Associate Planner

Join the HC Brands Family!

At HC Brands, we are passionate about selling personalized products. The Associate Planner is an integral part of the inventory planning, purchasing and product team. In this role you will have an opportunity to work with the Merchandising, Operations and Finance teams.

Who we are looking for:

• Maintaining healthy, appropriate inventory levels to help manage the financial success of the business
• With senior executive guidance, maintain and execute inventory plans at the week/month/quarter/year level for multiple product categories utilizing history, sales trends and marketing information that supports company and category level strategies.
• Complete weekly analysis of trend verses plan to drive purchasing decisions
• Move quickly from analysis to action using data to make PO decisions, writing orders on a weekly basis.
• Provide a weekly summary of variances from actual orders written to purchasing plan, including calling out and quantifying opportunities and risks as it relates to trend and financial metrics.
• Maintain PO log for transparency throughout company. Follow up on open POs to ensure target levels are achieved. Keep record of successes and opportunities to tie back to vendor scorecard.
• With senior executive guidance, forecast sales and inventory position on a weekly/monthly/seasonal basis at the category and style level to achieve desired inventory levels, turnover and in-stock rate
• Report on key items and any selected focus items to ensure never OOS position.
• Analyze historical data, sales trends, pricing and promotional plans, inventory levels, budgets and provide recommendations to maximize results.
• Collaborate with Merchant Team to support inventory strategies and vision.
• Collaborate with Production Teams to support just in time inventory strategies and coordinate cycle counts.
• Collaborate with Warehouse Teams to support receiving timing and space allocation required for inventory placement.
• Assist in creation and management of Pre-Season and In-Season Inventory and Receipt Plan.
• Assist in creation of Post-Season inventory hindsight reports including learning and recommendations to drive strategic assortment decisions for future investment.
• Prepare innovative ad-hoc analysis for management as needed.
• Forward thinking to assist in driving process as it shifts to OTB merchandise management and ladder style product planning.

QUALIFICATIONS/ EXPERIENCE LEVEL:

• Minimum 3-4 years of merchandise planning, allocation, or financial planning.
• Entrepreneurial and independent spirit, with the ability to win the buy in of teammates to move forward.
• Advanced Excel skills are a must. Candidate must be able to navigate through large amounts of data using v-lookups, pivot tables and a variety of formulas.
• Strong strategic, financial, and analytical skills; can easily translate data from an array of sources into insights and recommendations.
• Proven ability to achieve results in a fast-paced, dynamic environment.
• Experience with QuickBooks or other similar accounting applications.
• Sense of urgency responding to internal and external customers.
• Organizational and time management skills; must have an ability to manage deadlines.
• Flexible and adaptive to changing priorities.
• Bachelor’s Degree required.

Why join the HC Brands team??

• Fantastic compensation and benefits package.
• Passionate people who love to work here!
• Company events such as baseball games, bowling nights and many more.
• Volunteer opportunities to give back to the community.
• Numerous opportunities for career growth and promotion within the company.
• Every team member can submit creative ideas that has an impact on the business.