Merchandise Planner Jobs
Merchandise Planner jobs are open from entry-level analyst to senior director across retail, e-commerce, apparel, and consumer goods, with specializations in open-to-buy planning, inventory optimization, and assortment strategy. Scan the live roles below and apply to whichever ones fit.
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Candidates must be authorized to work in the United States without the need for current or future visa sponsorship
General Summary:
The Merchandise Planner develops, executes and communicates strategic merchandise financial plans that support the company’s financial, product, and marketing objectives; responsible for driving top line financial plans for a book of business from a category to class/season level; strategically managing the business in order to maximize sales and margin, and optimizing inventory; develops and contributes to the development of company initiatives and ensures that all planning activities support annual goals.
Principal Duties & Responsibilities:
Strategic Financial Plans
1. At a category/class/season level develop sales, gross margin and inventory plans that support the categories and company’s financial goals. Alignment with merchants to ensure product assortment meet the financial goals.
2. Use historical data, current trends and strategy to identify risk and opportunity to achieve financial goals
3. Create, maintain and communicate assumptions used to in creating the plan architecture
Weekly Business Management
4. Identify opportunities and risks relative to sales, margin, and inventory productivity; develop action plans to address issues and opportunities
5. Manage the markdown process and collaborate with cross-functional partners to ensure that markdowns fit within the financial plan; identify Markdown risks and recommend strategies to limit liabilities.
6. Develop ad hoc projections that simulate different business decisions
Strategic Monthly Forecast Review
7. Review forecasts with a focus on maximizing profit, optimizing inventory, and managing risk across divisions. Incorporate marketing, markdown, and inventory management plans to exploit business prospects.
8. Review and meet with merchant team to align on all financial revisions
9. Work collaboratively with cross-functional partners to ensure alignment to monthly changes
10. Communicate clearly and effectively updates and action plans
Assortment Planning
11. Create pre-season category plans to support the development of the assortment
12. Review historical data at cluster, category and key item level to understand prior performance
13. Set sales, margin, flow, and IMU goals prior to the planning of each delivery; reconcile tops down and bottom up forecasts prior to the passing of receipts to the merchant organization
14. Participate in buy review with merchants, planners and allocators to ensure appropriate breadth and depth and flawless execution. Collaborate with lead merchants to ensure that plans support product goals.
15. Lead and facilitate buy finalization meeting with merchant; review pre-season plans that support new assortment; identify risks and opportunities relative to product, flow, and presentation
16. Gain consensus on assortment and plans from management; manage the locking process for seasonal plans; forecast seasonal and source plans to validate key metrics
Manage Business
17. Partner with merchandising and other cross-functional teams to achieve financial goals through active management of the business
18. Be proactive in identifying risk and opportunities in a timely manner; develop action plans to limit risk and capitalize on opportunities
19. Other duties as assigned.
.
Position Requirements:
Office work environment, 40+ work hours per week
Minimum Requirements:
- Education: Bachelor’s Degree from a four-year college or university preferred; advanced degree a plus
- Experience: Four or more years of related experience in an analyst or planner role. This should include prior experience in the retail industry.
- Well-developed written and verbal communication skills including the ability to present complex material in an organized and compelling manner
- Ability to influence and negotiate at a variety of levels
- Strong problem-solving and decision-making skill set.
- Well-versed in planning systems as well as advanced Microsoft Windows applications
- Strong knowledge of financial theory is required.
- Experience with EP and Micro Strategy preferred
Projected Salary Range: $77,000-$101,000
Family Dollar is an equal opportunity employer and committed to recruiting, hiring, training, and promoting qualified people of all backgrounds, and makes all employment decisions without regard to any protected status. We are committed to complying with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and providing reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities.
Candidates must be authorized to work in the United States without the need for current or future visa sponsorship
General Summary:
The Merchandise Planner develops, executes and communicates strategic merchandise financial plans that support the company’s financial, product, and marketing objectives; responsible for driving top line financial plans for a book of business from a category to class/season level; strategically managing the business in order to maximize sales and margin, and optimizing inventory; develops and contributes to the development of company initiatives and ensures that all planning activities support annual goals.
Principal Duties & Responsibilities:
Strategic Financial Plans
1. At a category/class/season level develop sales, gross margin and inventory plans that support the categories and company’s financial goals. Alignment with merchants to ensure product assortment meet the financial goals.
2. Use historical data, current trends and strategy to identify risk and opportunity to achieve financial goals
3. Create, maintain and communicate assumptions used to in creating the plan architecture
Weekly Business Management
4. Identify opportunities and risks relative to sales, margin, and inventory productivity; develop action plans to address issues and opportunities
5. Manage the markdown process and collaborate with cross-functional partners to ensure that markdowns fit within the financial plan; identify Markdown risks and recommend strategies to limit liabilities.
6. Develop ad hoc projections that simulate different business decisions
Strategic Monthly Forecast Review
7. Review forecasts with a focus on maximizing profit, optimizing inventory, and managing risk across divisions. Incorporate marketing, markdown, and inventory management plans to exploit business prospects.
8. Review and meet with merchant team to align on all financial revisions
9. Work collaboratively with cross-functional partners to ensure alignment to monthly changes
10. Communicate clearly and effectively updates and action plans
Assortment Planning
11. Create pre-season category plans to support the development of the assortment
12. Review historical data at cluster, category and key item level to understand prior performance
13. Set sales, margin, flow, and IMU goals prior to the planning of each delivery; reconcile tops down and bottom up forecasts prior to the passing of receipts to the merchant organization
14. Participate in buy review with merchants, planners and allocators to ensure appropriate breadth and depth and flawless execution. Collaborate with lead merchants to ensure that plans support product goals.
