Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for E-commerce Planner

🎯 Role Definition

As an E-commerce Planner, you are the financial architect of our online storefront. You will be at the heart of our digital strategy, using data-driven insights to forecast demand, manage inventory, and optimize profitability across all product categories. This role is a critical link between merchandising, marketing, and finance, ensuring our product assortment is perfectly aligned with financial goals and customer demand. You will analyze performance, identify trends, and develop strategic plans to maximize sales and margin, directly impacting the growth and success of our e-commerce channel. If you have a passion for retail, a sharp analytical mind, and a talent for turning data into actionable strategy, this is the perfect opportunity for you.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Assistant Planner / Merchandise Planner
Allocation Analyst
E-commerce Merchandising Coordinator
Business Analyst (Retail Focus)

Advancement To:

Senior E-commerce Planner
Planning Manager
Director of Planning / E-commerce
Senior Manager, E-commerce Merchandising

Lateral Moves:

E-commerce Merchandiser / Digital Merchandiser
Digital Marketing Manager
Business Intelligence Analyst
Supply Chain Manager

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Develop and manage comprehensive top-down and bottom-up sales, margin, and inventory plans for all e-commerce categories, ensuring tight alignment with overall company financial targets.
Analyze historical data, market trends, and web analytics to accurately forecast product performance, identify growth opportunities, and mitigate potential inventory risks.
Create, manage, and meticulously maintain the Open-to-Buy (OTB) for the digital channel, providing clear guidance to the buying and merchandising teams on investment capacity.
Conduct weekly and monthly business review meetings, presenting key performance indicators (KPIs) such as sales, sell-through, inventory turn, and margin to senior leadership and cross-functional partners.
Strategically manage the complete inventory lifecycle, from initial product allocation and replenishment to end-of-life strategies, including promotional markdowns and clearance activities.
Partner closely with the digital marketing team to align promotional calendars, product focuses, and inventory depth with traffic-driving initiatives like email campaigns, paid search, and social media.
Utilize web analytics tools (e.g., Google Analytics, Adobe Analytics) to monitor customer behavior, conversion funnels, and on-site search trends to inform assortment and inventory decisions.
Develop and execute item-level forecasting and replenishment strategies to optimize stock levels, minimize out-of-stocks on key items, and maximize overall in-stock rates.
Create and maintain a suite of detailed planning reports and dashboards that provide actionable insights into the performance of products, categories, and marketing campaigns.
Lead the sizing and pre-pack analysis for new product buys, ensuring inventory is balanced correctly across different sizes and variants to meet customer demand patterns.
Perform in-depth post-mortem analysis on major promotional events and seasonal performance to extract key learnings and inform future strategic planning.
Work closely with supply chain and warehouse operations teams to ensure a smooth flow of inventory, manage inbound receipts, and proactively address any logistical challenges.
Influence the on-site customer experience by providing data-driven recommendations for product categorization, navigation, and sorting rules to improve product discovery and conversion.
Constantly re-forecast sales, inventory, and margin based on current business trends, reacting swiftly to changes in the market to maximize profitability.
Develop and recommend pricing and markdown strategies to effectively manage inventory aging and drive sell-through while carefully protecting overall margin goals.
Act as a key partner to the finance team during the annual budgeting and long-range planning process, providing data-backed e-commerce projections and insights.
Identify, vet, and recommend new tools, systems, and processes designed to improve the accuracy, efficiency, and sophistication of the e-commerce planning function.
Analyze product return rates and customer feedback to identify potential quality issues or merchandising gaps, providing crucial feedback to buying and product development teams.
Perform regular competitive analysis to benchmark our pricing, promotional cadence, and assortment strategies against key competitors in the digital landscape.
Oversee the strategic inventory planning and allocation for new product launches and limited-edition collections, ensuring stock levels can support marketing buzz and projected demand.

Secondary Functions

Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory data analysis from cross-functional partners.
Contribute to the organization's broader data strategy and analytical roadmap.
Collaborate with business units to translate high-level data needs into clear technical and engineering requirements.
Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies as a key business stakeholder for data and analytics projects.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel, including pivot tables, complex formulas, VLOOKUP/INDEX MATCH, and financial modeling.
Strong hands-on experience with retail planning, allocation, or ERP systems (e.g., JDA, Oracle Retail, NetSuite, SAP).
Proficiency with web analytics platforms such as Google Analytics or Adobe Analytics to analyze user behavior and site performance.
Deep understanding of retail math and key performance indicators (KPIs) including GMROI, sell-through, inventory turn, gross margin, and OTB.
Experience with data visualization and business intelligence tools like Tableau, Power BI, or Looker to build insightful dashboards.
Proven ability to manage an Open-to-Buy (OTB) process from start to finish.
Strong financial forecasting and quantitative analysis skills.
Familiarity with e-commerce platforms (e.g., Shopify Plus, Magento, Salesforce Commerce Cloud) and their reporting capabilities.
Foundational knowledge of SQL for data querying and extraction is highly desirable.
Experience in building and maintaining complex, multi-variable planning models and reports.

Soft Skills

Exceptional analytical and critical thinking skills with the ability to interpret complex data into actionable business strategy.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills, capable of presenting complex information clearly to diverse audiences.
Highly collaborative, with a proven ability to build strong relationships and influence cross-functional teams (Merchandising, Marketing, Finance).
Meticulous attention to detail and a commitment to data accuracy.
Strong organizational and time-management skills, with the ability to prioritize effectively in a fast-paced environment.
Proactive problem-solver who can anticipate challenges and develop creative solutions.
A high degree of commercial acumen and a strategic mindset.
Adaptability and resilience to navigate changing business trends and priorities.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor's Degree

Preferred Education:

Master’s Degree (MBA or MS in a quantitative field)

Relevant Fields of Study:

Business Administration
Finance / Economics
Merchandising / Fashion Merchandising
Supply Chain Management
Data Analytics

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

3-5 years of experience in merchandise planning, demand planning, allocation, or a related analytical role within a retail environment.

Preferred:

At least 2+ years of experience specifically focused on an e-commerce, direct-to-consumer (DTC), or omnichannel business.