Associate - Merchandise Planner

Role summary. The purpose of the Merchandise Planner role is to optimize sales, margin, and inventory by building accurate forecasts, managing OTB, and translating commercial strategy into balanced stock and supply plans across channels. It ensures the right product is in the right place at the right time through close collaboration with cross-functional teams, disciplined execution, and continuous performance analysis to drive sell-through and minimize risk. What you'll be doing. Merchandise Planning: Create and maintain demand forecast, OTB (Open to Buy) and inventory plans (MSSI) by collaborating with Buying, Finance, Retail, and Ecommerce teams. Utilize sales data, market conditions, and supplier inputs to help inform merchandise strategies and support profitable decision-making. Develop stock and supply plans at the brand level, broken down by channel and brand, based on sales and buying budgets. Oversee store allocation and replenishment parameters. Prepare and input data for internal Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) processes, ensuring alignment across demand, supply, and financial objectives. Demand Forecasting: Seasonal/Novelties: Challenge Buyers/Commercial demand forecasts on new products using historical data and sales performance of comparable items. Permanent/Baseline Product: Input rolling demand forecasts, incorporating historical data, promotions, sell-out forecasts from key accounts, and network evolution. Operational Planning: Build capacity plans that account for supply chain, logistics, and vendor constraints. Fashion: Manage markdown and liquidation plans to optimize inventory turnover and reduce obsolescence while protecting the margin. Collaborate with vendors to maintain healthy relationships and ensure alignment on supply requirements. Identify and address ageing stock, executing liquidation strategies to improve inventory health. Validate order requests and synchronize with the Order Management team to ensure timely and accurate execution. Performance Monitoring and Insights: Monitor key planning KPIs, such as Full Price Sell-Through, stock levels, ISA, DOI, OTIF, and fill rates. Conduct post-mortem analyses of previous seasons to identify insights and best practices to inform future planning cycles. Team Leadership and Development: Manage Merchandise Planners and Allocators, ensuring team alignment with organizational objectives. Mentor and develop team members, fostering a culture of collaboration and best practices in planning.