Merch Planner, Preschool/Infant/Toddler Toys (Hybrid)

About the position Working at Target means helping all families discover the joy of everyday life. We bring that vision to life through our values and culture. Learn more about Target here. Target Merchandising is evolving at an incredible pace. We are constantly reimagining how we get the right product to the right guest even better, faster and more cost effectively than before. We are becoming more intelligent, automated and algorithmic in our decision-making, so that no matter how guests shop—in stores or online—we deliver the convenience and immediate gratification they demand and deserve. We’re looking for exceptional people who are proactive, creative, independent, innovative, risk-savvy and comfortable working in varying degrees of ambiguity. Are you a critical thinker who seeks out root cause and can analyze both qualitatively and quantitatively? Are you a creative problem-solver who simplifies problems, quickly identifies solutions, commits to a plan and then positively influences others to execute it? If so, you will have success on one of our dynamic teams. A role in Planning and Inventory Management means applying your specialized and well-informed point of view to what we buy, from whom, how much and where it needs to go from there. You’ll use the right combination of data and expertise to achieve the best possible product availability through proper inventory positioning. You’ll also focus on the efficient transportation of product around the world, while ensuring compliance with U.S. Customs regulations and achieving the best possible product availability through proper inventory positioning. You’ll not only establish and develop great relationships with our vendors to encourage on-time shipment and delivery to stores and ultimately guests, but you’ll also analyze transportation supplier capabilities and contracts for maximum speed, reliability and cost effectiveness. As a Merchandise Planner in Toys, you’ll provide in-season decision support, collaborate on assortment planning, recommend localization and channel strategies including cluster types and profiles, and lead demand forecasting. You’ll support the divisional strategy through your category expertise and partnerships with cross-functional teams and vendors. You will head up the open-to-buy process and decide on category-level investment and the financial validity of assortments. You will conduct root cause analysis for variation between supply and demand forecasts to support “chase-cancel” decisions and communicate implications to vendors. You’ll conduct scenario planning, build unit plans, and lead initial set planning and operationalization to optimize assortments. A large part of your role will be to interpret forecast results and conduct “what if?” analysis to guide your go-forward recommendations. You will validate the unit promo planning forecast, drive maintenance, risk analysis and decision-making by the Pricing & Promotion Center of Excellence. And you’ll run event forecast creation and flow, analyzing item lifecycles and driving recommendations on end-of-season management. Core responsibilities are described within this job description. Job duties may change at any time due to business needs.

Responsibilities

• provide in-season decision support
• collaborate on assortment planning
• recommend localization and channel strategies including cluster types and profiles
• lead demand forecasting
• support the divisional strategy through your category expertise and partnerships with cross-functional teams and vendors
• head up the open-to-buy process and decide on category-level investment and the financial validity of assortments
• conduct root cause analysis for variation between supply and demand forecasts to support “chase-cancel” decisions and communicate implications to vendors
• conduct scenario planning
• build unit plans
• lead initial set planning and operationalization to optimize assortments
• interpret forecast results and conduct “what if?” analysis to guide your go-forward recommendations
• validate the unit promo planning forecast
• drive maintenance, risk analysis and decision-making by the Pricing & Promotion Center of Excellence
• run event forecast creation and flow, analyzing item lifecycles and driving recommendations on end-of-season management

Requirements

• Four-year degree or equivalent experience
• 2-6 years of relevant experience
• 1+ years of Merchandising experience
• Strong strategic, financial, and analytical skills; can easily translate data from an array of sources into insights and recommendations
• Strong collaboration skills to partner with cross-functional teams
• Flexible, resilient, and comfortable working in “grey areas” that are constantly changing

Benefits

• comprehensive health benefits and programs, which may include medical, vision, dental, life insurance and more
• 401(k)
• employee discount
• short term disability
• long term disability
• paid sick leave
• paid national holidays
• paid vacation

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