John Steffens Email & Phone Number

Chicago, Il, Us

Deerfield, Illinois, United States

Illinois, United States

• Managed the weekly Open-to-Buy for a $465 million pet and pantry business covering 8000-plus stores nationwide.• Beat the Pet/Pantry budgeted sales in fiscal 2023 by $46M, or +11%, beating margin dollar plan by +$18M or +12%.• Lead the DMM monthly promotional planning process. Gathered the data for the entire division, compiled a business template summarizing YOY change by department by CM to explain trend changes and overall strategic direction of the business each month.• Worked with the markdown team on all resets to begin marking down non go forward items 90 plus days in advance to limit liability on Walgreens and to our vendors, maximizing sales and profitability on outgoing items.• Aligned promotional plans in annual planning process by vendor/department, aligning with key strategic vendor partners and merchant team.• Conduct weekly and monthly sales and profit forecast reviews. Lead monthly forecast meetings with merchant team to align on forecasts, taking in to account current trend.• Subject Matter Expert for the session 4 New Item Planning file, of the CLR process for the company. Category Line Review is a merchandising process where merchant teams’ partner with cross functional partners to design and provide customers with best-in-class assortments while maximizing overall financial benefit for Walgreens. Trained seasoned and new planners across the company on the set-up of Session 4; handing off the file to the merchant team to assort all the new items into the current assortment. Provided sales/margin analysis on new and deleted items to ensure maximum sales and profitability for Walgreens.• Developed a TY LY new item tracker for new items and deleted items to measure the success of each reset for up to 16 weeks post reset. The tracker provided analytics on new-items, tests, and pricing to identify trends and determine risks and opportunities. Provided post-mortem analysis of merchant category based upon the data.

Northbrook, Il

• Managed the weekly Open-to-Buy for a $575 million candy/gum business covering 8000-plus stores nationwide.• Increased candy and gum to a 94.5% aggregate service level YOY over 4 years spanning COVID (Q1 2020 – Q4 2024), a 354-basis point improvement to 2020. • Assisted category manager and management in creating a new checkout experience for customers in stores called C.E.T. Analyzed best-selling items that were added to front check-out counters in 2000 plus stores over the course of the fiscal year. Sales increased YOY in CET stores $8.0M with GP $ upside of $3.2M. • Worked with Demand Planner and merchant partners to manage multiple resets impacting 7000 + stores each. Worked with internal and external stakeholders to develop forecasts and inbound/outbound plans to deliver high fill rates. Collaborated with vendors and internal teams to ensure orders buy to actual demand instead of forecasts, which minimized overstocks and stock outs.• Lead the annual financial planning process across multiple category teams in Grocery and Household and Beauty and Personal Care and conducted weekly forecasting analysis for merchant teams. Executed reports to drive performance and alignment across the category team and cross functional partners.• Lead the DMM monthly promotional planning process. Gathered the data for the entire division, compiled a business template summarizing YOY change by department by CM to explain trend changes and overall strategic direction of the business each month.• Conduct weekly and monthly sales and profit forecast reviews. Lead monthly forecast meetings with merchant team to align on forecasts, taking in to account current trend.• Implemented a company best practice supply-chain document that allows collaboration amongst merchandise planners and supply-chain demand planners, focusing on sales and inventory projections, ensuring stores are in stock on all items for current and future ads.

Northbrook Il

Northbrook, Illinois

Northbrook, Illinois

Opportunity to work for a $103 plus billion global company. Responsible for building financials for a $825.0 million dollar business covering Dry Beverage, Pantry, Breakfast, Ice Cream, Soups and Meals, Baking and Bread.

Hoffman Estates, Il

*Financially planning Claire's Europe, Claire's North America and Icing's brand for Tech Accessories.*Manage a team of three direct reports, an Associate Merchandiser/Planner a North American Allocation Analyst and a European Allocation Analyst.*Growing global business to $67.0 million in 2015, $85 Million in 2016 and $100 Million in 2017.*Segments of business include Selfies and Tech Accessories, Phone Cases, Audio and Electronics and Tablet Covers and Portfolios.*Responsible for all vendor communication with import vendors overseas on monthly reorders of best selling product. Manage cost, unit orders and timeliness of goods.

