Analyst, Price & Markdown Optimization

Walgreens•Deerfield, IL

About The Position

Responsible for analyzing data and creating recommendations for Category Managers on omnichannel retail pricing and markdown strategies for items, categories, and markets or stores. The role aims to optimize profit, drive sales and sell-through, increase market share, and improve consumer value image. It forecasts and evaluates the impact of pricing decisions using factors such as elasticity, competitive data and indexing, and category role. The analyst communicates recommendations to Category Managers, Category Insights, Store Operations, and other cross-functional teams, and seeks approval from key Merchandising clients. The role may also support strategic projects and ad hoc analyses, including identifying and analyzing key value items and calibrating pricing tools to support company financial goals. It develops pricing and markdown reporting templates, presentations, methodologies, and processes; monitors plans in progress; and collaborates with internal and external stakeholders to address business needs and improve results.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree, or a high school diploma/GED and at least 3 years of experience in promotions, marketing, retail, analytics, pricing, consumer packaged goods, insights, vendor collaboration, consumer research, inventory, category management, and/or business analysis.
Experience with the MS Office Suite.
Experience using time-management skills to prioritize and organize work, track details, and meet deadlines across multiple projects.
Experience analyzing and reporting data to identify issues, trends, or exceptions and drive improvements or solutions.
Experience collaborating with internal and external resources to develop strategies that meet department goals within budget and established timelines.

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree or MBA.
Experience with revenue management or pricing analysis, inventory management, and/or reviewing and analyzing retail data such as Nielsen or IRI.
Intermediate SQL skills, including complex queries with nested SELECT statements, creating views, deleting and altering tables, Boolean logic, handling NULL values, and constructing queries.
Experience writing macros.
Experience with price or markdown optimization software.
Experience developing and delivering presentations to audiences at various organizational levels.
Experience leading strategic projects and proactively developing process improvements.
Experience with project management, including planning, organizing, and managing resources to achieve project goals and objectives.
Experience establishing and maintaining relationships with individuals at all levels of an organization, in the business community, and with vendors.

Responsibilities

Forecast the impact of price changes at category, item, store, zone, or channel level, ensuring alignment with category strategy and recommending adjustments.
Perform ad hoc reporting on price changes, markdown performance, and competitive indexing with support from the Category Insights team.
Analyze competitive activity, develop strategic omnichannel pricing initiatives, and present findings about competitors’ pricing activity.
Identify distressed inventory and develop omnichannel markdown scenarios to improve profitable sell-through, including managing discontinued items’ exit paths, as applicable.
Monitor and adjust in-flight plans to achieve profit and inventory targets.
Lead cross-functional work across Merchandising, Store Operations, Finance, and Supply Chain on solutions for discontinued and distressed inventory, as applicable.
Develop standard pricing or markdown report templates, presentations, methodologies, and processes.
Analyze pricing for special item groups and stores, such as Known Value Items, National Brand/Private Brand relationship items, and different regions, to align with corporate strategy and category role.
Understand the modeling behind pricing and markdown tools and help ensure the tools work optimally.
Present recommendations to internal clients and management, including Pricing managers, Category Managers, and Store Operations.
Attend client meetings to understand business needs and objectives.
Identify likely root causes of problems or issues; document and communicate information to facilitate fixes and remove roadblocks.
Collaborate cross-functionally and exchange information with internal and external peers and managers.
Challenge current methods constructively to identify improvements and deliver better results.
Contribute relevant input in departmental meetings to help drive program results.
Work on small projects as needed; gather and update information and communicate it to appropriate parties.
Ensure assigned initiatives are completed within budget and on time to meet business unit needs.
Develop knowledge and understanding of the area of responsibility.