Merchandise Planner

About Our Company

Lids U provides all emblematic apparel, general merchandise, and hard goods for almost 800 Barnes and Noble Education's college bookstores across North America. Lids U strives for excellence by bringing the highest quality of products, range of assortment and at the best prices possible for each of our partners.

General Position Summary

The Merchandise Planner is responsible for building financial sales, gross margin, and inventory plans for both pre-season and in-season time periods. Partner with Buying & Merchandising group to create & deliver local assortment strategies maximizing sales and profits. Responsible for the successful development, execution, and communication of financial and inventory plans. Provide analytics and support to the Merchandising organization as well as Executive updates on business performance.

Principle Duties and Responsibilities

• Coordinate the development of annual, seasonal, monthly & weekly merchandise plans.
• Construct merchandise purchase schedules; initial product deliveries and in-season merchandise flow.
• Manage a team of Associate Planners.
• Manage monthly department level open to buy activities.
• Provide expert analysis on trends and recommendation to influence cancellations, future purchases, and assortment strategies.
• Analyze historic performance to identify areas of opportunity or risk.
• Prepare preseason promotional and markdown strategy through partnership with buyer and merchandising.
• Develop, maintain, and update set of tools & reports to support the needs of the business.
• Establish appropriate process & tools to review product assortments; providing data & analysis to support decision making.
• Maintain business processes and serve as subject matter expert for process improvements.
• Partner with allocation & supply chain teams to implement consistent and profitable in-season replenishment strategies and practices.
• Develop enterprise-wide risk mitigation plans and execute when appropriate.

Additional Principal Duties and Responsibilities

• Test multiple business strategies simultaneously, quantifying & communicating business impacts.
• Manage sku intensive businesses.
• Manage location intensive assortments.
• Deliver local, regionally relevant assortments and business solutions.
• Manage multiple channels & banners that Lids Sports Group operates under.
• Communicate effectively, and at times persuasively, with employees at all levels of the company.
• Support and adhere to all company policies, procedures, and guidelines.
• Provide excellent customer service as outlined in the HW&L policy manual.
• Other duties as assigned.

Job Required Knowledge & Skills

• Bachelor's Degree in Business, Finance, Marketing, Fashion Merchandising or a related field.
• 3-5 years merchandising, planning, or equivalent experience preferred.
• Strong understanding of retail math and measure used in financial reporting.
• Proven ability to perform independently with minimal supervision.
• Systems and Tools Acumen: Advanced capabilities in Microsoft Excel, Proficiency in Microsoft Access, Powerpoint and Word. Must also have aptitude to learn technical applications quickly.
• Analytic Skills: Ability to think objectively and interpret meaningful themes from quantitative and qualitative data.
• Financial and Business Acumen: Ability to evaluate financial and business indicators and translate data into actionable information to drive results.
• Problem Solving & Decision Quality: Able to use rigorous logic and methods to solve problems with effective solutions.
• Relationship Management: Able to build constructive and effective relationships with a broad and diverse group of business partners, both internally & externally.

Preferred Job Required Knowledge & Skills

• People Management: experience leading, mentoring, and guiding a team
• Dealing with Paradox: Ability to balance conflicting & competing priorities. Delivering a set of options, detailing impacts for each while driving to a single recommendation.
• Presentation Skills: Effective in a variety of presentation settings including one-on-one, small and large groups, and with peers and Executives.
• Influencing and Negotiation: Can present ideas and directions that lead others to action.
• Planning and Priority Setting: Demonstrate an ability to set objectives and goals and organize work appropriately to meet and exceed goals.
• Process Management: Can identify and articulate the processes necessary to get things down efficiently and align resources effectively complete activities.
• Risk Management: Anticipate risks and identifies contingency plans and processes to prevent disruptions when risks occur.

Reports To

• Director of Merchandise Planning

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