Assistant Purchasing Planner

The Assistant Merchandise Planner will be responsible for developing merchandise purchase plans to support company goals and growth objectives. This person will provide analytical support directly to the Vice President of Operations and work with the Product Development team regarding catalog assortment. In addition, the Assistant Merchandise Planner will keep the flow of inventory moving by managing and executing all inbound freight from locations such as China and Germany.

Key Responsibilities:

· Oversee all assigned categories, meeting corporate drop dates and projecting purchases.

· Purchase, forecast and monitor category inventory

· Analyze and communicate results of item sales on the department, category and brand level to drive future product decisions.

· Partner with Product Development team to identify items profitability and future status

· Lead forecast and inventory planning meetings with Director of Operations; reviewing recommended sales forecasts and inventory goals

· Participate in weekly strategy meetings with Product Development team regarding catalog production timelines.

· Effectively communicate and collaborate with manager and associates to form strong cross-functional relationships.

· Organize and manipulate large amounts of data to be used by management to drive and support business decisions

· Conduct current and future forecasting analysis, ensuring processes and methods are followed

· Responsible for Item Master Maintenance

· Run weekly selling reports for management.

Excellent analytical, organizational, interpersonal and communication skills a must. Strong comprehensive knowledge of retail math and inventory metrics. Understanding of forecasting methodology. Strong aptitude with numbers. Experience with analyzing retail data and reports to identify issues and trends to drive business and find solutions. Strong working knowledge of Microsoft Office required. (formulas, referencing cells, pivot tables, sorting and auto filtering).

Bachelor’s Degree required with a minimum of 1 year experience in retail planning, inventory management, allocation or assistant buying.

Job Type: Full-time