SUMMARY DESCRIPTION

The Associate Planner supports the North American business by providing comprehensive sell-in and sell-out analysis across all Lacoste product lines and partnering with Wholesale & Retail team to translate topline seasonal merchandise plans to SKU-level purchase targets. The goal of the Planning function is to drive the business through strategic seasonal merchandise planning, controlled inventory management, management of OTB and insightful analysis and strategy.

ESSENTIAL JOB DUTIES

• Contribute to the maintenance and development of department reporting and analysis tools, including but not limited to: Weekly Account Performance, Shipping Projections, Delivery Selling, and Market Prep Analysis
• Compile data from multiple sources to maintain standard reporting and create ad hoc analysis
• For all channels manage inventory ladders and projections on a monthly basis for core styles at the sku level and submit buys to production on a quarterly cadence to ensure never-out-of-stock in key portions of the business.
• Perform size-level analysis and recommend size curves for each category in the business used in the execution of buy and deployment processes.

· Work closely with wider planning team to ensure optimization of inventory allocations in-season and provide thoughtful solutions based on business priorities

· Assist with store allocations and in-season store transfers based on current trends and historical data

· Assist with New store inventory set up – develop the initial plan by category in collaboration with merchandising and planning teams.

• Partner with buying/merchandising team to ensure seasonal assortments and line sheets are represented accurately on sales platforms (Nuorder & Salesforce)
• Partner with Buying and Account Representatives to analyze Footwear business and procure/manage inventory.
• Builds relationships with cross-functional teams in Sales, Buying, and Planning to drive overall business strategy

SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

• Minimum of 2-3 years experience in buying, planning or merchandising
• Demand planning experience is a plus
• Strong cross-functional partnership skills, highly detail-oriented and organized
• Microsoft Excel proficiency – Must be able to create pivot tables, v-lookups, and advanced formulas in Microsoft Excel
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills
• Experience with Sales Force & NuOrder
• Four year college degree

CORE COMPETENCIES

• Initiative: Actively strives to achieve goals beyond the minimum level of performance. A self-starter who has the ability to work well without close supervision.
• Mathematical: Must be proficient working with numbers to ensure correctness of date produced when compiling large volumes of data on a spreadsheet for analysis.
• Analytical: Must be able to identify and react to business trends in various markets.
• Organized: Must be able to develop a system that will enable you to gather and retrieve information quickly.
• Communication: Able to communicate clearly and productively with various business partners to foster open communication and to establish good working relationships within the business.

CORE VALUES AND TRAITS

• Accountable
• Have the ability to take responsibility for results.
• Be responsive and able to address questions and issues every day.
• Be able to recognize the contributions of others.
• Able to recognize success as well as failure and being able to learn both individually and collectively from past experiences, retaining best practices.

• Audacious
• Willing to take risks and create new ways of working together.
• Being capable of changing conventional ways and doing what makes sense even when faced with challenges.
• The ability to take the road less traveled and going beyond current trends to achieve results.
• Have the ability to excite our customers with innovation.

• Collaborative
• Able to share opinions and information to work together differently.
• Building trust and cooperation among associates to make important decisions.
• Learning to execute solutions and face difficult problems together.
• Cultivate strength and cooperative spirit.
• Share achievements within and between teams throughout the organization.

• Respectful
• Being considerate of other people’s point of view.
• Recognizing that diversity in terms of opinions and approaches is an opportunity to explore new creative ways of thinking.
• The ability to have open and direct communication that fosters people development.

SUMMARY DESCRIPTION

The Associate Planner supports the North American business by providing comprehensive sell-in and sell-out analysis across all Lacoste product lines and partnering with Wholesale & Retail team to translate topline seasonal merchandise plans to SKU-level purchase targets. The goal of the Planning function is to drive the business through strategic seasonal merchandise planning, controlled inventory management, management of OTB and insightful analysis and strategy.

ESSENTIAL JOB DUTIES

• Contribute to the maintenance and development of department reporting and analysis tools, including but not limited to: Weekly Account Performance, Shipping Projections, Delivery Selling, and Market Prep Analysis
• Compile data from multiple sources to maintain standard reporting and create ad hoc analysis
• For all channels manage inventory ladders and projections on a monthly basis for core styles at the sku level and submit buys to production on a quarterly cadence to ensure never-out-of-stock in key portions of the business.
• Perform size-level analysis and recommend size curves for each category in the business used in the execution of buy and deployment processes.

· Work closely with wider planning team to ensure optimization of inventory allocations in-season and provide thoughtful solutions based on business priorities

· Assist with store allocations and in-season store transfers based on current trends and historical data

· Assist with New store inventory set up – develop the initial plan by category in collaboration with merchandising and planning teams.

• Partner with buying/merchandising team to ensure seasonal assortments and line sheets are represented accurately on sales platforms (Nuorder & Salesforce)
• Partner with Buying and Account Representatives to analyze Footwear business and procure/manage inventory.
• Builds relationships with cross-functional teams in Sales, Buying, and Planning to drive overall business strategy

SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

• Minimum of 2-3 years experience in buying, planning or merchandising
• Demand planning experience is a plus
• Strong cross-functional partnership skills, highly detail-oriented and organized
• Microsoft Excel proficiency – Must be able to create pivot tables, v-lookups, and advanced formulas in Microsoft Excel
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills
• Experience with Sales Force & NuOrder
• Four year college degree

CORE COMPETENCIES

• Initiative: Actively strives to achieve goals beyond the minimum level of performance. A self-starter who has the ability to work well without close supervision.
• Mathematical: Must be proficient working with numbers to ensure correctness of date produced when compiling large volumes of data on a spreadsheet for analysis.
• Analytical: Must be able to identify and react to business trends in various markets.
• Organized: Must be able to develop a system that will enable you to gather and retrieve information quickly.
• Communication: Able to communicate clearly and productively with various business partners to foster open communication and to establish good working relationships within the business.

CORE VALUES AND TRAITS

• Accountable
• Have the ability to take responsibility for results.
• Be responsive and able to address questions and issues every day.
• Be able to recognize the contributions of others.
• Able to recognize success as well as failure and being able to learn both individually and collectively from past experiences, retaining best practices.

• Audacious
• Willing to take risks and create new ways of working together.
• Being capable of changing conventional ways and doing what makes sense even when faced with challenges.
• The ability to take the road less traveled and going beyond current trends to achieve results.
• Have the ability to excite our customers with innovation.

• Collaborative
• Able to share opinions and information to work together differently.
• Building trust and cooperation among associates to make important decisions.
• Learning to execute solutions and face difficult problems together.
• Cultivate strength and cooperative spirit.
• Share achievements within and between teams throughout the organization.

• Respectful
• Being considerate of other people’s point of view.
• Recognizing that diversity in terms of opinions and approaches is an opportunity to explore new creative ways of thinking.
• The ability to have open and direct communication that fosters people development.