Merchandise Planner, CK Retail

About the Role

The Planner is responsible for developing, executing and communicating strategic merchandise financial plans for the Calvin Klein Omni‑Channel and driving business to meet the division’s financial, merchandising and marketing objectives.

• Develop, execute, and communicate strategic merchandise financial plans that support the company’s financial, product, and marketing objectives.
• Strategically drive the business to maximize sales and margin, and optimize inventory.
• Contribute to the development of Brand initiatives, ensuring all planning activities support annual goals.
• Create strategic financial plans that support the company’s objectives and brand goals.
• At a department & product segmentation level, develop sales, gross margin, and inventory plans that support the company’s profit objectives.
• Collaborate with merchandising to align financial objectives with product opportunities.
• Guide the merchandising team, utilizing historical data and current trends, to capitalize on new opportunities and identify risks.
• Communicate opportunities and risks to key business partners including merchandising, finance, marketing, visual, and brand leaders.
• Build and maintain a strategic promotional calendar, in partnership with merchandising and marketing.
• Provide guidance on key/peak weeks.

• Help build and manage the budget for area of responsibility and ensure we are meeting our sales, GM and inventory targets.

• Make decisions quickly in an ever‑changing environment; partner cross‑functionally with cross‑functional team.
• Identify risks and opportunities relative to sales trends on product, flow, and presentation.

• Be flexible to adapt to changing trends of business and/or ad‑hoc projects, and be detail oriented.

• Provide updated weekly forecasts to merchandising team detailing category opportunities and risks, recommending markdowns, and reflowing inventory as needed.
• Ensure all decisions are based on historical data and/or current trends.
• Present “action points” to cross‑functional teams and senior management and gain consensus on business.
• Drive strategic pricing decisions with cross‑functional team to maximize sales and margin.
• Manage seasonal liabilities, inventory by source, and recommend reflow of new deliveries as needed.

• Partner with merchandising, visual, and marketing to develop 90‑day forecast for sales, margin, and inventory.
• Develop analytics to support business approach, including source, delivery, and season forecasts.
• Pre‑meet with divisional leadership to gain consensus prior to monthly strategic meeting.
• Lead and direct the monthly forecast meeting, providing guidance to business leaders and finance.
• Recommend strategic actions to maximize sales and margin, optimize inventory, and mitigate risk.
• Collaborate with field organization, visual, marketing, and other critical partners to ensure execution of strategies.
• Lead receipt reconciliation process with merchant team.
• Ensure on‑order and committed receipts deliver in time to support forecasts.
• Identify risks and drive action plans to manage.
• Recommend “chasing” or “reflowing” receipts as appropriate.

• Review historical performance at department and program item level.
• Present analysis by source, delivery, and category to merchants to understand prior performance and develop future goals.
• Pre‑season create department, category, and item plans to support line development.
• Provide receipt plans, margin and IMU goals, and flow strategies to merchants to drive assortment execution.
• Review and reconcile assortments with inventory planners to ensure appropriate breadth and depth, and flawless execution.
• Provide guidance on store clusters and alpha ranks.
• Lead and facilitate buy finalization meeting with merchant.
• Present pre‑season plans that support new assortment.
• Identify risks and opportunities relative to product, flow, and presentation.
• Highlight changes to store groups and distribution strategies relative to last year or prior buys.
• Gain consensus on assortment and plans from senior…