Channel Planner & Allocator (Vans)

Role & Responsibilities:

Job Definition (Key Purpose of the Job):

Thrives in a fast-paced environment and has a strong proficiency in excel with strong business acumen, and will play a key role in optimizing sales, forecasting inventory needs, and identifying opportunities to maximize growth.

Lead & own inventory management strategies, including allocation, replenishment, consolidation, store capacity and product life cycle management to maximize sales, margin and inventory targets.

Allocator Key Result Areas:

• Identify, develop and implement process improvement opportunities to deliver efficiencies and making critical decisions that directly impact commercial performance.
• Collaborate and share insights to inventory management team & commercial team in formulating in-season inventory strategies 
• Provide data driven recommendations & analytics to optimize multi-channel inventory and maximize channel sales at SKU level.
• Manage system setting for markdown and promotion
• Analyze sales and product performance at both store and cluster level, provide support and input to the build.

Channel Planner Key Result Areas:

• Own and Drive pre-season merchandise financial plans, open to buy, flow planning, in-season forecast and in season management including promotional/markdown activity.
• Running rolling forecast with the assumption of sales split, markdown, and sell-thru assumption to create seasonal open to buy plan in multi time frame
• Developing the seasonal product flow plan in collaboration with Merchandising and Buying function
• Analyzing Store plan and provide feedback to marketplace team during the monthly/seasonal/yearly planning process
• Identifying weekly MTG YTG forecast/risk & opportunity with marketplace team
• Reviewing the sales trends and forecast the ending inventory, suggest any risk and opportunities, and drive the action to solve the risk.
• Consistently monitoring the business through analytics and identifying actions to achieve the key performance metrics.

Competency Requirements:

• Advance understanding retail mathematics and Open to Buy 
• Strong analytical skills, including the ability to interpret multiple data points across numerous channels and market segments 
• Good communication skills - interpersonal, written and verbal 
• Entrepreneurship – an ability to make decisions and take calculated risks 
• Strong organization and planning skills; ability to deliver results to a process and timeline
• Ability to turn data and analytics into information to inform and influence decision-making
• Strong teamwork and collaboration with cross functional teams
• Ability to interact and communicate with all levels of employees – both senior and junior
• Flexibility to change business process, way of working.
• Self-awareness, with a desire for constant self-improvement(goal-oriented) 

List down specific set of functional skills required to perform in this role

• MS Office (Excel /PowerPoint)
• VF system (SAP, Bi, etc) & Tools (Tableau) adoption

Experience

Minimum Relevant Experience: At least 3-5 years related experience

Academic Qualifications

Minimum Degree Held: Bachelor

Subject Expert In: Mathematic/Business/Statistical analysis/Apparel

Certifications Required: N/A

Language Proficiency:

Fluent in: Japanese / English

Specific Working Conditions

Frequency of Travel:  10%