Sportcraft - Senior Merchandise Planner

Sportscraft; Sydney; On-site; AUD 110,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

Sportscraft is seeking an experienced Planning professional to maximise profits by managing merchandise from conception to sale across store and digital channels. You will forecast KPIs, manage open-to-buy and inventory flow, and deputise for the Planning Manager when required.

You will lead budgeting, seasonal plans, and cross-channel stock management while collaborating with Design, Retail Ops, Finance and eCommerce to optimise stock and margins.

Qualifications

• 5+ years' experience in retail merchandise planning, forecasting or inventory management.
• Advanced Excel skills and experience with planning/BI tools (Power BI, Tableau).
• Familiarity with AI-assisted planning is a plus.
• Strong understanding of open-to-buy, stock turn and margin KPIs.

Responsibilities

• Establish budgets for sales, markdowns, purchases, stock levels, stock turn and margin targets.
• Develop seasonal option plans and manage the OTB across channels.
• Own full WSSI forecasts for sales, markdowns, stock and purchases.
• Lead weekly trading meetings with analysis and recommendations.
• Provide performance analysis and identify risks/opportunities for lines.
• Maintain stock coverage and oversee weekly replenishment across channels.
• Coordinate with international managers on stock selection.
• Drive markdowns and manage seasonal clearance levels.
• Improve sell-through through allocation, sizing and store profiling.
• Set divisional grading and store cluster strategies for stock ROI.
• Collaborate with VM and Retail Ops on store stock builds and openings.
• Plan inventory with eCommerce/Digital teams for consistency across channels.
• Monitor inventory across stores and online, identify issues and opportunities.
• Develop direct reports and deputise for the Planning Manager as needed.
• Contribute to planning projects including AI analytics tool rollouts.

Skills

Merchandise planning

Forecasting

Analytical thinking

Stakeholder management

People leadership

Open-to-buy (OTB)

AI-assisted planning

Excel advanced

BI tools

Tools

Power BI

Tableau

Style Arcade

Job description

About the Role

An exciting opportunity to join the Sportscraft team, working closely with the Planning Manager this role is responsible for maximising business profits through effective management of merchandise from conception to sale across store and digital channels, forecasting key business KPIs to deliver the company's financial targets. To effectively manage the open-to-buy and inventory flow across all channels, meeting agreed targets. Deputising for the Planning Manager when needed.

Key Responsibilities

• Establish budgets for sales, markdowns, purchases, stock levels, stock turn, margin % and margin dollars against agreed KPI targets.
• Develop seasonal option plans and manage the category-level open-to-buy (OTB), including all promotional activity and weekly intake reconciliation using planning tools.
• Full WSSI ownership - Reviewing and recommending forward forecasts on sales, markdowns, stock, margin and purchases in season.
• Facilitate weekly trading meetings with analysis and recommendations to achieve Sales, GP & Stock targets.
• Provide analysis on core lines - identifying risks and opportunities, evaluating performance, and balancing historical and current data. Forecast future potential or recommend exit strategies for end-of-life lines, and provide in-season and post-seasonal SWOTs to guide design and buying direction.
• Maintain stock cover in line with signed-off KPIs, overseeing daily stock management - initial allocations, stock pushes, model levels, consolidations, markdowns and replenishment each week across all channels.
• Manage relationship with international manager, coordinating the stock select alongside team.
• Manage markdowns by reviewing aged stock, analysing weekly sales reports, and controlling seasonal markdown and clearance levels across stores and online.
• Improve sell-through rates through accurate quantification, allocation, size curve analysis and store size profiling.
• Set up divisional grading and store cluster strategies to maximise return on stock investment, reviewing in season to identify store risk or opportunity.
• Work closely with VM and Retail Ops on stock planning for existing and new stores, overseeing new store stock builds and ensuring opening requirements are met and communicated to stakeholders.
• Partner with the eCommerce/Digital team to plan inventory and allocation across online channels, ensuring a consistent view of stock and demand across store and digital.
• Continually assess inventory levels across stores and online channels, identifying issues and opportunities, and conduct store visits focused on underperformance and opportunity.
• Maintain a customer-focused team, delivering accurate work to agreed timelines, and build effective relationships with key stakeholders across Design, Retail Ops, Digital/eCommerce, Logistics and Finance.
• Develop direct report assistant planner through coaching, mentoring and regular feedback.
• Able to deputise for the Planning Manager, leading meetings and maintaining 'Business As Usual' when they are absent.
• Act as project contributor for key planning projects, including evaluating and rolling out new planning, forecasting or AI-enabled analytics tools, and supporting data integration across systems to reduce manual reconciliation.
• Maintain a strong knowledge of merchandise processes and systems, demonstrating commercial awareness of the digital and omnichannel trends, ensuring plans remain aligned with trading conditions.
• Identify and lead continuous improvement initiatives that are time-bound and measurable.

Skills & Experience

• 5+ years' experience in retail merchandise planning, demand forecasting or inventory management, ideally including exposure to omnichannel or eCommerce planning.
• Advanced proficiency in Excel and experience with planning/BI tools (e.g. Power BI, Tableau, Style Arcade).
• Familiarity with, or willingness to adopt, AI-assisted planning.
• Strong understanding of open-to-buy, stock turn, sell-through, margin and other core retail KPIs.
• Strong analytical, communication and stakeholder management skills.
• Proven people leadership and coaching experience.