Americas - Associate Merchandise Planner

Clarks•Needham, MA

12d•$60,000 - $70,000

About The Position

The Associate Merchandise Planner is accountable for driving profitable sales and margin for their department. The role assists in managing sales and inventory activities by maintaining bottoms-up open-to-buy and assortment plans, monitoring sales and inventory, and providing stock productivity analysis. The planner creates and analyzes forecasts across channels and reports to the Planning Manager. The position works cross-functionally with Merchant and Product teams and other departments to optimize buying plans, SKU selection, and time-phased category plans. It maintains open-to-buy plans for the current buying season and an extended 18-month strategic plan for future product seasons. The role supports in-season inventory forecasting and adjustments, markdown and closeout processes, inventory productivity analysis, buy targets by channel, and standard weekly and monthly reporting. Clarks is a global employer that describes its commitment to diversity and an inclusive environment where employees have an equal opportunity to succeed. Compensation within the role's pay range is based on factors including relevant experience, qualifications, performance, business needs, internal equity, and statutory obligations; the range may be modified in the future.

Requirements

Experience in retail merchandise planning, buying, demand planning, or supply planning.
Knowledge of business operating models including retail, franchise, outlet, ecommerce, and wholesale.
Knowledge of finance and retail merchandise planning, including budgets, forecasts, sales, margin, and margin percentage.
Knowledge of supply-chain merchandise metrics and logistics.
Experience with key distribution channels, including wholesale, retail, and digital.
Comprehensive understanding of overall business operations.
Ability to analyze trends and use the information to plan and forecast effectively.
Strong analytical and verbal skills.
Decision-making skills.
Practical understanding of financial, range, space, and demand planning processes.
Practical understanding of trading and marketing planning processes.
Strong computer skills, including data warehouse or data mart query and report development tools.
Advanced Excel skills and experience using SAP, Business Objects, and Power BI to analyze data, create reports, and support business decisions.
Organizational skills to coordinate feedback from a variety of sources.
Strong communication and presentation skills, including the ability to share insights and recommendations clearly with team members and stakeholders.

Nice To Haves

Footwear experience.

Responsibilities

Work cross-functionally with other departments to optimize buy plans, SKU optimization, and time-phased category plans, working closely with Merchant and Product teams.
Maintain open-to-buy flow for the current buying season and an extended 18-month strategic open-to-buy plan for future product seasons.
Assist with in-season inventory activities, including forecasting a roll-forward projection and adjusting it based on the agreed top-down plan.
Support the Planning Manager with markdown and closeout processes.
Create and update inventory productivity analyses, including stock aging, Pareto, velocity, flow optimization, and seasonal mix.
Review the current position against the top-down plan and identify risks and opportunities for optimization.
Provide analyses as needed, including assortment analysis by distribution grade or cluster; productivity and profitability by category; markdown cadence optimization; and stockouts and service levels.
Collaborate with the Merchant team to create buy targets by channel and break future plans down to lower classification levels to improve forecast accuracy.
Time-phase category plans to improve cash flow and deliver products just in time to maximize sales.
Support the development of standard weekly and monthly reports and evaluate performance against agreed KPIs.