About the Company
Charming Shoppes, Inc. is a leading multichannel specialty apparel retailer primarily focused on plus-size women's apparel. We are the parent company of four distinct store brands – Lane Bryant, Fashion Bug, Catherines Plus Sizes and Petite Sophisticate – as well as Crosstown Traders, Inc., a direct marketer of women's apparel. With more than 2,400 stores nationwide, Charming Shoppes provides a significant presence in strip shopping center, mall locations and outlet centers.
Our Vision is to be the company known for celebrating the lives and fashion image of women wearing plus sizes. Our continuing Mission is to serve the lifestyle apparel needs of women wearing plus sizes with the very best service, fashion selection, value and fit.
Job Description
Category: Retail/Wholesale
Compensation: -
If you have strong
allocation, replenishment or planningexperience in the retail apparel industry, and are ready to move intoa high-visibility role, joining the Lane Bryant Outlet team as a
Planner in the
Denim andBottoms area could be a great career move for you. Working closely with the Buyer, the selected Planner will helpdrive the business to achieve significant growth in dollars andpercentage of overall revenue by providing financial leadership andguidance in developing and executing product strategy.
Business Line Planning - Partners with Buyer to develop strategic vision ofdepartment.
- Collaborates with Buyer to architect balanced line plan thatintegrates fashion, fit, pricing pyramids and tiering strategies -and achieves financial objectives.
- Identifies opportunities or disparities using trendinformation.
- Continually updates line plan to react to current businesstrends; ensures the integration of fashion newness, develops upsidestrategies; prepares contingency plans to drive sales and profitobjectives.
Detailed Financial Planning - Formulates and revises a sound detailed financial plan foreach classification of merchandise by synthesizing information fromdiverse sources, such as recent and historical performance, industrytrends, merchandising forecasts, production issues, etc.
- Ensures plans have accurate foundation to achieve targetfinancial objectives.
- Demonstrates a clear grasp of the relationship among issues.
- Identifies and reacts to opportunities to increase sales,improve margin, optimize inventories, and decrease markdowns.
- Provides Merchandising with 'what-if' proposals toquantify upside opportunity and downside risk. Anticipates possibleobstacles and works with Merchandising to establish contingencyplans.
- Recommends pricing and promotional strategies that optimizemargin, freshness, and exit strategies, and that balanceappropriately with the entire business pricing approach.
- Ensures broad business strategies and objectives aretranslated into specific 'local' objectives and plans. Thisincludes top item penetration, tiering and hot zone assortmentplanning, fashion and pricing pyramids, etc.
- Presents financial information in a concise, clear, andconfident manner. Articulates key issues and adapts presentationstyle to suit needs of audience. Readily communicates importantinformation despite challenges. Makes a compelling and persuasivecase for proposals.
Reporting and Analysis - Synthesizes large, complex data sets into major points andissues that readily facilitate decision-making.
- Provides reporting and analysis to highlight important trendsor to support multi-department analysis.
- Continually examines product successes and failures toextract key lessons.
Place - Partners with Allocation to ensure distribution methodologiesand special strategies (e.g. tiered distribution) are uniformlyunderstood and executed.
People - Leads by example; lives the values of the Brand.
- Fosters teamwork by being a valued team player and bybuilding productive relationships across functional/divisional'lines'. Strives to exceed customer expectations.
- Works effectively without daily direction. Adjusts tomultiple and conflicting demands; flexible and adaptive.
- Anticipates customer needs or concerns.
- Works to gain an understanding of diverse points of view;clarifies differences in a productive manner.