Planner (Hybrid)

The role of the Planner is to maximize gross margin dollars & inventory productivity by providing the overall financial direction of a category or department(s). Planners are primarily responsible for developing seasonal merchandise financial plans, pricing strategies and assortment optimization. Planners also work with Buyers in assortment and buy planning by facilitating layering of assortments and validating the profitability of purchases. In-season, Planners provide in-depth analysis of product performance and make recommendations to maximize business opportunities.

Essential Functions:

• Develop merchandise financial plans, vendor or class as appropriate, that support the merchandise strategies while achieving corporate financial goals both for the short term (seasonal) and long term (multi-year).
• Develop the assortment plan and the initial buy plan through use of hindsighting and profitability tools
• Develop replenishment budgets and providing analytics required for planning and managing replenishment items. Reforecasting replenishment budget to inform Monthly Forecast
• Lead Monthly Forecast process to manage business in season and maximize opportunities through product lifecycle management
• Partner with allocation team to Reconcile merchandise and by-door plans with store level opportunities
• Optimize profitability by leading the permanent markdown process & providing recommendations on in-season POS pricing strategies

Education / Experience Requirements:

Position Contribution Level :

• Intermediate Level

Minimum Education & Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree strongly preferred or equivalent years of comparable experience
• 4-7 years of retail experience; 2-3 in merchandise or financial planning
• Proficient in Excel and Microsoft office suite of products and business related software

Knowledge / Skills Requirements:

• Strong merchandising, product and marketing skills
• Demonstrates strong analytical and problem solving skills
• Highly organized and able to multitask
• Builds and maintains productive relationships with peers, merchant team and allocation team
• Demonstrates leadership and decision-making skills
• Takes calculated risks to achieve results
• Demonstrates strong listening, written and oral communication skills
• Analyzes business to the lowest level to identify opportunities in sales, inventory, and margin by store, department, and class
• Reacts to business trends in a timely and efficient manner
• Adapts to shifting circumstances in a business environment
• Able to translate strategy into tactical, well-developed financial plans
• Able to think strategically and provide financial direction for future business opportunities
• Maintains professionalism in work relationships and habits
• Develops creative solutions to business issues
• Works effectively with staff and Divisional/BSS management to achieve sound financial and merchandising solutions based on analysis, input and experience
• Communicates effectively with stores and vendors

Reporting Relationships:

Supervisor :

DIR Planning or VP Planning

Supervises :

May supervise an Assistant Planner

Accessibility Guidelines:
Belkcareers.com is committed to making the on-line application experience easy and accessible to individuals with disabilities. We are constantly making improvements to comply with the spirit of the "Americans with Disabilities Act," and the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. If any of the information on the belkcareers.com website is not accessible to you due to a disability, please contact us via email at HRSharedServices@Belk.com. Please provide the location of the inaccessible information and the format you wish to have the information presented and we will be happy to send it to you, either via your email address or a separate mailing address you provide. If you prefer, you may contact one of our friendly Shared Services representatives at 1-800-588-3700 and we will be happy to assist you with the application process.

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer:
We treat all our associates and candidates as equals. We require all associates and managers to do so too and comply with employment laws and regulations. All personnel actions are conducted in the spirit of equal employment. We are committed to recruit, train, promote and retain associates without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identification and expression, national origin, marital status, age, disability, genetic information, military status, sexual orientation or any other characteristic protected by applicable local, state or federal laws.

#LI-SE1

#IND3

#LI-HYBRID