Analyst Sr. Price & Markdown Optimization

Walgreens•Deerfield, IL

About The Position

The Senior Price & Markdown Optimization Analyst analyzes data and develops recommendations for retail pricing and markdown strategies across 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 position may also support strategic projects and ad hoc analyses, including identifying key value items and calibrating pricing tools to help achieve company financial goals. It works with internal and external peers, contributes to projects and process improvements, and may lead project work streams, mentor less experienced team members, and assist with training.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree and at least 1 year of experience in promotions, marketing, retail, analytics, pricing, consumer packaged goods, insights, vendor collaboration, consumer research, inventory, category management, and/or business analysis; or a high school diploma/GED and at least 4 years of experience in those areas.
Experience with the MS Office Suite.
Experience using time-management skills to prioritize and organize work, track details, and meet deadlines across multiple projects with varying completion dates.
Experience analyzing and reporting data to identify issues, trends, or exceptions, drive improvement, and find 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 creating complex queries with nested SELECT statements, creating views, deleting and altering tables, using Boolean logic, working with 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 identifying process improvements.
Experience with project management, including planning, organizing, and managing resources to complete project goals and objectives.
Experience establishing and maintaining relationships with people at all organizational levels, in the business community, and with vendors.

Responsibilities

Track, summarize, and present issues affecting key initiatives to management; anticipate and prevent problems and roadblocks.
Forecast the impact of price changes at category, item, and/or store or zone level, assess alignment with category strategy, and recommend adjustments.
Prepare ad hoc reporting on price changes, markdown performance, and competitive indexing, with support from the Category Insights team.
Analyze competitors’ pricing activity and present findings to build understanding of competitive activity.
May identify distressed inventory and develop markdown scenarios to increase profitable sell-through, including managing the lifecycle and exit path of discontinued items.
Monitor and adjust plans in progress to achieve optimal profit and inventory targets.
May lead cross-functional work involving Merchandising, Store Operations, Finance, and Supply Chain to find solutions for discontinued and distressed inventory.
Develop and improve standard pricing and markdown report templates, presentations, methodologies, and processes.
Identify and analyze pricing for special item groups, such as Known Value Items and National Brand/Private Brand relationship items, and for groups of stores such as different regions, to align with corporate strategy and category role.
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 opportunities and recommend process or operating-efficiency improvements.
Collaborate across functions, exchange information with internal and external peers and managers, and constructively challenge current methods to improve results.
Participate in departmental meetings and contribute relevant input to help drive program results.
Work on projects of varying sizes and may lead work streams; ensure initiatives are completed within budget and on time to meet business-unit needs.
May design initiative specifications and lead implementation; become actively involved as needed to meet schedules and resolve problems.
Mentor less experienced team members and may teach or train work-team members.
May perform as a customer advocate.