Merchandise Planner Jobs

Overview

The Merchandise Planner is responsible for maintaining appropriate inventory levels that support baseline and promotional sales, as well as corporate initiatives and activities, while achieving inventory in-stock, turn over and financial goals. The Merchandise Planner will achieve this by working closely with his/her merchant partner and by using sound business strategy that will balance opportunity vs investment. This position plays a pivotal role between the merchant team, the vendor community and other internal teams that support store execution. The successful candidate in this role will pay very high attention to detail and will be a flexible, logical thinker that is results driven.

Responsibilities

• Maintain system settings to ensure proper replenishment, manage wos expectations; adjusting orders/requirements as sales change
• Support efforts on tracking inventory into DC’s and stores; proactively communicating any potential issues
• Participate in the development of new tools that support management of Supply Chain KPI’s
• Articulate business situations and recommendations to Senior Management as required
• Identify and analyze root cause for inventory related issues
• Manage key vendor relationships for the SC Team by collaborating on upcoming sales/receipt forecasts, on time and fill rate review and forward looking requirements
• Plan sales and inventory for promotional opportunities and validate expectations based on historical sales data, taking into account presentation standards and product placement.
• Prepare post mortem analysis to understand performance on key events
• Support New Item introductions with timely purchases and store allocation in alignment with sales expectations. Monitor product to maturity, making forecast/purchase order adjustments as needed.
• Build and foster cross functional partnerships with the Category Manager, DC and Store teams by communicating opportunities and concerns that proactively and directly impact business
• Engage in business decisions by using analytics and historical data to form factual point of view
• Review key selling and inventory metrics, reading trends and reacting accordingly by managing inventory to align to trends
• Develop and plan category sales, margin and overall business initiatives by collaboratively managing inventory levels, in-stock and inventory turn over with Merchant partner.
• Manage product exit strategy, limiting investment exposure, as merchandise moves within channels of the business and/or store assortments
• Monitor sales and receipt forecasts to ensure expectations are being met. Consensus management of outliers by working with service partners to set expectations.

Leadership:

• Maintain positive relationships across all levels of cross functional teams.
• Demonstrate an ability to view the business through a lens of continuous improvement, and implement process change.
• Actively contribute in staff and cross functional discussions; being an active participant in the business
• Take accountability for team goals, actions and outcomes
• Advocate for change management, and able to demonstrate thoughtful decision making skills.
• Exhibit flexibility and resilience in response to constraints and respond constructively to new challenges
• Employ self-development to continuously improve personal performance
• Respond with decisive and timely action to address obstacles and deliver quality results

Other Functions:

• Performs other duties as required.

Supervisory Responsibilities:

• None

Qualifications

Education/Certification:

• Bachelor’s Degree Accounting, Finance, Math, Supply Chain or related discipline or, equivalent combination of intellectual instruction and work experience

Required Knowledge:

• Retail industry business acumen
• Advanced skills in MS Excel
• Basic knowledge and understanding of store fixtures, signage and merchandise layout
• Open to Buy Experience is a plus

Experience Required:

• Minimum 3 years in specialty retail and e-commerce environment in inventory/replenishment capacity

Skill and Ability:

• Ability to multi-tasked with extreme attention to detail while working on multiple projects
• A team player
• Excellent interpersonal, communication, and follow through skills
• Comfortable working in a fast pace environment with a multicultural staff
• Ability to work independently and manage time effectively to prioritize projects with several business areas
• Excellent problem solving skills with the ability to structure analysis independently and identify root causes for issues

Equal Opportunity Policy

The Vitamin Shoppe is an equal opportunity employer. We respect diversity and accordingly are an equal opportunity employer that does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, creed, religion, national origin, ancestry, citizenship status, age, sex, gender, gender identity or expression (including transgender status), sexual orientation, marital status, veteran status, physical or mental disability, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local laws. Our management is dedicated to ensuring the fulfillment of this policy with respect to hiring, placement, promotion, transfer, demotion, layoff, separation, recruitment, pay and other forms of compensation, access to facilities and programs, training and general treatment during employment.

We firmly believe that every Health Enthusiast has the right to be treated with dignity and respect. Our goal is to maintain a satisfied and productive team of Health Enthusiasts. The keys to reaching that goal are effective leadership, equal application of fair human resources policies, competitive wages and benefits, and close attention to all health enthusiast matters. The Vitamin Shoppe is committed to the principle of fair and impartial treatment of our Health Enthusiasts.

Health Enthusiasts with questions or concerns about equal employment opportunities in the workplace are encouraged to bring these issues to the attention of their Human Resources representative. We will not allow any form of retaliation against Health Enthusiasts who raise issues of perceived discrimination in good faith. To ensure our workplace is free of artificial barriers, violation of this policy may result in disciplinary action, up to and including discharge.