Merchandise Planner

Description

To be considered for this position, you must complete the following steps:

• Click "Apply" and complete the online application
• Include your Resume and a Cover Letter
• If you meet the minimum qualifications, you will receive two email invitations to complete the Predictive Index Assessment. Please note this assessment includes two required parts: Behavioral and Cognitive.

Title: Merchandise Planner  

Reports to: Planner Allocator 

Location: Onsite, Distribution Center in Columbus, OH

Schedule: 8:00am-5:00pm Monday-Friday, with occasional flexibility based on business needs

Salary: Starting at $70,000

Position Overview

Luxe Brands is seeking a detail-oriented and analytical Store Inventory Planner / Allocator to join our growing team. Reporting to the Merchandise Planner Lead, this role is responsible for ensuring the right product is in the right store at the right time to maximize sales, inventory productivity, and customer satisfaction. You’ll manage initial and replenishment allocations, develop store-level inventory plans, analyze weekly sales and sizing performance, and recommend inventory actions that improve sell-through, balance inventory, and minimize markdowns.

The ideal candidate is highly analytical, organized, and comfortable turning data into actionable business recommendations. You’ll work cross functionally with Merchandise Planning, Buying, Distribution, and Store Operations to respond to business trends, identify sales opportunities and inventory risks, and support the company’s overall sales and profitability goals.

About Us

Our purpose is to create heartfelt moments and boundless inspiration — in the bridal industry and beyond. We achieve this through a family of brands designed to meet the needs of every bride, no matter style, vision, or budget.

Founded in 2008 as a woman owned business, Luxe Brands has grown from a single boutique into 16 stores across 9 states, with plans to expand our footprint over the next 18 months. Our proven concept resonates with brides wherever we operate, and we’re now embracing the opportunities and challenges of scaling a high-growth business.

Entrepreneurial at our core, we believe great businesses are built through great people and great execution. Our team is made up of career minded, goal-oriented individuals passionate about delivering an exceptional experience to every bride. If you’re looking for a workplace where innovation meets intention, where your ideas matter as much as your drive, and where you can help build something extraordinary, Luxe Brands could be your next home.

Our Core Values

• Respectful: Foster respect + a friendly nature towards co-workers and clients.
• Service Minded with Attention to Detail: Exude fanatical attention to detail and consistency while striving for excellence in daily tasks.
• Trustworthy: Be an open and honest individual to our clients and team members - this helps drive sales + camaraderie.
• Hardworking: Will go above and beyond to finish any task and provide extra assistance and effort to co-workers and the company.
• Positive and Energetic: Maintains a positive attitude regardless of circumstances.
• Values Communication: Effectively interacts with clients and co-workers to reach a common goal.

Key Success Indicators for this Role:

• Strong analytical and quantitative skills with the ability to turn data into actionable inventory recommendations.
• Ability to identify sales opportunities, inventory risks, assortment gaps, and size imbalances.
• Strong understanding of retail inventory management and allocation strategies.
• Precision and accuracy in allocation, reporting, and inventory analysis.
• Effective collaboration with Merchandise Planning, Buying, Distribution, and Store Operations.
• Ability to prioritize multiple responsibilities in a fast paced, deadline driven environment.
• Adaptability to changing sales trends, inventory needs, and business priorities.
• Proactive approach to problem-solving and continuous process improvement. 

Key Responsibilities:

• Allocation & Store Inventory Planning
• Allocate incoming purchase orders to stores based on approved allocation strategies, sales plans, inventory targets, and store capacity.
• Execute initial and replenishment allocations to ensure the right product is in the right store at the right time.
• Develop and maintain store-level inventory plans by department, classification, and key item.
• Establish inventory targets based on sales forecasts, store volume, seasonal demand, new store openings, and promotional activity.
• Recommend replenishment, store transfers, redistribution, markdown opportunities, and allocation adjustments to maximize full-price selling and inventory productivity.

• Business Analysis & Reporting
• Analyze weekly sales and inventory performance by store, style, color, size, and classification.
• Identify sales opportunities, inventory risks, assortment gaps, and size imbalances, recommending actions to improve performance.
• Monitor key inventory metrics, including sell-through, weeks of supply, stock-to-sales, in-stock percentage, inventory turn, and size integrity.
• Produce weekly allocation and inventory reports and track performance against sales and inventory objectives.
• Provide insights and recommendations during weekly merchandise review meetings.

• Cross Functional Partnership
• Partner with Merchandise Planning to execute inventory strategies and support annual, seasonal, and monthly planning.
• Collaborate with Buyers on new product launches and promotional allocations.
• Work closely with the Distribution Center to prioritize shipments.
• Communicate inventory opportunities, risks, and recommendations to Store Operations and other cross-functional partner

• Process Improvement & Additional Support
• Identify opportunities to improve allocation processes, reporting tools, forecasting models, and inventory management systems.
• Support additional responsibilities as needed to meet the evolving needs of the business.

Requirements

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in business, retail merchandising, supply chain, finance, or related field.
• 3–5 years of experience in retail allocation, merchandise planning, inventory planning or demand planning.
• Strong analytical, quantitative, and problem solving skills.
• Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel, including pivot tables, XLOOKUP & VLOOKUP, SUMIFS, data validation, conditional formatting, and analyzing large datasets.
• Experience using retail planning, allocation, inventory management, POS, or ERP systems.
• Strong understanding of retail inventory management and inventory productivity metrics.
• Ability to interpret sales and inventory data and make sound business recommendations.
• Ability to build, maintain, and interpret dashboards that track sales, inventory, sell-through, weeks of supply, stock-to-sales, and inventory turn. 
• Excellent organizational and prioritization skills, with the ability to manage multiple deadlines.
• Effective written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to collaborate effectively across departments.
• Strong attention to detail and accuracy in allocation, data, and reporting.

Preferred Experience:

• Retail background in apparel, bridal, or specialty retail.
• Experience working with multi store retail organizations.
• Experience with store-level inventory planning, replenishment, allocation, and inventory balancing.
• Familiarity with assortment planning, size analysis, store transfers and markdown recommendations.
• Experience with Power BI or similar business intelligence and data visualization tools.
• Knowledge of Shopify or similar retail systems. 

Luxe Bridal is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate against any applicant on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, gender, marital status, age, disability, sexual orientation, military/veteran status, or any other status protected by federal or state law or local ordinance. #ZR