Inventory Planner, Baby & Child

Summary

Inventory Planner for Baby & Child responsible for demand forecasting, inventory planning, and open-to-buy management to support division strategies and maximize sales while mitigating risk. The role covers pre-season and in-season planning, creating department, collection and SKU level sales and flow forecasts, and reconciling top-down and bottom-up financial plans. The planner presents buying strategies and action plans to senior leadership and collaborates closely with Merchandising and cross-functional partners.

Responsibilities

• Analyze historical data and trends to identify opportunities and risks by department, subclass, collection and SKU.
• Create and present department-level plans and develop collection and SKU level sales plans with supporting investment quantities and flow forecasts.
• Reconcile top-down to bottom-up financial plans and balance workload priorities to execute inventory initiatives.
• Forecast demand, calculate receipt needs, and manage open-to-buy activities with monthly OTB presentations.
• Manage the on-order pipeline and negotiate flow requirements with vendors to optimize in-stocks and revenue.
• Focus on top-volume collections/SKUs to maximize availability, revenue and customer promise; collaborate with Merchandising to support product strategies.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree and/or 5 years equivalent relevant experience.
• Advanced Excel skills with aptitude to learn new systems quickly.
• Strong analytical skills with ability to interpret trends from quantitative and qualitative data and solid grasp of retail math and inventory planning concepts.
• Ability to build and maintain effective cross-functional relationships, strong problem solving, organization and time management skills.
• Multi-channel (direct-to-consumer and brick-and-mortar) planning experience is a plus.