Category Strategy & Merchandising Associate

Walgreens; Deerfield (IL); On-site; USD 86,000 - 138,000; Full time

Job summary

Walgreens is seeking a Category Merchandiser to collaborate with Category Manager(s) to select and purchase merchandise across limited categories, ensuring the lowest possible cost with thorough analysis of economics, supply sources, and consumer needs.

You will develop merchandising plans, promotional programs, and distribution services, and analyze market data to support planograms, forecasts, and initiatives across Walgreens stores.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree and 2+ years of experience in retail, procurement, merchandising, vendor relations, or retail marketing.
• Experience with P&L concepts – revenue, COGS, gross profit margin and expenses.
• Knowledge of customer-centric retailing principles and analytics of purchase behavior.
• 2+ years developing merchandising, vendor relations, and marketing programs in retail.
• Intermediate Excel skills and basic PowerPoint/Word

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 and programs for assigned items and merchandise departments.
• Negotiates buying contracts and reviews contracts with the Category Manager.
• Analyzes market, competitive, and customer perception data and provides recommendations on price levels.
• Reviews and analyzes historical and YTD category performance data and manages category performance.
• Works with Store Experience and merchandising planning to build category insights and planograms.
• Develops understanding of Walgreens private brands and projects sales forecasts and gross profit within categories.

Skills

P&L concepts

Customer analytics

Cross-functional teamwork

Data analysis

Forecasting

Planograms

Education

Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field

High school diploma or GED with 4+ years experience

Tools

Microsoft Excel

Microsoft PowerPoint

Microsoft Word

Job description

Walgreens is seeking a Category Merchandiser to collaborate with Category Manager(s) to select and purchase merchandise across limited categories, ensuring the lowest possible cost with thorough analysis of economics, supply sources, and consumer needs.

You will develop merchandising plans, promotional programs, and distribution services, and analyze market data to support planograms, forecasts, and initiatives across Walgreens stores.