Merchandise Planner - Apparel & Accessories

Outerknown•Carlsbad, CA

1d•$100 - $120,000

About The Position

The Merchandise Planner is responsible for driving sales and profit by managing product assortments, inventory and pricing, using data analysis to forecast demand, optimize online/direct to consumer presentation and wholesale availability to ensure the right products are available at the right time to support the company's financial goals. The Merchandise Planner will primarily focus on maximizing inventory turn and margin, analyzing trends, and adapting to fast paced digital demand signals. This role reports to the Director – Planning & Retail and will be highly cross-functional, partnering with Merchandising and Channel Owners by bringing strategic and analytical insights to influence the brand’s strategy and vision.

Requirements

Minimum 3+ years merchandise planning experience
Strong leadership skills with experience managing cross-functional teams.
Excellent communication, negotiation, and problem-solving abilities.
Strong interpersonal skills and experience managing multi-location teams to maintain a unified, high-performing culture.
Excellent negotiation skills with a strategic mindset and the ability to handle complex business discussions.
High level of business acumen with a focus on long-term profitability and growth.
Demonstrated retail math and business acumen, including elements of markup, margin planning, selling and inventory productivity measures
Excellent verbal and written communication and presentation skills including presenting complex material in an organized and compelling manner
Strategic thinker who recognizes opportunities and can recommend strategies by building business case and influence senior leaders to move to execution
High level of conceptual creative ability.
Strong product sense with proven experience in driving product assortments and partnering with divisional leaders to lead investment strategies that drive business
Strong time management skills, attention to detail, problem solving, interpersonal and organizational skills – communication between functional groups is very critical

Responsibilities

Manage in-season forecasting to meet or exceed key performance indicators, including sales, margins, and inventory health, balances, age/turns, and weeks of supply.
Maintain models and forecasting techniques to improve demand accuracy.
Ensure demand forecasts incorporate historical data, business inputs, and market trends.
Collaborate with each sales channel (Ecommerce, Wholesale and Retail), merchandising, marketing, supply chain, operations and finance to drive alignment on forecasts, 3PL capacity and inventory planning.
Responsible for the aggregation of data across channels for initial projections and pre- and post-market margin roll out.
Partner with Director of Planning & Retail to develop and build standardized reports to perform in-season selling analysis and post season hind-sighting.
Ensure forecasting objectives are achieved, review potential risks/opportunities between the demand plan and financial plan, and collaborate cross functionally to mitigate and reduce inventory risk.
Analyze inventory levels, turnover rates, and sell-through data to identify potential stockouts, overstock situations, and slow-moving items.
Monitor and adjust model stock levels as needed to ensure adequate inventory availability.
Review sales forecasts and current orders to assess inventory status and upcoming production needs.
Evaluate inventory aging and recommend price action based on WOS/sell-thru and seasonality to project/select permanent markdowns.
Monitor and manage inventory levels weekly to ensure optimal stock availability.
Optimize stock levels and develop/maintain replenishment strategies to balance sales goals with inventory costs.
Develop size curve analysis to better purchase in-season and pre-season inventory and avoid out of stocks.
Collaborate on aligning inventory with product launches and seasonal trends.
Partner with Product Operations to ensure product availability meets merchandising strategies and promotional plans.
Partner with Merchandising to develop Sku plan guidance to drive Sku productivity on quarterly/seasonal basis and eliminate unproductive Skus.
Analyze the business on an on-going basis to understand core drivers; identify opportunities and risks and partner with Merchandising and Product Operations to respond appropriately.
Present qualitative and quantitative hind sighting for Merchandising team’s quarterly business reviews and senior management meetings; identify product and delivery flow risks and cross-division opportunities.
Responsible for inventory data integrity through accurate style master set up and maintenance in company ERP, Full Circle.
Work closely with Ecommerce team to ensure Shopify style master aligns with ERP.
Partner with Merchandising and Product Operations to ensure all in season item, cost, origin changes are captured and reflected in ERP and Shopify.
Partner on inventory budgeting and financial planning to manage costs and meet financial targets.
Align inventory investment with financial goals and performance metrics.
Conduct monthly inventory audits and reconciliations to maintain accuracy.
Supports and maintains yearly and season category sales plans by demand planning and forecasting inventory budgets, sales, projected dilutions (RTV, Discounts, MD), margins, and related KPI’s (bottoms-up planning).
Partner with the sales department to prepare seasonal plans considering current business trends and the company's annual business goals.
Contribute to the monthly shipment planning process to ensure wholesale orders are accurately forecasted.
Support sales team during and post-market, including rolling up final inventory buy and adjusting purchase orders, as necessary.
Manage the timely and accurate allocation of merchandise to retail stores using historical sales data, current trend analysis, and key performance metrics to maximize sell-through.
Monitor and balance store-level stock-to-sales ratios, identifying overstocks and understocks to execute timely inventory rebalancing, transfers, and replenishment.
Partner with Product Managers, Marketing and Retail Store Operations to coordinate initial new-product rollouts.
Evaluate the effectiveness of allocation strategies by tracking key performance indicators (KPIs) like store fill rates, size-level stock outs, and inventory turn rates to refine future allocation models.
Continually retain an open mind, while always reserving the right to exercise best professional judgment.
Take a global mind-set, acting as one company, one brand and putting the company’s best interests above those of any one individual or team.
Live the company vision and values.
Don’t be afraid to challenge the status quo, take risks, innovate and learn from failures.