Associate Merchandise Planner, D2C

Position Details

Title:

D2C Associate Merchandise Planner

Department: D2C

Reports to:

D2C Planning Manager

Location:

Dearborn, MI (Remote)

Job Classification:
Remote

FLSA Status:
Exempt

Job Band:
Professional

The Associate Merchandise Planner develops, manages, and executes assortment, sales, inventory, and margin plans that tie to financial targets for their product category across multiple business channels. This individual contributes to the success of the organization by working cross‑functionally, correlating historical and current trends, planning and forecasting multiple weekly, monthly and annual KPI’s, optimizing inventory, and can present, articulate and defend their plan position.

The Associate Merchandise Planner supports their team and Merchant(s) in managing their specific book of business.

At Carhartt, the values of hard work—dependability, honesty, and trust—are rooted in the legacy of our founder, Hamilton Carhartt. His commitment to serving hardworking people continues to inspire everything we do. Guided by his legacy and our mission – We serve and protect all hardworking people by building durable products – we remain dedicated to upholding these principles in every decision we make and every product we create.

• Execute the daily/weekly/monthly activities of the Planning & Inventory business process.
• Develop seasonal assortments with Merchandising for your assigned Channel(s)/Category(s) that can deliver the financial targets for Sales, Margin, Productivity, and Inventory Metrics with guidance from your leader.
• Build Pre‑Season plans using guardrails from leadership (but not constrained by) on Productivity, Minimums, Safety Stock, Inv Flow, In Stock, Missed Demand, and Clearance. Partner with Merchandising to present, articulate and defend the plan position in relation to targets, history, and strategy, to gain consensus from leadership in Investment Reviews.
• Review and reforecast demand to drive the monthly in‑season process. Identify opportunities and risks to discuss and explore options to mitigate with your leader/team and Merchant(s). Ensure updates are approved for the next plan version / lock.
• Provide input on key product misses and drivers to support the Weekly, Monthly, Seasonal D2C Business process cycle. Articulate business trends in relation to prior forecast, budget and last year (Inclusive of all Product / Inventory types for your Category(s)).
• Use inventory metrics to focus on ‘In stocks’, inv depth, and suggest options to solve for Shortfall/Surplus. Maintain the signal to drive DC receipts and on‑hand DC inventory.
• Identify product clearance opportunities, partnering with others for mitigating actions to exit dropped product in a profitable and timely way.
• Partner with cross‑functional partners, primarily D2C Merchandising to identify Sales and inventory risk/opportunity across time.
• Participate in additional projects as requested.

• Bachelor’s degree in a related field and/or equivalent years of experience.

• Minimum of 1‑2 years of experience in a Planning or Inventory Management adjacent role.
• Good communication skills to interact with key partners, and occasionally with senior leaders, convey a message clearly and explain the thought process behind the output.
• Strong aptitude for learning, curiosity, and organizational skills to ensure deliverables are consistently achieved.
• Develop collaborative productive partnerships cross‑functionally, offering support, questions and a point of view to support decision making.
• Analytical thinker with good understanding of Retail math and Planning/Inventory methodologies, being open to new ideas and opportunities.
• Team player who is Self‑motivated, passionate and enthusiastic individual ready to bring energy and excitement to lead their business.
• Data manipulation and analysis skills to operate with accuracy and efficiency (MS Office, Data, and Planning/Inventory tools).
• Retail or Ecommerce experience preferred.

• Typical office environment; cubicle/office setting. Periods of time sitting, standing,…