The EMEA Inventory Planning team owns and is accountable for inventory management, 18 Month Material level and planning, and fiscal alignment for the Europe Wholesale and Europe DTC business.
Inventory optimization and metrics
- Executes within defined parameters the inventory asset management strategy, in units by working within established optimized inventory, turnover goals, and Open-to-Buy (OTB) targets for assigned categories as directed by planning leadership.
Service, Margin, Quality
- Executes seasonal buy programs in accordance with the buy calendar and lead times with leadership input.
- Works to meet service level targets and reports on progress for each period.
- Analyses and publishes standardised reporting to sales and finance to clear out underperforming stock
On-hand SKU optimization
- Monitors on-hand SKU counts to established KPIs, analyse SKU performance, and delivers results and recommendations to leadership for further action.
Forecasting
- Build material level phased inbound forecasts at the stock number level, utilising a good engagement with brand strategy, trend, account forecasts, competitive information and market conditions.
- Partner with demand planning/commercial to ensure alignment on material level forecasts and financial forecasts; communicate any gaps/opportunities.
- Manages monthly and seasonal review of forecasts, and reconciles with OTB.
Warehouse Planning
- Supports logistics team in planning inbounds inline with capacity, and driving efficiencies in lead-times, and costs.
SKU development and Minimum Order Quantity (MOQ) analysis
- Monitor MOQ concerns by category and minimise costs.
Execution of outbound product distribution strategy
- Collaborates with sales, DTC and marketing teams to provide operational support to ensure successful launch of new product into market.
- Track assigned region/category order booking programs to ensure timely and organised backlog.
- Monitors booking activity against category inventory flow constraints and communicates new availability dates accordingly.
- Provide critical operational support of order allocation, fill, and shipment during key fiscal deadlines, at period, quarter and year-end.
Inventory Procurement
- Summarise and execute timely purchase summary orders.
- Review and recommend best production dates to support customer demand and inventory requirements.
- Execute size/width simulation to ensure appropriate purchases per established curve.
- Maintain delivery information on all open purchase orders from issuance to receipt.
- Manage and communicate production shifts due to commercialisation issues or sourcing changes. Analyse and report factory purchase order dates, styles and/or sizes vs customer demand as directed by planning leader to report out issues filling customer orders.
KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES REQUIRED
- Strong Excel Capabilities
- 2+ years’ experience in planning and/or merchandising
- Strong analytical skills
- Highly organized; able to juggle multiple priorities in a fast-paced, dynamic environment, while still achieving agreed upon deadlines
- Knowledge of inventory math a plus
- Basic understanding of product lifecycle planning
- Good financial acumen
- Strong problem solving and decision-making skills
- Good written and verbal communication skills
- SAP experience preferred