About this role
About the Role
As a Merchandise Planner you will be a product category specialist reporting to the Head of Merchandise Planning. You will operate the day to day planning and trading of key categories through careful management of budgets and OTB (open to buy) and supporting the Head of Merchandise Planning in distributing these across the business units.
You will work collaboratively with the product teams to agree appropriate levels of budget allocation pre-season, and continually analyse performance to identify opportunities and risk, making recommendations to the business to drive sales and margin.
What You’ll Be Doing
1. Strategic thinking
Delivering against existing strategy by executing deliverables against key milestones:Proposing and managing product category budgets across business units, producing clear budget targets on time with regular review periodsThrough strategic planning and trading of the category performance, managing intake and OTB allocation to deliver the stock requirements to the business.Providing guidance to product teams of width and depth requirements to meet satisfy customer demand.Providing targets for full price, promotion and markdown to product and channel teams at product category levelProviding and interpreting performance analysis and propose actions to capitalise on opportunity and mitigate risk to salesSupport the head of merchandise planning in aligning on approach to category and end use management and the delivery of analysis and budget guidance to the product and channel teams2. Business knowledge
Understanding of the business to accomplish team objectives and contribute to department / exec area vision:Delivering in-season trading through recommendations to re-allocate budgets based on customer demand to optimise stock health and increase sales and margin.Using expertise of supply chain and lead times to ensure ASOS remains agile and flexible to changing customer demands through considered allocation of budgets.Incorporating the requirements of channel teams into the product category plans to ensure product requirements at a local level are met.Using analytical data to support decision making and analyse trading patterns and make recommendations for action to be taken to unexpected sales reactions and gaps in budgets3. Leadership
Supporting the Head of Merchandise Planning to make strategic and trading decisions in a fast-paced environment:Providing day to day guidance and council to the Merchandise Analysists to deliver department objectives and support their development.Building strong cross-functional relationships that enable trust and buy-in from product and channel teams4. Problem solving
Analysing facts to make judgements and uses skills and expertise to formulate a detailed action plan:Pre-season & in-season product category plansCommitment, OTB and intake planningWidth & Depth guidancePricing analysis and recommendationsPrice status planning5. Impact
Providing Head of Merchandise Planning with support in influencing the wider commercial function through guidance and recommendationsRevenue and profitability would be a key measure of successProviding analysis and visibility of the end to end performance KPIs at product category level
Who We’d Like to Meet
A proven track record of driving sales performance through creative thinking at a merchandiser levelCommercial approach and control of financial budgets and targetsStrong numerical acumen to manage performance by categoryExperience in planning, managing sales, stock, intake and OTBAbility to make decisions in a fast-paced environmentFashion/market knowledge to be able to guide relevant trade-off decisions between business units.Ability to work cross-functionally to drive the best results for ASOS.comStrong organisational skills, able to use initiative and to work in a pressurised environmentExcellent communication skills, with the ability to communicate clearly, effectively, and appropriately with colleagues at all levelsAttention to detailAdvanced Excel skills What’s in it for you?
Employee discount (hello ASOS discount!)ASOS Develops (personal development opportunities across the business)Employee sample salesAccess to a huge range of LinkedIn learning materials25 days paid annual leave + an extra celebration dayDiscretionary performance related bonus schemePrivate medical care schemeFlexible benefits allowance - which you can choose to take as extra cash, or use towards other benefits