Merchandise Planner

Carter??s, Inc. is the largest branded marketer in North America of apparel exclusively for babies and young children. The Company owns the Carter’s and OshKosh B’gosh brands, two of the most recognized brands in the marketplace. These brands are sold in leading department stores, national chains, and specialty retailers domestically and internationally. They are also sold through more than 1,000 Company-operated stores in the United States, Canada, and Mexico and online at www.carters.com, www.oshkosh.com, www.cartersoshkosh.ca, and www.carters.com.mx. The Company’s Child of Mine brand is available at Walmart, its Just One You brand is available at Target, and its Simple Joys brand is available on Amazon. The Company also owns Skip Hop, a global lifestyle brand for families with young children. Carter’s is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. Additional information may be found at www.carters.com.

Baby Clothing, Kids Clothes, Toddler Clothes | Carter's

Shop for baby clothing, baby necessities and essentials at Carters.com,  the most trusted name in baby, kids, and toddler clothing. Shop our selection of cute baby & kids clothing.

How you’ll make an impact:

We are very excited to have an opportunity available for a Merchandise Planner to join our growing Little Planet team! Planner must be able to operate with optimism, nimbleness, and an entrepreneurial spirit. Team has a-typical structure, Planner will work primarily with small cross functional team with accountability to Brand Leaders and Retail Organization. As Little Planet accelerates growth, Planner must have ability to identify and develop action plans to achieve goals in a timely manner, thinking through complexities, and elevating to leadership as necessary. This Planning role will be responsible for developing short and mid-range financial plans, as well and providing insight on long range plans and outlook. The ideal candidate should be entrepreneurial in that their approach to planning with a desire to identify growth opportunities and a willingness to put their name on it. Partner with the Buying, Allocation and Pricing teams to develop strategies that align with company topside goals.

• Lead and execute buys and financial plans for Little Planet omni business. Create 18 month bottom- up financial plans by product classification aligned to top down financial targets to establish annual budgets and open to buy. Present seasonal buy and strategy to leadership.
• In partnership with the buyer, align assortment strategies (store assortments, pricing, buy quantities) to achieve the financial plans, maximum sales potential, in-stocks and gross margin dollars while maintaining appropriate inventory levels.
• Manage 12-18 month style level ladder plans/ forecasts to determine optimal replenishment flows in alignment with retail turn and weeks of supply goals
• Partner with buying monthly to execute replenishment orders while staying within overall receipt targets
• Gain pre-season alignment on promotional strategies working heavily with Buying as well as Pricing teams
• Execute monthly/as needed re-forecast of comprehensive financial plan aligned top-down goals
• Re-forecast sales, margin, and inventory based on current trends, weekly or as needed
• Partner with finance to provide insight for long range plans and strategy to support future growth
• Support Little Planet LRP - analyzing productivity analysis across Little Planet and other brands to inform future growth potential and ensure alignment across teams (brands / ages / categories, etc)
• Provide analytical support to the buying team by quantifying impact of strategic, promotion, and assortment changes
• Build a partnership with allocation in executing store receipts, strategies, buy targets, launch minimums, and program setups
• Support multi-channel growth with omni inventory approach - partner to redirect inventory as strategically required
• Communicate with business process and IT teams to advance system capabilities or troubleshoot data discrepancies
• Provide ad hoc business reports and analysis as needed

We’d Love to hear from you if:

Must have:

• Bachelor’s degree required
• 4+ years of experience in planning principles, financial budgeting, retail fundamentals, ad hoc reporting and analysis
• Proficiency of retail math and analytics, planning principles, financial budgeting, retail fundamentals, ad hoc reporting and analysis
• Strong analytical skills, proficient with planning systems (e.g. Anaplan) and Microsoft Excel
• Strong communication and presentation skills. Poise and comfort presenting to all levels of leadership

Preferred skills and experience:

• Accountable, self-motivated, hands-on, dynamic leadership style that can productively impact both strategic and tactical financial outcomes
• Ability to synthesize large amounts of data into trends and initiate action
• Work cross-functionally with Buyers, Merchandise Analysts, Business Process teams and store partners

Our Team Members:

• Lead Courageously: Have a strong sense of personal values that align with our Company values
• Collaborates Broadly: Build cooperation, trust, and thrive in a consensus driven environment
• Customer Focus: Proactively seek opportunities to leverage data and fact-based insights to serve customers and/or internal clients
• Drive Growth: Set aggressive goals and implement plans precisely
• Cultivates Innovation:  Respectfully challenge the "we’ve always done it this way" mentality and explore new ways to achieve desired outcomes

Make a career at Carter’s:

• Career Development: Success starts from within, and we have several paths from which you can choose to enhance your career evolution. From Carter’s University to Toastmasters to mentorship programs and more, we encourage you to utilize these tools to elevate your professional prowess.

Carters is committed to creating a diverse environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, veteran status, or any other status protected by federal, state, or local law.