Manager, Strategic Business Planning (Stores & Canada) - Corporate Headquarters Secaucus, NJ

The Children's Place; Secaucus (NJ); On-site; USD 80,000 - 100,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health, Vision & Dental Insurance

Flexible work schedule with hybrid model

Job summary

A leading retail company is seeking a Stores & Canada Planner to oversee retail performance and analytics for their locations in Secaucus, New Jersey. This full-time role involves developing store-level reports, collaborating across departments, and analyzing trends to drive their strategies. The ideal candidate will have extensive experience in retail planning, strong analytical skills, and the ability to manage multiple projects effectively. This role includes a hybrid work model and offers comprehensive health benefits.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in Retail Planning and Analysis, with specific background in store planning.
• Expertise in retail math with strong analytical skills.
• Comfortable speaking to finance and non-finance teams.

Responsibilities

• Develop Sales, Margin and KPI plans by store through various methods.
• Identify trends/risks/opportunities at store level.
• Report on key drivers in actuals vs plan.
• Manage and maintain Excel-based store planning tools.
• Present performance vs. target analysis on a weekly basis.

Skills

Analytical skills

Retail math expertise

Project management

Data analysis

Problem-solving skills

Education

5+ years of experience in Retail Planning and Analysis

Tools

Excel

Job description

The Stores & Canada Planner will serve as the expert for company performance.

They will be responsible for creating store level reporting and analytics to provide a clear view of performance by door and aggregated performance by store cluster/region/climate. They will collaborate with cross-functional teams including finance, merchandising, visual merchandising, operations, and real estate to develop and implement store plans that align with company goals and strategies. The store planner will hindsight in-season performance to help shape pre-season plans.

They will be responsible for overseeing the Canada Business across all brands (sales, KPI and inventory projections for both in-season and pre-season planning). The Manager is responsible for tracking trends on a day-to-day basis and working collaboratively with key stakeholders such as Marketing, Finance, Merchandise Planning and Merchandising to drive the business and mitigate risks.

Key Accountabilities

• Develop Sales, Margin and KPI plans by store through a multiple lens approach (comp, builds, penetration, percent of average, etc.), incorporating field feedback, trends and go-forward strategies
• Identify trends/risks/opportunities at store level. Make recommendations and recap business accurately to support store performance. Assess and proactively communicate any potential impact to topline sales.
• Report out on key drivers in actuals vs plan by store/region/volume grade/climate/district. Proactively identify any action steps needed (e.g. channel change, price action, allocate more inventory).
• Hindsight relationship between sales and inventory at the store/district/region/season code levels. Liaise with Inventory Planning on any key takeaways to impact future allocations.
• Identify regional product preferences to recommend customized assortment by region based on weather or other factors. Liaise with MBA and Inventory Planning team.
• Calendarize significant historical weather/holidays impact to understand trend and plan into appropriately
• Identify risk and opportunities based on promotional offers and recommend strategies that will help drive financial results (e.g. store coupon performance)
• Manage and maintain excel based store planning tools to ensure accurate and efficient planning processes.
• Create daily sales and KPI plans by state for Ecom and Stores that tie back to the Tax-Free Calendar
• Liaise with Finance/Real Estate teams to understand and incorporate impact to plans from future/potential store openings, closures and relocations. Demonstrate ability to handle sensitive and confidential information.
• Project out by store returns and report on Gross Sales to understand the true health of the business and understand impact of returns by Brand.
• Analyze by store impact of BOSS on Sales and KPIs
• Be the analytical partner to Stores leadership, Field Ops and Labor planning. Support decision making with reporting/data.
• Perform Ad Hoc/ “What If” scenario projects as business needs dictate
• Manage topline sales and KPIs for Canada Store s& Ecom by day based on current trends, planned marketing strategy and latest promotional calendar.
• Present performance vs. target analysis on a weekly basis to planning leadership to ensure comprehensive understanding of key business drivers as well as identify future risks and opportunities.
• Manage inventory levels in Canada by closely monitoring and reporting on season code sales and inventory levels vs. targets and vs. history.
• Recommend sales and KPI forecast scenarios which identify potential what-ifs and help to determine the optimal sales and GM% targets to maximize profitability and inventory efficiency.

Education and Experience

• 5+ years of experience in Retail Planning and Analysis, with specific background in store planning

Skills and Behaviors

• Expertise in retail math with strong analytical skills (advanced Excel)
• Ability to “start from scratch” and work through new tools, processes, etc.
• Comfortable speaking to finance and non-finance teams, as well as executive level audience
• Ability to manage multiple projects from start to finish with minimum oversight, while still maintaining strong attention to detail
• Experience and comfortable working with large datasets and complex spreadsheets
• Entrepreneurial mind-set. Solution oriented/creative problem-solving skills.
• Proactively identify key themes to analyze and further drive the business
• Sense of urgency and team player
• Good organization and workload prioritization skills/ detail-orientation and accuracy

Details

• Full time role located in Secaucus, New Jersey
• Hybrid work model includes in-office days on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday.
• Health, Vision & Dental Insurance for full-time employees