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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Unit Planner

💰 $ - $

Supply ChainRetail PlanningInventory ManagementMerchandising

🎯 Role Definition

The Unit Planner (also called Unit Analyst, Inventory Planner, or Assortment Planner) owns SKU-level inventory planning, allocation and replenishment across channels and regions. This role translates merchandising strategies into executable inventory plans, balances in-season buying and replenishment to meet sales and margin targets, and uses ERP/IMS and analytics to optimize stock levels, minimize lost sales and reduce excess inventory. The Unit Planner partners closely with merchants, demand planners, supply chain and store operations to ensure on-shelf availability and effective markdown management.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Junior Planner / Planning Analyst
  • Merchandising Assistant / Merchandising Coordinator
  • Inventory Analyst / Supply Chain Analyst

Advancement To:

  • Senior Unit Planner / Senior Inventory Planner
  • Merchandising Manager / Planning Manager
  • Category Director / Head of Planning

Lateral Moves:

  • Demand Planner / Forecasting Analyst
  • Allocation Manager / Replenishment Manager
  • Omnichannel Planner / E-commerce Inventory Planner

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Own the weekly and seasonal unit-level planning process for assigned categories and channels, translating assortment and promotional strategies into SKU-level targets for receipts, open-to-buy, and available-to-promise.
  • Create, maintain and refine demand forecasts at the SKU/store/channel level using historical sales, seasonality, trend analysis and vendor lead time inputs to improve forecast accuracy and reduce lost sales.
  • Develop and execute replenishment and allocation plans to ensure optimal in-stock levels across DCs and stores, prioritizing high-velocity SKUs and promotional events to maximize sell-through.
  • Manage open-to-buy and inventory cadence: monitor receipts, sales, transfers and markdowns; proactively adjust future receipts and allocations to align to revised sales forecasts and margin goals.
  • Partner with merchants and buyers to shape assortment strategies, determine initial buy quantities, distribution profiles and timing of receipts based on assortment architecture and store segmentation.
  • Lead in-season inventory actions including emergency buys, reorders, transfers and cancelations to capitalize on demand shifts and minimize excess inventory and markdown risk.
  • Execute weekly and monthly reporting of key planning KPIs (forecast error, fill rate, sell-through, days of supply, on-hand, inventory turnover) and provide actionable insights and recommendations to stakeholders.
  • Drive markdown and clearance plans: recommend timing and depth of markdowns by SKU/store to accelerate sell-through while protecting margin and brand positioning.
  • Use ERP/IMS systems (e.g., SAP Retail, Oracle Retail, BlueYonder/JDA, Manhattan) to process replenishment orders, allocations and inventory adjustments, ensuring data integrity and timely execution.
  • Coordinate with supply chain and logistics teams to manage lead time variability, expedite shipments when necessary, and resolve outbound inventory discrepancies impacting store availability.
  • Conduct SKU profitability and lifecycle analysis, identifying slow movers and candidates for discontinuation or consolidation to reduce inventory carrying costs.
  • Support launch and promotional planning by building initial allocations, monitoring sell-through, and recommending mid-promotion response actions to maximize ROI.
  • Facilitate S&OP and cross-functional planning meetings by presenting inventory posture, risk scenarios and recommended actions to achieve sales, margin and service level targets.
  • Implement and maintain assortment and distribution strategies by channel/store cluster, leveraging POS data, store profiles and performance thresholds to tailor inventory deployment.
  • Manage vendor collaboration for inbound planning, including purchase order visibility, case pack compliance and coordinated ramp-up during peak seasons or new product introductions.
  • Perform root cause analysis on stockouts, overstocks and forecasting errors; put corrective actions and process improvements in place to reduce recurrence.
  • Build and maintain planning models and scenario simulations (e.g., what-if analyses) to quantify the impact of receipt timing, promotional depth and allocation changes on sales and inventory.
  • Ensure compliance with corporate inventory policies, markdown thresholds and financial controls; prepare audit documents and reconcile planning decisions with financial plans.
  • Mentor junior planners and provide training on tools, processes and category best practices to improve team capability and consistency.
  • Drive continuous improvement initiatives, including automation of manual processes, enhancements to planning systems and integration of third-party analytics to increase planning efficiency and accuracy.
  • Monitor competitor activity, market trends and merchandising shifts and translate those insights into tactical inventory adjustments to protect share and margin.
  • Manage seasonal floor sets and replenishment cadence to support newness launches, visual merchandising requirements and omnichannel fulfillment expectations.

