Join the thousands of innovators, advocates and forces who are making an impact every day at one of the biggest footwear brands in the world. Whether you love to connect with consumers on the retail floor or want to drive our award-winning powerhouse in new directions, the SKECHERS team is the place to be. Learn more about our brand at skx.com. 

The  Associate Planner is responsible for achieving sales and inventory plans in our retail stores that meet the assigned financial targets and company objectives. The Associate Planner drives the sales plan through consistent focus on studying the business, monitoring inventory and sales performance, and bringing in new products based on predicted needs of the customer. The candidate must track how existing product is selling and decide the next steps; this includes developing in-season forecasts and future merchandise plans for a given gender and class. This position works closely with merchandising, allocations, and store operations and must partner with the merchant to optimize store assortments by clustering for multiple channels of distribution.

ESSENTIAL JOB RESULTS

• Project sales in-season and track open-to-buy purchase budgets.
• Analyze historical data and current trends to identify risks and opportunities; compare sales data of the planned gender/category to company sales and communicate major deviations to relevant stakeholders.  
• Work with the merchant to actively manage inventory levels. This includes planning backup orders on key core items and major initiatives, recommending orders, increasing/decreasing inventory, and/or canceling orders. 
• On a monthly and quarterly basis, recap and report back on the sales results to plan and forecast of in-season sales and inventory.  
• Establish and monitor store capacity and inventory levels.
• Develop and maintain store clusters using store volume, profile, capacity and performance by gender/category, seasonality and region; group like stores and create model stock for each gender/category. 
• Partner with the merchant to create and maintain seasonal assortment plans and category sales plans using store clusters.
• Create allocation strategies based on seasonality, trend, store capacity and stock-to-sales, partnering with allocations to develop and implement these strategies.
• Perform bottoms up planning in terms of key item flow, sku sales plans, average stock, and replenishment requirements. 
• Work closely with the Merchant, Planning Manager, Director of Planning and Store Operations to develop best-in-class new store opening inventory assortments.

ADDITIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES

• Other duties as assigned.

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES

• No.  

JOB REQUIREMENTS

• Must have 3 – 5 years of experience as a Merchandise Planner with a medium to large size retailer
• Strong aptitude with numbers and clear understanding of retail math skills 
• Strong organizational skills with ability to manage multiple projects, prioritize and meet deadlines
• Must be driven to excel and succeed, taking full ownership for his or her success
• Superior communication skills; able to communicate persuasively, influentially and responsibly across a broad spectrum of stakeholders
• Excels in team-environments and in building and developing strong interpersonal relationships, while maintaining an individual determination to accomplish goals 
• Required travel: 10% 

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE

• Computer proficiency with advanced knowledge of Excel (pivot tables, v-lookups, etc.)

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily.  The skills, abilities and physical demands described are representative of those duties that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities, who are otherwise qualified for the job position, to perform the essential functions.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to stand; use hands to finger, handle, or feel, and talk or hear.  The employee frequently is required to walk, sit, reach with hands and arms, stoop, and kneel. The employee is occasionally required to sit for long period of times.  

All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.