Category Insights and Planning Manager

Our Team

We are dedicated to our mission and passionate about collaboration, moving quickly, and breaking down barriers, leveraging technology, eliminating bureaucracy, and constantly striving to evolve. Our cultural foundation is built on trust, teamwork, quality, sustainability, and integrity. 

This is a full-time, on-site hybrid position in Bentonville, AR.

• Leverage Walmart Scintilla platform’s Channel Performance, Shopper Behavior, and Customer Perception modules to provide actionable insights through sales, margin, and inventory performance analysis.
• Prepare and present weekly, monthly, and seasonal performance reports to cross-functional teams
• Utilize data to identify risks and opportunities, recommending adjustments to forecasts and strategies.
• Promote and maximize the growth of the category as a whole.
• Make the customer’s shopping experience simpler and enjoyable.
• Maintain in-stocks for products consumers want.
• Enhance efficiencies and reduce costs in the supplying of products to consumers.
• Deliver insights to accelerate omni performance with item-level analysis and category reporting and deliver strategic advice.
• Provide a unique perspective to customer insights based on trends, analyzing competitor’s activities to position across products, categories, promotion performance and channels.
• Analyze competitor’s activities and positioning across products, categories, advertising and channels.
• Provides a detailed understanding of each supplier’s support capacity, implementation process to provide objective recommendations and the largest strength that can leverage.
• Helps evaluate capabilities to build recommendations by cluster/footage, and design intuitive modulars that are easily shopped by the customer, integrating niche and OPP items as well as market level competition and WM historical performance into final assortment recommendation.
• Provides an explanation of analytical capabilities for score-carding, sales loss/gain, and executive overview of category performance.
• Provide explanation of analytical capabilities for tracking item level performance, issues, opportunities, and new item performance.
• Describes identification of assortment gaps, auditing competitive pricing, communicating share gain/loss, macro trends and using syndicated data.
• Describes the use of demographic data to understand differences in customer preferences and the process used to gather primary research data and customer trends.
• Analyze retail strategies to optimize category sales growth.
• Work closely with merchants on content quality priorities.
• Monitor inventory levels, forecast demand, and collaborate with the supply chain team to ensure adequate stock availability and minimize stockouts, nil picks or excess inventory.
• Collaborate with marketing teams to develop effective marketing campaigns, promotions, and visual merchandising strategies.
• Track and analyze sales performance, identify areas for improvement, and develop strategies to increase sales and meet revenue targets.
• Stay updated on industry trends, emerging technologies, and consumer behavior.

• Develop and execute seasonal and annual merchandise financial plans, including sales, gross margin, and inventory.
• Analyze historical data, market trends, and current business performance to forecast demand and inform buying strategies.
• Partner with merchandising teams to create assortment plans that align with brand and financial objectives.

• Monitor and manage inventory levels to ensure optimal stock levels across stores and channels.
• Identify opportunities to improve inventory turn and minimize markdowns while maximizing sell-through.
• Collaborate with supply chain teams to ensure timely product delivery and replenishment.

• Partner with customer buying, planning, replenishment, supply chain teams to align on inventory flow quantity and timing to support sales budgets.
• Align with internal production, DC Operations to understand product lead times and manage supply chain challenges.
• Collaboration with sales teams to ensure cohesive internal financial plans.
• Work with sales teams through leveraging of Scintilla to provide KPI’s and insights for category line reviews.

• Leverage planning and analytics tools (e.g., SAP, Excel, Luminate) to streamline processes and drive decision-making.
• Stay updated on industry best practices and emerging technologies in planning and analytics.

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Merchandising, Finance, or related field.
• 3-5 years of planning or allocation experience in retail, preferably in apparel or fashion.
• Strong understanding of retail math, inventory management, and merchandise planning processes
• Exceptional analytical skills with the ability to translate data into actionable strategies.
• Proficiency in Excel and familiarity with planning tools.
• Knowledge of Target Partners Online and Meijer VendorNet systems preferred but not required.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills.
• Strong organizational skills and ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.
• A collaborative mindset and ability to work cross-functionally.

• Competitive Pay – We believe in rewarding success and showing our employees just how much they’re valued in a variety of different ways, including compensation.
• Health and Wellness – There’s nothing basic about our comprehensive health and wellness programs and offerings. While at work and t play, we aim to support a healthy lifestyle.
• Time away from work – Sometimes we need time away to be with family, enjoy our hobbies, focus on our health or just simply recharge.  We are committed to helping out employees create a work-life harmony!
• Growth and Development – We are constantly seeking to offer opportunities and support for personal and professional development.
• Financial planning and wellbeing – No matter what financial goals our employees have set, we want to help them get there.  We offer access to benefits, programs and education to help our employees to protect income, pay for expenses and invest in the future.  Including a generous 401(k) match!