Merchandise Assortment Planner

Your Impact
The Assortment Planner role serves as the category analyst for line review and run the business initiatives, along with supporting company initiatives that drive Lowe's strategic objectives. Under the leadership of the Assortment Planning Manager, the Merchandise Assortment Planner provides analytical insights to the assortment decisions made by the merchandising organization during category reviews. Merchandise Assortment Planners assist in the development of business driving tactics such as: white space identification, localization, assortment optimization, competitive landscape, market conditions, and financial target achievement with guidance from the Merchandising Assortment Planning Manager. This role serves as a cross functional partner, assisting with team insights and recommendations to inform merchant assortment strategies (e.g. finance, supply chain, pricing, etc.)

• Assist with the line review process for the assigned Merchandise Division under the guidance of the Merchandising Assortment Planning Manager to develop assortment strategies that align with overall business goals and ensure effective product offerings.
• Prepare milestones for the line review process to ensure key deadlines and deliverables are met, contributing to a smooth and efficient review cycle.
• Support the development of localization and assortment optimization strategies, including clustering, to tailor product offerings to specific customer segments and maximize regional sales potential.
• Create a Stocking Matrix to support financial targets by optimizing inventory levels across different categories, ensuring the right products are available in the right quantities to meet demand and support profitability.
• Assist with identifying white space opportunities to highlight untapped product categories or market gaps, helping to drive new product initiatives and revenue growth.
• Facilitate alignment on the development of business-driving strategies to ensure cross-functional collaboration and alignment on key goals, driving the overall success of the merchandising strategy.
• Recommend assortment optimization and localization opportunities to enhance product offerings and better meet the needs of specific customer segments, driving stronger sales and customer satisfaction.
• Create the customer decision tree to analyze customer behavior and improve product assortment by understanding decision-making factors, ultimately driving increased conversion and sales.
• Identify customer landscape and assortment gaps to highlight areas of opportunity for product expansion or adjustments, ensuring the assortment remains relevant and competitive in the marketplace.
• Surface pro and digital customer growth opportunities to identify trends and strategies that can drive both in-store and online sales, contributing to the overall growth of the brand across multiple channels.
• Utilize assortment planning optimization tools to advise merchandising partners on actionable steps to optimize product assortments, ensuring the right products are offered in the right quantities, and ultimately driving business growth and enhancing category performance.
• Provide insights for continuous improvement across assortment planning processes to identify efficiencies and enhance decision-making, ultimately improving the accuracy and effectiveness of future planning cycles and driving better business outcomes.

• Bachelor's Degree Marketing, Statistics, Finance or related field 3-5 Years Experience in merchandising, assortment planning, finance or related work experience
• 3-5 Years Experience in a retail environment, executing cross-functional project plans, collaborating across teams to deliver results and achieve business goals.
• 3-5 Years experience working in a large retail organization, preferably in Merchandising, Store Planning, or Store Operations, demonstrating strong business acumen and understanding of how assortment planning impacts various functions across the organization.
• 1-2 Years assortment and merchandising planning, including category and product management, with a focus on retail processes.
• 1-2 Years retail assortment store clustering, applying data-driven strategies to optimize product offerings for specific customer segments and regions.
• Proficient with assortment planning software (e.g., SAS, JDA, Oracle), leveraging tools to optimize product assortments and support data-driven decision-making.