Associate Planner

Associate Planner

The Associate Planner, in partnership with the Merchant / Planner / Sr. Planner is responsible for developing and translating department pre-season category strategies into executable merchandise and item plans. Provides financial strategies for sales, inventory, markdowns, and margin at a tops down and bottoms up level. Responsible for reconciling the financial and assortment plans and proactively making adjustments based on risks and opportunities.

In addition to that, this role will :

• Provide pre-season choice count and inventory recommendations that support department strategies
• Build class and choice level plans for all planning metrics which support the topside financial plans and the aligned upon choice counts
• Determine depth, breath and flow strategy of all inventory by location / channel, with the intention of maximizing sales and sell-through prior to markdown
• Be the financial and business expert through knowledge of current and future trends in the business / industry and be able to create innovative and efficient solutions to business opportunities and risks
• Mine and analyze data to create customer centric recommendations and strategies
• Lead plan review discussions to ensure that the company's financial objectives are being met.
• Use consumer insights and data combined with structured tests to identify and maximize growth opportunities.
• Consistently generate insights that lead to team actions to improve business metrics; influencing pricing, promotions, product assortment in real time.
• Identify process opportunities to create efficiencies in the business and be a key partner to the planning team to implement changes in a timely manner
• Demonstrate strong leadership skills and initiative to work independently and in cross functional teams
• Must have excellent written and oral communication skills to all levels of the organization; demonstrate communication and presentation skills, especially to corporate Senior Management
• Ability to be flexible, multi-task, and prioritize under tight deadlines.

Required Experience & Qualifications :

Critical Skills & Attributes :