Manager Planning Retail Europe

Purpose & Overall Relevance for the Organisation:

The Planning function plays a critical role for the success of our Retail stores. 
Its overarching objective is to provide a fact-based frame for the Merchandising process from a pre-season as well as in-season perspective. By providing clear call-to-actions based on sell-out insights we can ensure the right products are planned at the right time, at the right place and at the right volume to maximize the commercial success (sales & productivity) of our concept store channel while maintaining a premium environment to drive our brand priorities forward. 

Key Responsibilities: 

•    Support the implementation of the European Merchandising Strategy in all activities conducted by the department
•    Lead financial planning process IBP and connect with all stakeholders to come up with holistic seasonal targets (translating into buying budget)
•    Generate sharp consumer & marketplace insights
•    Create a reporting landscape to generate sell-out insights in a user-friendly way on a weekly & monthly & seasonal level
•    Translate complex datasets into digestible take-aways & tangible call-to-actions and build executive summaries for SLT level 
•    Scan performance of other channels on a regular basis to understand new business potential for our Concept Stores
•    Identify & exploit commercial opportunities based on marketplace and consumer insights and highlight risks if products are under- or overbought 
•    Closely collaborate with Merchandising and Trading teams to work towards our financial targets and establish an efficient communication channel to do so 
•    Store visits as needed and advised by the business (expected ratio of office/travel is 90%/10%)

Key Relationships:

•    Concept Store Trading
•    Concept Store Merchandising
•    Franchise Planning
•    eCommerce Planning
•    Europe Finance

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities: 

•    Technical skills in pre-season planning and buying for a multichannel direct-to-consumer (own retail, franchise or e-com) global brand
•    Deep knowledge of merchandising and retail supply and operations topics and broad knowledge of other functional areas involved in the planning & buying process
•    Product knowledge and understanding of inventory principles
•    Rough understanding of the consumers’ psychology, the European marketplace composition, our product assortment as well as operational retail KPIs
•    Interpersonal and project management skills
•    Excellent troubleshooting and problem-solving skills
•    Excellent analytical skills including broad experience with excel and Power BI
•    Excellent business acumen 
•    Fluent in English

Requisite Education and Experience/ Minimum Qualification:

•    University degree in business, ideally with marketing and sales focus or equivalent professional experience
•    Retail knowledge, potentially also gained through working in stores
•    5 years of typical relevant work experience