates, as needed.
- Active participation in a cross-functional team.

Requirements & Skills 7

Job summary 8

The Merchandise Planner is responsible for pre-season, in-season, and postmortem forecasting, assortment planning, pricing, siting, margin analysis, and inventory control at the SKU level for the business. This role works directly with the merchant and DTC team, as well as other cross-functional leaders throughout planning & Operations to maximize this fast-growing segment of Company. The individual must be dynamic and flexible in managing multiple time-sensitive priorities in a high SKU count, rapidly evolving department. The role will regularly interact with the SVP, DTC in carving out best-in-class planning processes as the business scales.

Duties & Responsibilities 8

Monitor, evaluate, and action Open-to-Buy weekly with planning and buying teams.
Provide timely and accurate projection changes based on current trends to manage inventory, drive margin, and sell-thru.
Create, recommend, and communicate product strategies that support channel financial objectives from a top-down/bottoms up point of view.
Collaborate with merchants to drive assortment recommendations, developing brand and key item projections, as well as SKU count, depth, and sizing for procurement.
- Manage inventory health through pre-season, in-season, and seasonal sell-thru targets.
- Develop & communicate comprehensive exec leadership briefings on the business that engage and create action to drive incremental revenue opportunities.
- Develop comprehensive product, line, & assortment plans that perform to plan.

Requirements & Skills 8

Minimum 3 years experience in an eComm merchandise planning environment (preference for pure-play).
A strong knowledge base of core eComm KPIs. (AOV, UPT, Traffic, Conversion)
Strong skillset in eComm analytics (Google, Shopify, etc.)
Strong analytical skills with the ability to collect, organize, analyze, and disseminate significant amounts of information with attention to detail and accuracy
Demonstrated experience with expert-level excel.
- A polished communicator who excels at written and verbal communication
- Solves problems and resolves conflict in a measured and professional style
- Proficiency with MS Office Suite should be very proficient with Excel

Job summary 9

The Merchandise Planner is responsible for creating and maintaining monthly department and item financial plans for their assigned categories and effectively partnering with the Product Developers and Merchants on identifying and implementing strategies to achieve the approved plans.

Duties & Responsibilities 9

Develop yearly/monthly category merchandise financial plans in accordance with company goals, historical performance, and trend analysis.
Create sales and inventory plans by item ensuring the correct levels to support the category plan.
Continuously analyze and reforecast the business and recommend/implement strategies to maximize opportunities and minimize risk.
Manage inventory levels to stay in line with the turn and inventory plan. Partner with vendors to place and adjust on order monthly.
Develop pricing strategy for new products, promotions, and markdowns.
Evaluate stock and sales by location for replenishment products and make recommendations to balance inventory and optimize margins.
- Partner with Merchant and Product Developer to create seasonal merchandise and financial strategies that support the company targets and objectives. Present strategies to Senior Management.
- Quarterly conduct detailed hindsight analysis and present findings and go forward actions to the management team.
- Provide strategic leadership to the Merchant team.

Requirements & Skills 9

Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent business experience
Minimum 5 years’ experience in Merchandise Planning, allocation or buying
High proficiency in Excel
- Thorough understanding of retail math
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills
- Self-motivated and able to work in an ever-changing environment with efficiency and accuracy

Job summary 10

We are looking for a Merchandise Planner.

Duties & Responsibilities 10

Requirements & Skills 10

4+ years of experience in planning principles, financial budgeting, retail fundamentals, ad hoc reporting and analysis
Bachelor’s degree required
Planning principles, financial budgeting, retail fundamentals, ad hoc reporting and analysis
- Strong analytical skills, proficient with planning systems (e.g. JDA), proficient with Microsoft Excel
- Strong communication and presentation skills
- Ability to synthesize large amounts of data into trends and initiate action

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Merchandise Planner Job Description

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