Senior Merchandise Planning Analyst

Toys R Us Canada, proud to be Canadian owned and operated, has an opportunity for a Senior. Merchandise Planner in the Planning department.

In this role, you will be responsible for maintaining and analyzing category forecasts for multiple product lines, working with Buyers and Supply Chain to implement inventory flow measures in line with business strategies.

You will work closely with the Merchant team to support item transition plans, assortment performance and promotional sales forecasts; build and maintain effective working relationships with many internal and external groups including Vendors, Merchants, Supply Chain, Logistics and Distribution teams.

We want to bring in someone who values what we value; teamwork, excellence, authenticity, accountability and integrity. In other words, we want you to fit in here. This is an opportunity for you to take on exciting responsibilities, build on your already strong skill set and help us achieve our goals, in a work environment that is fast-paced, dynamic and fun.

Responsibilities:

• Review purchase orders and replenishment orders, and recommend strategic actions to maximize sales and margin, and optimize inventory.
• Partner with the Merchant team to ensure that assortment plans directly align with replenishment plans.
• Perform ad-hoc tasks to support both internal and external business partners.
• Reforecast monthly based on current performance, present revised projections and recommendations to cross functional partners and senior leadership.
• Conduct historical analyses to support seasonal plans/estimates, including analyses of sell-through, markdowns, vendor performance, etc., and analytically surface patterns as future performance indicators.
• Contribute to building financial sales, gross margin, and inventory budgets at a weekly, monthly, and seasonal levels based on business trends, promotional activity, and business requirements
• Make recommendations, develop tools, automate tasks to optimize the forecast, inventory, or replenishment processes.
• Complete weekly reporting and analysis on key business metrics to be shared with the Leadership, Merchandising and Supply Chain Teams.
• Review forecast accuracy and provide guidance and feedback to the Supply Chain team.
• Collaborate with the Buyers to forecast next month, quarter and full year performance, implement and maintain new item forecasts to ensure successful product launches with strong in-stocks and inventory flow.
• Design, create and utilize Forecasting reports to troubleshoot issues and effectively solve them using sound business judgment.
• Support and educate team members and business partners while demonstrating an ability to synthesize the most critical facts needed to understand business challenges and opportunities.
• Collaborate with business partners (including, but not limited to Merchandising, Supply Chain, eCommerce, Marketing, Store Planning, Distribution/Logistics) to improve the company’s business processes.
• Work with vendors to share and explain performance metrics.
• Ownership of Buyer Portfolios; create budgets, forecasts, receipt plan; track performance in sales, margin and inventory; regularly meet and discuss progress towards company goals and implement strategies to achieve company goals and/or course corrections.
• Develop merchandise financial plans and collaborate on strategies necessary to meet Company objectives of sales increase, receipts flow, weeks of stock, inventory turns, gross profit and open to buy.

Qualifications:

• Applies strategic thinking to day-to-day tactical execution
• Ability to prioritize tasks and responsibilities, with a strong sense of urgency
• Strong analytical troubleshooting and problem resolution skills
• Completion of College or University with focus on Planning, Supply Chain or Business Administration would be an asset
• Strong Retail Finance acumen and experience
• Possesses strong organizational and analytical skills
• 3 to 5 years’ experience in Planning, Allocation, Forecasting, Supply Chain or Merchandising
• Proficient at understanding complex technical information and translating it into relevant business terms and concepts
• Previous experience with Merchandise Planning software and Power BI would be an asset
• Capable of influencing others in the best interest of the business
• Acts decisively and swiftly to address key short-term and long-term business issues
• Strong knowledge of MS Office (Word, Excel, ACCESS)
• Communicates clearly and concisely, both written and verbal
• Ability to work autonomously and make decisions to drive the business forward

Toys”R”Us is an Equal Opportunity Employer and offers reasonable accommodations to job applicants with disabilities throughout the recruitment process. Applicants under consideration for employment will be contacted to participate further in the recruitment process. If you are contacted and you require any accommodation in the recruitment process due to a disability, please indicate this and we will work with you to meet your reasonable accessibility needs.