Manager, Merchandising Planner

at  Groupe Dynamite Inc

MANAGER, MERCHANDISING PLANNING

Groupe Dynamite is a leading fashion digital retailer with two brands at the heart of our success, Garage and Dynamite. With over 300 stores in Canada and the U.S., and more than 4,000 people, we have been making our mark on fashion since 1975.
Our core strengths are rooted in our team, our innovation and our customers. We are proud to hire and retain aspirational leaders who are driven to achieve great things and are recognized for their entrepreneurial spirit.
The main mandate of the Manager, Planning, is to creatively lead and manage the planning team, within their assigned Centers of Excellence (COEs) to maximize sales and profit by developing sound merchandise plans that support the company’s goals for sales, turn, and margin. In partnership with the Director of Planning and the Head Merchant, the Planning Manager will be responsible for maximizing the potential while remaining nimble and minimizing risk.

Key Responsibilities:

• Develop strategic merchandise plans to achieve category financial targets for near term as well as long term sustainable growth, with an ability to break down the business finding profitable opportunities.
• Manage in-season forecasts at product category, Top 40, and key attribute level across assigned COE’s with Merch Planners and lead monthly OTB review
• Review receipt flows by category to ensure all channels, and countries, have the right inventory to maximize sales.
• Manage seasonal inventory levels through effective lifecycle planning, price management, and lean inventory principles. Set and maintain stock & turn targets for their COEs.
• Take trend and merchant direction, interpreting it into a profitable business strategy for the brand.
• Develop, communicate and provide reporting and analysis to highlight important trends and/or support key initiatives.
• Assess data needs and support the development and implementation of new tools and applications including change management amongst teams.
• Directly manage and oversee Merch Planners of assigned COE’s.
• Work closely with cross functional teams including Merchandising, Allocation, and Regional Product Intelligence to strategize and execute category plans
• Recruit, develop and retain a high-performing team of merchandise planners.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree Finance, Business Administration, Economics or a related field.
• 5 to 7 years of experience in a similar role;
• Experience in the retail industry required;
• Excellent management skills and experience leading large teams;
• Comprehensive knowledge of the brand and target market;
• Bilingual (English and French).
• Experience with Oracle RPAS or other Merchandise Planning system an asset;

• Develop strategic merchandise plans to achieve category financial targets for near term as well as long term sustainable growth, with an ability to break down the business finding profitable opportunities.
• Manage in-season forecasts at product category, Top 40, and key attribute level across assigned COE’s with Merch Planners and lead monthly OTB review
• Review receipt flows by category to ensure all channels, and countries, have the right inventory to maximize sales.
• Manage seasonal inventory levels through effective lifecycle planning, price management, and lean inventory principles. Set and maintain stock & turn targets for their COEs.
• Take trend and merchant direction, interpreting it into a profitable business strategy for the brand.
• Develop, communicate and provide reporting and analysis to highlight important trends and/or support key initiatives.
• Assess data needs and support the development and implementation of new tools and applications including change management amongst teams.
• Directly manage and oversee Merch Planners of assigned COE’s.
• Work closely with cross functional teams including Merchandising, Allocation, and Regional Product Intelligence to strategize and execute category plans
• Recruit, develop and retain a high-performing team of merchandise planners