Category Strategy & Merchandising Associate

Walgreens; Deerfield (IL); On-site; USD 65,000 - 114,000; Full time

Job summary

Walgreens is seeking a Category Manager/Procurement professional to collaborate with Category Managers and plan merchandising strategies, select and purchase merchandise, and optimize supplier contracts to meet consumer and store needs. You will analyze market trends, build promotional plans, and lead data-driven category initiatives across assigned departments.

The role emphasizes cross-functional collaboration, use of analytics, and the development of merchandising techniques to drive sales

Qualifications

• Experience working with P&L concepts – revenue, cogs, gross profit margin, operating expenses and income.
• Strong knowledge of customer centric retailing principles and analytics of customer purchase behavior.
• 2+ years of experience developing merchandising, vendor relations, and marketing programs in retail.
• Proficient in Microsoft Excel (SUM, borders, column width, charts, text wrap, sorting, headers/footers).
• Proficient in Microsoft PowerPoint and Word for presentations and documentation.

Responsibilities

• Plans, develops, and recommends sales, gross profit level, inventory control, and merchandise turnover objectives for the assigned department(s) and item(s).
• Develops and recommends merchandising, display, advertising, distribution, packaging and sales plans for assigned items and departments.
• Negotiates buying contracts on categories or subsets of categories; reviews contracts with the CM.
• Analyzes market, competitive, and customer data, and provides recommendations on price levels.
• Reviews and analyzes historical and YTD category performance data; sets performance goals and manages category performance.
• Works with Store Experience and merchandising planning to build category insights; uses data to recommend planograms, promotions, and assortment changes.
• Develops understanding of Walgreens private brands and collaborates on sales forecasts and gross profit levels.

Skills

P&L concepts

Excel

PowerPoint

Word

Merchandising

Vendor relations

Retail operations

Education

Bachelor’s degree

High school diploma/GED

Job description

Walgreens is seeking a Category Manager/Procurement professional to collaborate with Category Managers and plan merchandising strategies, select and purchase merchandise, and optimize supplier contracts to meet consumer and store needs. You will analyze market trends, build promotional plans, and lead data-driven category initiatives across assigned departments.

The role emphasizes cross-functional collaboration, use of analytics, and the development of merchandising techniques to drive sales