Merchandise Planner, Zappos

Amazon Amazon · Big Tech · NY +1 · Buying, Planning, & Instock Management

Merchandise Planner role at Zappos focused on driving business success through data-driven insights, assortment optimization, and category/brand planning. The role involves maximizing sales, profitability, and inventory efficiency by developing assortment plans, forecasts, and strategies. Collaboration with Buying, Marketing, and Finance is key. The candidate should have a deep understanding of e-commerce, trend analysis, and the ability to translate creative ideas into actionable insights. Responsibilities include financial planning, inventory management, forecasting, and optimizing sales/inventory productivity. The role also involves brainstorming improvements to planning systems and participating in A/B testing of new tools, including generative AI tools.

What you'd actually do

  1. Partner with buyer(s) to design seasonal and annual strategies by category and vendor.
  2. Build financial plans in accordance with merchandise strategies to maximize profitability.
  3. Drive in season decision making to achieve financial and strategic targets.
  4. Manage inventory health, open-to-buy, item-level forecasting, and assortment planning.
  5. Optimize sales and inventory productivity through analysis and plans that drive high impact decision making.

Skills

Required

  • 4+ years of Excel experience
  • Bachelor's degree, or 4+ years of professional or military experience
  • 4+ years of supply chain, inventory management or project management experience
  • Experience in Retail or wholesale business

Nice to have

  • Knowledge of the principles of statistical inventory control
  • Experience managing and executing large projects from start to finish, including project management, data gathering and modeling, problem solving, and communicating recommendations
  • Usage of generative AI tools to enhance workflow efficiency, with a willingness to learn effective prompting and evaluation practices
  • Ability to recognize opportunities where generative AI could enhance products, workflows, or customer experiences

What the JD emphasized

  • Usage of generative AI tools to enhance workflow efficiency
  • willingness to learn effective prompting and evaluation practices
  • Ability to recognize opportunities where generative AI could enhance products, workflows, or customer experiences