(T) Associate Assortment Planner

Overview

Summary of the position:

With the customer in the center of our vision and with the “Lace up plan” strategic plan, the Associate Assortment Planner (AP) plays a crucial role in facilitating the creation of a deeper, more relevant connection to our customers.

The AP’s main objective is the development, delivery and on-going management of a profitable and productive clustered assortment with the goal of deepening our relationship with our consumer. The AP develops store assortments 6-12 months out and recommends sku count by brand/ franchise using productivity metrices and unites the buyer’s merchandise vision with the divisional financial strategies supplied by the Financial Planner. The AP is responsible for driving customer experience in store and increasing NPS, while maximizing sales, margin, and liquidation.

In season the AP reacts to changes in trend and sell through performance by adjusting distribution plans to capitalize on emerging opportunities and/or to manage SKU count instore.

The AP fosters effective working relationships with buyers, allocators, marketing, VM, E-com, CX and vendors to strengthen the business and support company strategies. Past and predicted vendor & product performances will help the AP to determine the product assortment strategy for the coming seasons.

To be successful in this role, you will need commercial awareness, excellent analytical and communication skills, and foster strong partnerships with stakeholders.

Responsibilities

Tasks & Responsibilities

• Develop pre-season assortment plans to support the merchandise strategy.
• Lead the analysis of assortment productivity and highlight trends and opportunities.
• Create store clusters factoring in Space / Productivity, Consumer profile and Store attributes.
• Space option productivity analysis and planning by vendor / franchise to create a shopping list for the Buying team.
• Connect Financials and Space through Vendor investment bottom-up planning.
• Utilize vendor meetings and market travel to create effective space plans and assortments
• Collaborate with the Space Planning team to refine proposed space updates.
• Develop sku count and inventory strategies in season (sku life cycle management).
• Create and maintain Vendor / Franchise Space matrixes by store cluster, create visibility to the business and vendors on vendor space productivity.
• Franchise sales, stock and intake forecasting (Big programs).
• Support the buyers with line level planning and forecasting ensuring it is in line with option plans and OTB process.
• Align store assortment plans with store financial target setting (sale plan).
• Partner with Allocation, Buying and GTM/VM to ensure alignment on door and distribution.
• Manage responsive and seasonal business through line cards.
• Review product distribution plans prior to intake, adapt to trend shifts and new opportunities, source prop stock, propose RTV’s and cancellations where appropriate. (in-season Trade).
• Support a test and learn environment by making initiatives manageable and recognizing scalability fast.
• Ensure the monthly sku count flow fits within space capacity (intake management).
• Become a mentor for the Allocation team.
• Maintain and enhance best business practices across the merchandising group by partnering closely with all Assortment Planners, your director and seeking input from respective subject matter experts.

Qualifications

Candidate Profile

• University or College degree in Business Administration, Economics, Supply Chain or equivalent education and experience.
• Identify and understand the various business needs and propose solutions/strategic changes.
• Be aware of and introduce innovative approaches/best practices to the business.
• Understand all areas of the business and their requirements and challenges.
• Review current processes to identify potential improvements and implement them together with the responsible area.
• Highly skilled and experienced working in a trend driven, high-volume, omni-channel company.
• Strong analytical and critical thinking skills.
• Problem solving and decision-making abilities.
• Advanced Excel skills are a must, experience using planning tools (Marketmax, Arthur, SAP etc) is preferable.
• Project management skills
• Understanding of regional differences in customer requirements.
• Business mathematical skills required.
• Ability to work under pressure and use own initiative.
• Sound business/commercial awareness, high concern for effectiveness, entrepreneurial.
• Enthusiastic, goal-oriented team player with a desire to join the biggest in the business.
• Superior communication skills and ability to influence across all levels of a complex, culturally diverse matrix organization: natural ability to engage others into buying into a vision or a solution, while keeping an open mind to others’ opinions.
• Proactive communication, convey healthy confidence, energy and inspires trust.
• Understand and is passionate about sneaker culture.

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