Inventory Planner

Grocery Outlet Career•Emeryville, CA

19h•$75,000 - $85,000

About The Position

The Inventory Planner role is responsible for managing inventory across the supply chain to maximize sales and profit. This person is a member of one of our departmental planning teams, which works in close collaboration with purchasing across all product categories. Primary day-to-day responsibilities include: managing open-to-buy, maintaining stock levels in the warehouse and stores, allocating product to warehouse and stores, managing promotional inventory, forecasting and financial planning, and general category/item analysis. This person will be a strong partner with Purchasing, Strategy, Logistics, Sales and Merchandising, and Marketing to help move the business forward. This person must be very strong analytically, have inventory management experience, and be a strategic thinker. This position reports to the Manager, Inventory Planning.

Requirements

Bachelor’s Degree.
Minimum of 2+ years of relevant experience in areas including but not limited to the following: Merchandise Planning, Demand Forecasting, Inventory Allocation, Data Analytics.
Strong analytical skills with attention to detail – able to analyze and identify insights from large amounts of data.
Creative and strategic thinker that is always pushing status quo in an effort to improve.
Excellent logical thinking and problem-solving skills; can easily diagnose and solve an ambiguous situation or problem.
Able to build constructive and effective relations ships with a broad, diverse group of business partners.
Strong understanding of general business financial metrics as well as retail specific metrics and math (e.g., discounts, margin).
Strong communication skills, customer service, organization and attention to detail.
Expert knowledge and use of Excel and BI platforms; proficient in other MS Office applications.
Possesses the “roll-up-your sleeves” attitude and strong personal ownership of work needed to be successful in a flat, entrepreneurial organization.
Able to write and present information effectively.

Nice To Haves

Previous experience in retail merchandising and financial planning preferred.

Responsibilities

Review purchasing quantity decisions, distributions and allocations, replenishment, and reporting and analysis.
Assist in reviewing department sales, profit, and inventory forecasting in collaboration with purchasing and logistics.
Review regular projections/analysis with cross functional purchasing team.
Advise on optimal pricing decisions to support purchasing, distribution and selling strategies.
Manage inventory at a specific and tactical level for owned department.
Manage allocation of products to stores to maximize sales and profit.
Work with manager to maintain department financial forecasts in conjunction with the open to buy.
Conduct ad hoc analysis to understand business opportunities.
Analyze and identify opportunities to improve forecasting, purchasing and allocation methods.
Partner with planning, purchasing, and IT to develop and enhance tools and processes.
Respond to store comments and questions and use feedback constructively to improve practices.
Present analytics and reports to various stakeholders to identify and capture business opportunities.
Be a strong partner to Store Operators, Sales & Merchandising, Suppliers and Distribution Centers; communicate clearly and effectively to inform various stakeholders of status and future changes.
Visit stores and warehouses as necessary to maintain strong communication and stay on top of opportunities.