About the Role:

The Planner is responsible for developing, executing and communicating strategic merchandise financial plans for the Calvin Klein Omni-Channel and driving business to meet the division’s financial, merchandising and marketing objectives.

What You'll Do:

Accountabilities:

• Develop, execute, and communicate strategic merchandise financial plans that support the company’s financial, product, and marketing objectives. 

• Strategically drive the business in order to maximize sales and margin, and optimize inventory.

• Contribute to the development of Brand initiatives, and ensure that all planning activities support annual goals. 

Create strategic financial plans that support the company’s objectives and brand goals.

• At a Department & Product Segmentation level, develop sales, gross margin, and inventory plans that support the company’s profit objectives.  Collaborate with merchandising to ensure that financial objectives align with product opportunities.

• Guide the merchandising team, utilizing historical data and current trends, to capitalize on new opportunities, and identify risks.  Communicate opportunities and risks to key business partners including merchandising, finance, marketing, visual, and brand leaders.

• Build and maintain a strategic promotional calendar, in partnership with merchandising and marketing

  • Provide guidance on key/peak weeks

• Budget:  Help build and manage the budget for area of responsibility and ensure we are meeting our sales, GM and inventory targets.

• Decision Making:  Must be able to make decisions quickly in an ever-changing environment; partner cross functionally with cross-functional team. Identify risks and opportunities relative to sales trends on product, flow, and presentation.

• Resourcefulness/Creativity:  Must be flexible to adapt to changing trends of business and/or ad hoc projects and be detail orientated.

Weekly Business Management:

• Provide updated weekly forecasts to merchandising team detailing category opportunities and risks, recommending markdowns, and reflowing inventory as needed.  Ensure that all decisions are based on historical data and/or current trends.

• Present “action points” to cross functional teams and senior management and gain consensus on business.

• Drive strategic pricing decisions with cross functional team to maximize sales and margin.

• Manage seasonal liabilities, inventory by source, and recommend reflow of new deliveries as needed.

Owner of the Open to Buy Process and Meetings:

• Partner with merchandising, visual and marketing to develop 90 day forecast for sales, margin, and inventory.

• Develop analytics to support business approach including source, delivery, and season forecasts.

• Pre-meet with divisional leadership to gain consensus prior to monthly strategic meeting.  

• Lead and direct the monthly forecast meeting providing guidance to business leaders and finance.  Recommend strategic actions to maximize sales and margin, optimize inventory, and mitigate risk.  Collaborate with the field organization, visual, marketing, and other critical partners to ensure execution of strategies.

• Lead the receipt reconciliation process with merchant team.  Ensure that on order and committed receipts are delivering in time to support forecasts.  Identify risks and drive action plans to manage.  Recommend “chasing” or “reflowing” receipts as appropriate. 

Pre- Season Planning Process:

• Review historical performance at the department and program item level.  Present analysis by source, delivery, and category to merchants to understand prior performance and develop future goals. 

• Pre-season create department, category and item plans to support the development of the line.

• Provide receipt plans, margin and IMU goals, and flow strategies to merchants to drive assortment execution.

• Review and reconcile assortments with inventory planners to ensure appropriate breadth and depth, and flawless execution.  Provide guidance on store clusters and alpha ranks.

• Lead and facilitate buy finalization meeting with merchant.  Present pre-season plans that support new assortment.  Identify risks and opportunities relative to product, flow, and presentation.  Highlight changes to store groups and distribution strategies relative to last year or prior buys.

• Gain consensus on assortment and plans from senior management.  Lock plans seasonally and ensure that any reforecasting of sales, margin, or inventory (based on changes in trends) is reflected as new assortments are delivered. 

What You'll Bring: 

Experience:  

• Minimum 2-3 years merchandise planning experience; 5 or more years of total work experience

• Demonstrated experience

  • Presenting and recommending strategies and building a business case

  • Strategic forecasting for a multidimensional business

  • Assuming additional areas of accountability successfully

  • Influencing and negotiating at a variety of levels

Education:   4-year degree; advanced degree a plus

Skills: 

• Well-developed written and verbal communication skills including presenting complex material in an organized and compelling manner

• Well-versed in planning and allocation systems, as well as advanced Microsoft windows applications.

• Analytical/Math Skills                                                                    

• Project Management                                                    

• Strategic Forecasting & Financial Planning

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