Merchandise Planner
Charleston, SC
Full Time
Mid Level
About Free Fly:
Free Fly Apparel is a Charleston, SC-based performance clothing company specializing in unique bamboo material blends. Before launching in 2011, we spent over two years of research and development to come up with the softest performance fabrics imaginable. Our design philosophy is anchored in fun and adventure while superior design and craftsmanship remains our focus. Whether you're on the water, exploring the mountains or hitting the gym, we're confident this will quickly become your favorite shirt. Free Fly's products are sold throughout 1,000+ specialty stores and they are also available through our website at www.freeflyapparel.com.
The Merchandise Planner will gather necessary data and analysis to create efficient inventory plans and analyze in-season and historical data for future planning. The Merchandise Planner will create and manage style-level inventory plans that align with top-down financials from channel partners and proactively manage performance to plan in-season to help uncover opportunities, mitigate risks, maintain margin targets, and build-out end of season inventory strategy. This role is highly collaborative and works closely with the Buyer and product team on ensuring inventory plans mirror financial, product, and marketing strategy. This role also provides support to the Operations team and other areas of Free Fly on quantifying the impact of strategic inventory investments, new initiatives, and other key areas related to inventory.
Job Tasks and Responsibilities
Free Fly Apparel is a Charleston, SC-based performance clothing company specializing in unique bamboo material blends. Before launching in 2011, we spent over two years of research and development to come up with the softest performance fabrics imaginable. Our design philosophy is anchored in fun and adventure while superior design and craftsmanship remains our focus. Whether you're on the water, exploring the mountains or hitting the gym, we're confident this will quickly become your favorite shirt. Free Fly's products are sold throughout 1,000+ specialty stores and they are also available through our website at www.freeflyapparel.com.
The Merchandise Planner will gather necessary data and analysis to create efficient inventory plans and analyze in-season and historical data for future planning. The Merchandise Planner will create and manage style-level inventory plans that align with top-down financials from channel partners and proactively manage performance to plan in-season to help uncover opportunities, mitigate risks, maintain margin targets, and build-out end of season inventory strategy. This role is highly collaborative and works closely with the Buyer and product team on ensuring inventory plans mirror financial, product, and marketing strategy. This role also provides support to the Operations team and other areas of Free Fly on quantifying the impact of strategic inventory investments, new initiatives, and other key areas related to inventory.
Job Tasks and Responsibilities
- Build seasonal merchandise targets by channel / division / category
- Manage and share the Monthly OTB
- Build cc targets by category and reconcile throughout OTB and milestone meetings
- Partner to create pre-season, item-level sales and inventory plans that align with historical performance, merchandising strategies and financial targets
- Develop division specific channel line targets for core and seasonal products that ladder up to category goals by collaborating with Product team
- Analyze opportunity within SKU count to balance the right mix of carryover and new products to create strong channel assortments that build storytelling opportunity throughout season
- Build and refine assortment planner, ensuring growth targets, product distortions, and delivery flows for each style by channel supports seasonal targets
- Manage line planning “assortment planner” hand-off with Product & Planning in support of milestone meeting and purchase order due dates
- Re-Forecast item level plans in season for assigned categories; Ensure alignment and tops-down, monthly forecast and channel level goals
- Provide hindsight analysis and partner with merchandising on future product positioning and opportunities
- Coordinate, manage, and maintain inventory fulfillment for Amazon channel; Partner with third party to ensure profitability
- Monitor End-of-life Product and discontinued stock
- Analyze markdown sales and recommend pricing in line with financial targets
- Analyze size curves each season to provide insights on how to plan for future buys
- Update weekly reports and distribute to internal teams
- Generate purchase orders and coordinate with Operations team & suppliers on any PO change requests (pricing, quantities, etc.)
- Maintain Time and Action (T&A) calendars and update internal calendars to ensure alignment on most recent timelines/deadlines
- Ad-hoc reporting and analysis
- Bachelor’s Degree in Planning, Business, or related field
- 3-5 years of related experience
- Merchandise Planning experience preferred
- Strong knowledge of MS Office Suite, NetSuite
- Strong financial and analytical skills
- Strong attention to detail
- Strong verbal and written communication skills
- Excels in collaborative environment
- Strong organizational skills
- Strong interpersonal skills
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