Sr. Manager - Merchandising, Planning & Allocation

SUMMARY
Working directly for the Senior Director of Merchandise Planning and Allocation, this position is
responsible for the short and long-term strategic inventory planning of frames and medical
eyecare supplies. The Sr. Manager will develop, execute and communicate sales, margin and
inventory plans and strategies that support the merchandising financial objectives. The Sr.
Manager will oversee a team of managers and analysts to utilize data to lead an analytical
review of current season and adjust future allocation and replenishment strategies accordingly.
Collaborates with buyers on optimizing purchase planning and stock ratios. Builds out new
processes and procedures to monitor inventory flow between offices, labs and distribution
center.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
● Develop and build seasonal financial plans that support the ECP product strategy for
each location. Adjust plans according to the ongoing trends and ongoing review of
inventory levels
● Utilize analyses to drive financial results and maximize sales, inventory and gross profit.
● Perform planning and allocation activities to develop and support inventory plans
utilizing trends, curves, and exception management as needed.
● Collaborate with cross functional partners to provide updated financial forecasts for
sales and margin throughout the year.
● Ensures consistent inventory availability for office boards, labs and the DC for assigned
merchandise category and/or locations
● Monitor and respond to instock problems and product flow into and through the offices,
distribution center and labs
● Periodically review merchandise assortment clusters for effectiveness and annually
review assortment by office to assure each office has the best assortment cluster for its
customer base.
● Create tools to maintain and review product performance and inventory reporting.
Develop a suite of dashboard reporting to provide business insights, trends, goal
attainments, etc to leadership. Provide recommendations for future strategies
● Support the promotional process with post mortem financial analysis and communicate
successes and opportunities.
● Plan for lab introductions of all new collections along with RTV’s and end of life
merchandise disposal.
● Work with operations on acquisition inventory as needed, including transition to an ECP
merchandise assortment and distribution network along with determination of potential
write-offs/reserves needed to deal with acquisition’s current and old inventory
● Maintain direct and frequent contact with vendors, offices, and labs to share trends,
review on order, trouble shoot purchase orders and ensure timely flow of merchandise.
● Perform any/all ad hoc analysis as needed to support operations
issues/considerations/concerns. Drive timely and effective communication with
business partners

QUALIFICATIONS
● Experience analyzing current trends and forecasting future trends.
● Strong analytical skills
● Proficiency in retail math
● Attention to detail and accuracy
● Excellent written, verbal and listening communication skills
● Be able to draw conclusions from data – not just report it – and communicate in a
simple, straight-forward manner.
● Exceptional organizational skills with the ability to prioritize workload and manage
competing priorities
● Promotes team work and is able to work cross-functionally
● Previous experience managing teams.

EDUCATION AND/OR EXPERIENCE
● Minimum Required: Bachelor’s degree required
● Minimum Required: 5-7 years of related retail and logistics experience

SYSTEMS AND TECHNOLOGY
● Proficient in Microsoft Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Outlook