The Footwear Demand Planner is responsible for developing and managing seasonal and in-season demand forecasts across our wholesale, retail, and e-commerce channels. This role ensures optimal inventory levels, accurate channel allocations, and size availability to meet sales goals and service level targets. The ideal candidate brings a strong analytical foundation, a collaborative mindset, and a deep understanding of how consumer demand varies across channels and product lifecycles—especially in the footwear category.
Key Responsibilities:
Own the end-to-end demand planning process for footwear across wholesale, owned retail stores, and .com, including preseason forecasts and in-season re-projections.
Translate sales targets into channel-specific forecasts in collaboration with Sales, Retail, and E-Commerce teams to ensure demand plans align with business goals and GTM strategy.
Analyze historical sales, size selling, and consumer behavior to inform demand curves, size scales, and future buy recommendations for each channel.
Monitor in-season performance and adjust forecasts in real time to mitigate inventory risks, capture upside, and align with marketing activations and promotional calendars.
Partner with Merchandising and Product teams to align demand forecasts with product lifecycle stages, regional needs, and line segmentation (e.g., core vs. seasonal vs. exclusive).
Provide demand inputs to the Supply Chain team to support buy readiness, allocation decisions, and production planning, ensuring on-time and in-full delivery.
Lead monthly Demand Review meetings as part of the S&OP process, communicating changes in demand drivers, risks, and opportunities to cross-functional stakeholders.
Develop demand plans for new product introductions and new doors, incorporating launch assumptions, marketplace trends, and cross-channel dynamics.
Build and maintain tools, dashboards, and KPIs that track forecast accuracy, inventory turns, service levels, and demand health across all footwear styles and channels.
Collaborate with inventory and allocation teams to ensure the right product is in the right place, at the right time, in the right size—maximizing consumer availability and financial performance.
Qualifications:
3+ years of experience in demand planning, merchandise planning, or inventory management within a consumer brand—preferably in footwear or related categories.
Experience managing forecasts across multiple sales channels (wholesale, retail, and e-commerce) with understanding of unique channel demand drivers and behaviors.
Footwear product knowledge strongly preferred, including seasonality, size curve management, launch planning, and inventory depth strategies.
Proficiency in Excel and analytical platforms (Power BI, Tableau, or similar); strong skills in creating data models and actionable reporting.
Track record of strong forecast accuracy and ability to improve inventory health (turns, sell-through, stock availability).
Experience working within a formal S&OP process and presenting data and insights to cross-functional leadership.
Strong interpersonal skills and ability to collaborate with Merchandising, Sales, Retail Operations, Supply Chain, and Product Development.
Experience with enterprise systems (e.g., Anaplan, SAP, NetSuite, or similar planning tools).
Ability to think strategically and execute tactically in a fast-paced, seasonal business with frequent new product launches.
Ability to travel up to 10% for cross-functional meetings, store visits, and seasonal planning sessions.
