Description
We are seeking a Merchandise Planner to join our team. As a Merchandise Planner, you will be responsible for conducting comparative analysis of holiday or other seasonal performance reports and providing insights that inform the Inventory team's work to ensure that product supports projected sales.
You will act as the hub between Merchandising and Supply Chain, creating a financial link between these two essential groups and having a voice in some of the most important decisions from a financial strategy standpoint.
Key responsibilities include:
- Providing in-season decision support and collaborating on assortment planning
- Recommending localization and channel strategies, including cluster types and profiles
- Leading demand forecasting and supporting the divisional strategy through category expertise and partnerships with cross-functional teams and vendors
- Heading up the open-to-buy process and deciding on category-level investment and financial validity of assortments
- Conducting root cause analysis for variation between supply and demand forecasts to support 'chase-cancel' decisions and communicating implications to vendors
- Conducting scenario planning, building unit plans, and leading initial set planning and operationalization to optimize assortments
- Interpreting forecast results and conducting 'what if?' analysis to guide go-forward recommendations
- Validating the unit promo planning forecast and driving maintenance, risk analysis, and decision-making by the Pricing & Promotion Center of Excellence
- Running event forecast creation and flow, analyzing item lifecycles, and driving recommendations on end-of-season management
This role requires:
- Four-year degree or equivalent experience
- 2-6 years of relevant experience
- 3+ years of Merchandising experience
- Strong strategic, financial, and analytical skills
- Ability to translate data from various sources into insights and recommendations
- Strong collaboration skills to partner with cross-functional teams
- Flexibility, resilience, and comfort working in 'grey areas' that are constantly changing
In terms of benefits, Target offers eligible team members and their dependents comprehensive health benefits and programs, including medical, vision, dental, life insurance, and more. Other benefits include 401(k), employee discount, short-term disability, long-term disability, paid sick leave, paid national holidays, and paid vacation.