Position
MAIN JOB OBJECTIVE
A strategic leader with expertise in the design and implementation of Merchandise Planning, Control, and Allocation in both retail and wholesale ensuring the efficiency and effectiveness of Brand sales. This role is responsible for overseeing business analytics and attainment planning, creating/evaluating optimized data sets to maximize sales productivity and develop/communicate a comprehensive strategy that aligns future financial and product opportunities by retailer and channel. This role will work in conjunction with the head of sales and National Accounts team to develop account category strategies, sell-through and sell-in forecasts and manage key metrics and inventory levels. There must be demonstrated success in business planning and management in planning sales, gross margin and inventory within North America.
Profile
RESPONSIBILITIES
General
- Develops strategic Brand sales plans in collaboration with Marketing, Business Analytics and Finance.
- Sets strategic service level targets in alignment with Global Forecasting and Demand Planning team to deliver sales & inventory plan.
- Proactively establishes strong partnerships with internal teams to promote cross functional collaboration and synergies.
- Establish and monitor all sales related budgets, including co-op, rotator, in-store and printed materials dollars while budgeting and maintaining of field selling costs.
- Develop short and long-term net estimates, and quarterly P&L analysis on a seasonal basis.
- Collaborate with Finance and Global Supply Chain on long range planning and inventory management.
- Envision and implement end-to-end planning processes that drive cost effective process improvement.
- Sales Operations employees manage and evaluate data to determine the effectiveness of a product or campaign.
Monthly Stock & Sales Plan Management and LE Reporting
- Oversee in-season monthly brand stock and sales plans by reviewing previous month actuals, re-projecting plan, and conducting analyses on inventory/sales to drive insights.
- Build weekly ship plans for account based on monthly Stock & Sales plan and refresh weekly/monthly.
- Work with National Accounts lead and retailers on re-projected sales and receipt plan.
- Monitor and report on gross shipments identifying any risks and opportunities; call out gaps to seasonal plan and propose initiatives to close the gaps/further drive sales
- Develop monthly Latest Estimate.
Order Processing
- Lead planning team in weekly / bi-weekly calls to understand OTB and any constraints.
- Lead strategic analyses on top doors and top SKUs to identify sales opportunities and influence retailers' basic order, utilizing standard methodology and template for order recommendations.
- Recommend initial and launch re-order quantities using analytics; review retailer submitted order to ensure it is within guidelines.
- Develop orders that balance launch and basic needs and availability; ensure that order reflects seasonal sales peaks with demand planning.
- Review service levels, OOS and fill rates and use as input to order changes. Ensure minimum service levels of 95%+ on an ongoing basis.
- Ensure that orders reflect correct SKU assortment for accounts / doors.
Inventory Management
- Advise on optimal parameters, manage inventory in the trade to minimize returns, and ensure the right level of WOS in the right SKUS in the right doors.
- Weekly review of Service Levels and evaluate any lost sales or SKUs with low WOS; address any issues and elevate to Head of Sales if needed.
- Seasonal review of performance metrics (e.g., ROQ, WOS, counter service levels, stock turn) with recommended retailer changes.
- Oversee all account related inventory levels including phase-ins, phase-outs, discos, returns (customer and RTVs), DIFs, testers, inventory adjustments and markdowns, with particular focus on proactively minimizing returns and DIFs.
- Oversee and lead seasonal Stock & Sales plan that supports category and inventory targets, including returns.
- Negotiate Stock & Sales Plan with retailer seasonally as part of planning and then conduct monthly negotiations in season.
- Calls out risks and opportunities to financial plan to Head of Sales, Finance and Marketing.
Additional information
What you will achieve in the first 6 months:
- Develop and ensure 95%+ service level targets across all retailers and channels.
- Proactively and accurately manage gross shipments on a weekly and monthly basis, and develop any offset measures to ensure budget reconciliation and remain on-track to meet profit objectives.
- Ensure proper demand planning and allocation process to support future distribution expansion while supporting existing business efficiently.
What you will achieve in 12 months:
- Plan 2021 and 2022 strategies and future operation goals effectively.
- Using internal data, along with market and competitor research, to drive sales strategy to "hit the budget numbers", not an ever-evolving sales and shipments target. The expectation is to synthesize complex data sets requiring sophisticated analysis for advanced interpretation and predictive analytics to drive strategy and actions
- Generate sales forecasting for goal setting, and partner with sales teams for implementation and accountability.
- Expediently define and refine structured sales processes for efficiency, and closely partner with finance, marketing, account management and head of sales to ensure real-time transparency in analysis and proactive alignment in action plans.
QUALIFICATIONS
- Bachelor's Degree in Finance or equivalent
- 12+ years' experience in planning and merchandising
- Strong leadership abilities to manage, mentor and develop a sales administration team
- Understanding of operations and/or systems development, champion of efficient communication of information and improvement of process flow
- Ability to review and analyze stock and sales plans
- Flexible, ability to manage changing priorities and must encompass a wide variety of skills that can be employed simultaneously and accurately.
- Expert proficiency in Excel
- Strong knowledge of retail operations
- Excellent organizational, written and oral communication skills
- Detail-oriented with strong financial skills
- Self-starter and ability to work independently
- Knowledge of inventory models and metrics
- Usage of AX, DynaSys, Oracle, SAP, or related forecasting tool a plus
- Understanding of BI tools such as Qlik, Tableau, or Power BI a plus
- Strong analytical and business acumen