15. Lead and facilitate buy finalization meeting with merchant; review pre-season plans that support new assortment; identify risks and opportunities relative to product, flow, and presentation
16. Gain consensus on assortment and plans from management; manage the locking process for seasonal plans; forecast seasonal and source plans to validate key metrics
Manage Business
17. Partner with merchandising and other cross-functional teams to achieve financial goals through active management of the business
18. Be proactive in identifying risk and opportunities in a timely manner; develop action plans to limit risk and capitalize on opportunities
19. Other duties as assigned.
.
Position Requirements:
Office work environment, 40+ work hours per week
Minimum Requirements:
- Education: Bachelor’s Degree from a four-year college or university preferred; advanced degree a plus
- Experience: Four or more years of related experience in an analyst or planner role. This should include prior experience in the retail industry.
- Well-developed written and verbal communication skills including the ability to present complex material in an organized and compelling manner
- Ability to influence and negotiate at a variety of levels
- Strong problem-solving and decision-making skill set.
- Well-versed in planning systems as well as advanced Microsoft Windows applications
- Strong knowledge of financial theory is required.
- Experience with EP and Micro Strategy preferred
Projected Salary Range: $77,000-$101,000
Family Dollar is an equal opportunity employer and committed to recruiting, hiring, training, and promoting qualified people of all backgrounds, and makes all employment decisions without regard to any protected status. We are committed to complying with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and providing reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities.
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Find Merchandise Planner JobsMerchandise Planner Job Market
Who's Hiring
Top Industries Hiring
- Retail
- Fashion & Apparel
- Energy
- Technology & Software
- Marketing & Advertising
What Employers Look For
The qualifications that appear most often in merchandise planner jobs.
- Bachelor's degree in merchandising, business, supply chain, or a related field
- Proficiency in retail planning and inventory management software
- Experience building and managing open-to-buy budgets
- Strong Excel or spreadsheet modeling skills for financial and assortment analysis
- Demonstrated ability to analyze sell-through, inventory turn, and margin data
- Familiarity with cross-functional collaboration between buying, allocation, and logistics teams
Tips for Your Merchandise Planner Job Search
Quantify your open-to-buy results
Merchandise planners live and die by numbers. Rewrite your resume bullets to show inventory turn improvements, markdown reductions, or sell-through rate gains you drove. Hiring managers skim for metrics first, so lead with the outcome before explaining what you did.
List every planning tool you've used
Many applicant tracking systems screen resumes for specific tools before a human ever reads them. Name every planning system, retail analytics platform, and spreadsheet modeling approach you've worked with, even if you used it briefly in a cross-functional project.
Apply early to roles that fit
Migrate Mate lists merchandise planner openings from across the United States in one place, so you can find roles that match and apply directly to each listing.
Target postings by channel or category
Merchandise planning skills shift meaningfully between channels, whether that's brick-and-mortar, e-commerce, or wholesale. When searching, filter by the retail channel or product category you know best, since hiring managers often want depth in one area over broad generalist experience.
Prepare a plan review or scenario walkthrough
Interviewers frequently ask you to walk through a past assortment plan or react to a hypothetical inventory problem. Practice narrating your analytical process out loud, not just the conclusion, since planners are expected to defend assumptions and explain trade-offs clearly under pressure.
Negotiate using total compensation context
Merchandise planner offers vary by company size, channel, and category complexity. Before negotiating, research comparable roles by level and retail segment so you can anchor your ask to market reality rather than a single data point, and ask how bonus targets and performance cycles work.
Merchandise Planner Jobs: Frequently Asked Questions
Which companies are hiring the most merchandise planners?
The companies hiring the most merchandise planners right now include Crocs, Petco, and Victoria's Secret, with the largest share of openings in California, New York, and Massachusetts, based on current listings on Migrate Mate as of November 2026. Retail, e-commerce, and apparel companies consistently account for the bulk of active postings.
How many merchandise planner jobs are remote?
About 84% of merchandise planner openings are fully remote or hybrid as of November 2026, with remote work most common in e-commerce and digital-first retail brands. Roles tied to physical store operations, regional allocation, or vendor negotiation tend to require more in-office presence.
How do you become a merchandise planner?
Most merchandise planners start with a degree in merchandising, business, or a related field, then enter retail through allocator, buying assistant, or planning analyst roles. From there, you build open-to-buy skills, learn inventory management systems, and move into planning as you demonstrate proficiency with financial modeling and assortment decisions.
Can you get a merchandise planner job with little experience?
Yes, entry-level merchandise planner roles exist, though many are titled planning analyst or allocation analyst. Retail internships, allocator experience, or coursework in supply chain and merchandising give you a credible foundation. Showing comfort with data, spreadsheet modeling, and retail math in your resume and interviews matters more than years of tenure at this stage.
What does the merchandise planner interview process look like?
Most merchandise planner interviews include a phone screen with a recruiter, a structured interview with a planning manager focused on your analytical process and past results, and a case study or take-home exercise where you analyze an inventory scenario. Final rounds often involve a cross-functional panel with buyers, allocators, or operations leads who assess how you collaborate under competing priorities.
Where can I find and apply to merchandise planner jobs?
You can find and apply to merchandise planner jobs on Migrate Mate, which lists current openings from companies across the United States. Search for roles that match your experience level and category background, then apply directly to each listing that fits.
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