Secondary Functions

  • Respond to ad-hoc business requests for inventory analysis, custom reports and performance deep-dives to support merchant decision-making.
  • Support system implementations, data migrations and testing for planning tools, ensuring alignment of business rules and master data for accurate replenishment.
  • Collaborate with e-commerce and fulfillment teams to align inventory allocation for buy-online-pick-up-in-store and ship-from-store programs.
  • Participate in promotional planning and markdown governance committees, presenting scenarios and recommended inventory actions.
  • Assist with vendor scorecards and supplier performance reviews as they relate to lead times, fill rates and delivery accuracy.
  • Conduct periodic inventory reviews and cycle count support to reconcile physical inventory and identify shrink or process issues.
  • Contribute to cross-functional projects such as category resets, range rationalization and commercial initiatives requiring inventory input.
  • Maintain up-to-date product master data (attributes, pack sizes, seasonal flags) to ensure accurate replenishment logic and reporting.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Demand forecasting and statistical planning (time-series analysis, trend & seasonality adjustments)
  • Inventory optimization and open-to-buy management
  • Replenishment and allocation planning at SKU/store/DC levels
  • ERP/IMS experience: SAP Retail, Oracle Retail, BlueYonder (JDA), Manhattan or equivalent
  • Advanced Excel (pivot tables, v-lookups, indexing, macros) and experience with Power Query/Power BI or Tableau
  • SKU-level analytics and KPI reporting (DAYS OF SUPPLY, FILL RATE, FORECAST ERROR, SELL-THROUGH)
  • Assortment planning and distribution logic (store clustering and profile-based allocation)
  • Knowledge of S&OP and demand consensus processes
  • Experience with planogram / merchandising tools and basic understanding of retail space planning
  • SQL or data-querying skills for ad-hoc dataset extraction (preferred)
  • Familiarity with omnichannel fulfillment models (BOPIS, ship-from-store, cross-dock)
  • Markdown and clearance management strategies
  • Vendor and PO lifecycle management, including lead time and case pack optimization

Soft Skills

  • Strong commercial mindset with a focus on sales, margin and inventory trade-offs
  • Excellent stakeholder management and cross-functional collaboration skills
  • Analytical problem solver with the ability to translate data into clear recommendations
  • Effective communicator who can present complex inventory scenarios to non-technical audiences
  • Detail-oriented with strong organizational skills and the ability to manage multiple priorities
  • Proactive, bias-for-action approach to in-season issue resolution
  • Resilience under pressure during peak seasons and promotional periods
  • Coaching and mentoring capability to develop junior planning talent
  • Continuous improvement mindset with experience driving process efficiencies
  • Customer-centric orientation — ensuring product availability and experience across channels

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Bachelor's degree in Business, Supply Chain, Finance, Economics, Statistics, or related field.

Preferred Education:

  • Bachelor's or Master's degree with concentration in Supply Chain Management, Operations, Analytics, or Retail Merchandising.
  • Certifications such as APICS/CPIM, CSCMP, or Microsoft/ERP tool certifications are a plus.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Supply Chain Management
  • Business Administration / Merchandising
  • Applied Statistics / Data Analytics
  • Economics / Finance

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 2–5 years in retail planning, inventory planning, assortment or merchandising analytics.

Preferred: 3–7+ years with demonstrated success in SKU-level planning, ERP/IMS systems, and cross-functional merchandising or supply chain partnerships. Prior experience in apparel, general merchandise, grocery or multi-channel retail preferred.

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