Chicago, Illinois

• Developed customized assortments in each store through leveraging localized opportunities to drive sales and gross margin (My Macys)• Analyzed store assortments, space productivity, customer profiles and competitive environment, resulting in development of strategic financial plans for a $40M business, covering 10 stores across two states.• Collaborated with central merchants, vendors, store managers, DVP, DM and RPM to support strategic objectives in sales, transitional tactics, market share and space planning.• Communicated financial goals and performance with vendor partners on weekly basis.

Greater Chicago Area

* Deliver sales, margin and turn in individual stores through rigorous analysis of business and identification of localization opportunities; Include local opportunities and customer feedback.* Communicate assortment-related actions to the Central Planner* Be the expert on the customer and competitive environment in the Chicago North District.* My area in Millennial consisted of Juniors, Kids, Missy Coats, Swim and Active, Northface and all of Impulse.

* Delivered sales, margin and turn in individual stores through rigorous analysis of business and identification of localization opportunities; Include local opportunities and customer feedback.* Communicated assortment-related actions to the Central Planner* Be the expert on the customer and competitive environment in the Chicago South District

I was a merchandise Planner for the Men's Casual Pant Department at Kohls.**Created seasonal financial plans in collaboration with merchant team to effectively achieve company sales and profit goals, and optimize return on inventory investment. **Managed the weekly Open-to-Buy for $260.0 million business, with average inventory of $197.0 million, covering 1000 plus stores nationwide.**Developed strategic unit/item plan projections for all styles; utilizing set and flow strategy's to ensure in-stock position, consistent flow of product, turnover objectives, and profitable exit strategies. **Communicated financial goals and performance with vendor partners during weekly planner touch bases at Kohls. **Collaborated with merchant partner to build merchandise assortments that are supported by incorporating Space Planning, Import Planning, Transitional Strategies, Market Solutions, Advertising, Marketing and Grade Planning Tool**Partnered with Senior Inventory Manager and Merchandise Analysts to assure effective execution of allocation and replenishment to support strategic objectives.

I worked at Carson Pirie Scott, which became Bon Ton for almost 10 1/2 years. I was most recently the Buyer of Young Mens, Urban, Active and Team Apparel; prior to leaving to work at Kohls in Dec 2006.Here are my last few positions:**Buyer-Young Men’s, Urban, Active and Team Shop: April 2004 – December 2006 *Responsible for purchasing all young men’s classification product, all urban men’s wear, all licensed pro and college apparel, as well as all men’s active wear. *Successfully assisted in the merger of the Bon Ton and Carson’s young men’s merchandise thereby creating one common assortment. *Total sales volume in 2004 equaled $20.5 million, a 31% increase over the prior year. In 2005, total volume equaled $21.6 million; for a 5.4% over last year sales. *Year 2006 sales plan for Carson’s is $23.8 million. Bon Ton Fall 06 sales added an additional $15.1 million in sales to the area. **Buyer-Junior Moderate Knit Tops: May 2000 – March 2004 **Associate Buyer-Men’s Nautica Sportswear: (May 1999 - May 2000)**Associate Buyer-Men’s Contemporary: (July 1998 - April 1999) **Assistant Buyer-Men’s Denim: (September 1996 - July 1998)

During my career at Carsons/Bon Ton, I bought Men's Contemporary product, Junior's Sweater, Knits and Wovens, and Young Men's Classifications, Urban, Active and Team Apparel.

Purchased all product lines for every category and created all assortment plans and orders for entire area.Presented business strategies to Senior Management during seasonal strategy sessions.Negotiated yearly vendor margin support for markdowns taken in-season.Spearheaded advertising campaigns and marketing initiatives for several business sector categories.Traveled to stores to work alongside store associates to determine what product mix should be purchased for their respective market.Performed in-store customer surveys in urban markets to analyze market trends, assess products and carry out grassroots marketing.Assisted in merger of Bon Ton and Carson's (young men's merchandise), creating one streamlined platform.Won Chairman of the Board Award six times, a merchant prize for top quarterly sales.