Associate Planner - WSS

Job description

Overview

This role will be hybrid in office three days a week at our WSS Corporate office in Gardena, CA.

The Associate Merchandise Planner supports inventory, sales, and margin planning for assigned apparel and footwear categories at WSS. This role focuses on reporting, analysis, forecasting support, and inventory management to ensure product is positioned appropriately by style, color, size, and channel. The ideal candidate is analytical, Excel-savvy, curious about consumer behavior, and motivated to build a long-term career in retail planning.

Responsibilities

 

Planning & Forecast Support

·  Assist in building seasonal and weekly plans across departments, classes, and key items.
·  Update weekly sales, inventory, margin, and receipt forecasts.
·  Support pre-season planning tools (size curves, flow calendars, category targets).
·  Maintain and update buy meeting tools, hindsight documents, and assortment productivity trackers.

Inventory & Product Lifecycle Management

·  Monitor inventory levels, backorders, replenishment needs, and in-season size availability.
·  Assist with size, color, and store/channel productivity reporting.
·  Track deliveries, PO receipts, launch calendars, and selling velocity by product tier (fashion, core, seasonal, replenishment).
·  Identify early risks such as out-of-stocks, aging inventory, or size imbalance and escalate to planner.

Analysis & Reporting

·  Produce weekly selling reports showing sales trends, WOS, sell-through and margin performance.
·  Analyze SKU-level performance by size curve, silhouette, seasonality, and fashion vs. core classification.
·  Support post-season hindsight recaps, including lessons learned for future investments.

Partnership & Communication

·  Partner with Buying for assortment and key item understanding.
·  Work closely with Allocation to align inventory with store/channel demand.
·  Collaborate with Supply Chain on delivery flow, lead time shifts, and vendor communication.
·  Attend line reviews, buy meetings, and business recap sessions.
Qualifications

·  Bachelor’s degree in Business, Merchandising, Analytics, Finance, Economics, or related field.
·  0–2+ years of experience in planning, allocation, retail analytics, supply chain, or relevant internship.
·  Strong analytical thinking and proficiency in Excel (pivot tables, VLOOKUP/XLOOKUP required).
·  Knowledge of retail math, basic forecasting concepts, and SKU-level analysis.
·  Experience with planning tools a plus (JDA/Blue Yonder, Anaplan, Oracle, SAP, BI dashboards).

At Foot Locker, we value innovation, authenticity, and integrity in all that we do.  To uphold the security and fairness of our hiring process, we ask that candidates refrain from using AI tools, including ChatGPT, during interviews and assessments.  To ensure a smooth and secure experience, please review the following guidelines:

·  Cameras must be on for all virtual interviews.
·  AI tools are strictly prohibited during interviews or assessments.

We appreciate your understanding and cooperation as we work together to create a transparent and equitable hiring experience.

Benefits

The pay range is $80,000 - $90,000 per year. This range represents the anticipated low and high end of the salary for this position. Salary will be determined by the education, experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities of the applicant, internal equity, and alignment with market data. Salary is one component of the Foot Locker, Inc. total compensation package, which includes the below.  

 

Foot Locker Benefits : 

·  Employee Discount 
·  Paid Time Off 
·  Medical | Dental | Vision Coverage 
·  401(k) | Roth 401(k) 
·  Life Insurance 
·  Flexible Spending Account 
·  Opportunities for Advancement 
·  Tuition Reimbursement for Qualified Courses 
·  Strong Company Culture 
·  Employee Resource Groups