At Strandbags, our mission is to create the world’s most loved destination for the perfect bag. We are on a journey to continuously grow our brand and to celebrate life’s journeys and adventures, big and small.

Strandbags has been a leading retailer of luggage, handbags and backpacks since 1927. With almost 300 stores across Australia and New Zealand, a growing online business and an amazing range of leading brand and own-brand bags, we have the best selection, experience and expertise to suit everyone’s needs.

We are continuing to grow as a brand with lots of exciting expansion projects on the horizon!

We’re currently looking for an experienced Merchandise Planner to join the team based at Pyrmont.. The ideal candidate for this role will have strong Merchandise Planning experience at a medium to large high-volume retailer.

Your role will be to plan, develop and implement ‘best practice’ merchandise planning procedures to support the future growth of the business. You will provide analytical support to the buying function, ensuring accurate statistical analysis and advice in order to deliver the budgeted sales, gross profit and return on inventory investment for the designated product category.

Key responsibilities of this role will include:

• • Analysing historical information, developing seasonal category plans, identifying market opportunities to drive growth and determine product sales mix, stocks levels, retail prices and margins.
  • Preparing and maintaining store grading plans across all distribution channels based on display capacity, customer demographic and historical or current trend sales data.
  • Preparing range plans, determining the ideal assortment both width and depth, and applying statistical/trend analysis to support sound buying decisions.
  • Managing the Open-to-Buy process for the designated product category.
  • Monitoring in-season trading performance data, proposing price markdowns/discounts or additional promotional and marketing activity to maximize retained margins.
  • Determining the allocation of new product lines, driving replenishment by predicting future rates of sale and identifying new store opening packages based on sales expectation, store profile and market demographic.
  • Managing the set-up and execution of all promotional events/marketing campaigns against key critical path deadlines to ensure launch dates are met.
  • Analysing data and providing accurate statistical information to internal customers.
  • Attending weekly meetings with senior management, highlighting current trading performance and proposing actions required to deliver the strategic objectives.
  • Visiting retail stores to support their objectives and provide advice any issues relating to sales or range policy.

About you:

• • Extensive Merchandise Planning experience in a fashion apparel or accessories retailer
  • Strong retail and commercial acumen
  • Strong analytical and numerical skills with high attention to detail
  • Proven experience achieving sales, profit and margin goals
  • Good understanding of trends within the industry
  • Customer-centric focus
  • Initiative to recognise and identify potential problems early and implement solutions
  • Ability to build relationships and partner with stakeholders at all levels, with strong communication skills, both written and verbal
  • Deadline driven and results focused
  • Strong experience of best-in-class merchandise planning applications
  • Advanced level Excel skills

Our Values:

At Strandbags, we are customer obsessed, we put people first and we are always improving. We value ownership and trust, and we always deliver results.