Robert S. Email & Phone Number

Minneapolis, Mn, Us

Minneapolis, Mn, Us

Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States

- Forecasting and demand planning for a multi-brand assortment at Target within the Boy’s Action, Halloween/Seasonal, and Plush categories. - Proactively collaborate with my Target counterparts to optimize to in-season sales and future season forecasts. - Relationship management of key Target partners ensuring that Jazwares is viewed as both a reliable and trusted JBP partner.- Collaborated with internal partners to streamline weekly reporting including rebuilding reports to reduce file size, increase report stability, and add additional insights where applicable. - Actively work with National Account Managers on promotional opportunities via forecasting potential offers, scenario planning depth of discount impact to sales, and inventory levels pre and post promotion. - Closely coordinate with the Inventory Manager on PO approvals with an eye on maximizing sales and minimizing end of program/season markdowns.

Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States

- Forecasting and inventory planning for my business unit (BU) with $190MM+ in sales and over $230M+ in annual inventory purchases. My BU is the largest within total Outdoor Living. - Successfully managed the BU P&L during a negative sales year in 2023 while delivering positive gross margin rate and gross margin dollar improvement.- Collaborated with my Buyer on new vendor support terms and played a key strategic role with vendor negotiations that resulted in a +14.9% increase in vendor income during fiscal 2023. - In-season management of the planned buy including ordering chase/cancel analysis, sales trend analysis, and additional ad-hoc reporting to paint the picture of current and expected business conditions. - Actively coordinate with my vendor base on weekly and monthly calls to ensure inventory availability and troubleshoot performance variances to forecast. - Co-Chair of the Division’s DE&I employee committee (includes Outdoor Living and other Seasonal businesses) with responsibilities for planning and assisting on monthly DE&I educational events.Stretch Assignments:- Q4 2023 Pricing and Promotions Strategy Lead “gig” position supporting the Dec Home division while continuing my core Planner functions with Outdoor Living. - Provided Maternity Leave coverage while also supporting the business with critical Q4 promotional plan execution, contingency offer support, and Spring 2024 promotional plan revisions.

Bleach/Spot Stain Removal category ownership- Secured two special purchase Bleach skus and worked with our NB and OB vendors to secure additional inventory. The net impact has been overall market share gains across all time periods as well increased OB share gains across all time periods.- Successfully negotiated with Clorox and Reckitt Benckiser to secure special buys and additional allocation inventory in response to disinfecting/sanitizer demand driven by Covid-19. The net impact has been a return to market share growth.Additional Tasks and Activities:- Co-lead the Laundry Desk while the Sr. Buyer was out on maternity leave. Successfully managed the relationship with our largest vendor partner during weekly status calls, assortment reviews, JBP negotiations, and through CoSpace changes. - Actively participated in negotiations with our largest key vendors (P&G, Henkel, Church & Dwight). Negotiated outcomes were ahead of internal forecasts.- Co-lead assortment decision-making for 2021 line reviews. Successfully maintained flat sku count while launching three new brands (9 Elements, Hex Performance, and Tide Zero).- Co-Chair of the HP Volunteer Committee with responsibility for executing events such as virtual charity auction, packing snack kits for a local food shelf, and sending holiday cards to Senior Citizens. The events have resulted in thousands of dollars’ worth of donations (monetary, physical items, and time). - On-boarded and mentored a new Associate Buyer to backfill my old position as the Associate Buyer for Cleaning, Air Care, and Pest.

Minneapolis, Minnesota

Rapidly transitioned to Merchandising and supported the Cleaning Tools, Cleaning Chemicals, Air Care, and Pest categories.Took over category ownership of Lint and Dilutable Cleaning Chemicals within 6 months of my start date without prior Target merchandising experience. Dilutable Cleaning Chemicals Merchandising changes focused on trading the guest up to larger sizes. FY20 Dilutes finished +52.6% ad-ad comp as well as both dollar and unit share growth (+27bps and +51bps respectively).

Brooklyn Park, Mn

Fraud Prevention Team Lead for Target.comTeam Lead for a 15 person team dedicated to identifying and stopping fraudulent activity on target.com.- Collaborate with a variety of business partners to streamline department operations such as a FY17 initiative that has resulted in weekly inbound call volume for FY18 declining by 20% - 30% compared to prior year.- Model “Be Curious” by continuously learning about new types of fraud and new avenues for potential fraud on Target.com. - Analyze a variety of disparate data to drive business decisions such as an “all-in” cost analysis that influenced peak season staffing allocations and reduced department expenses.- Create and execute a peak season business plan that includes on-boarding, training, continuous coaching, and off-boarding of contractors that more than doubled the size of the department in FY17 (20 TMs, 44 Contractors).- Strategically manage workloads and tools to ensure the roughly 3.1 million orders reviewed in FY17 were within SLA goals while minimizing fraud loss.- Support enterprise initiatives such as Drive-Up, Gift Now, and Shipt through an operations lens.- Comfortable navigating and leading through grey areas and ambiguity.Achievements:- Led the revamp of our training program which improved peak season contractor and vendor performances. The improved performance translated into reduced error costs and an improved guest experience ordering on Target.com. - Created and executed a new collaboration strategy with our vendor partner which has further increased vendor agent performance. Vendor agents now perform comparably to their Minneapolis based peers.- LGBTA Business Council Q1, 2018 Impact Award. Presented to the project team that implemented the Transgender Day of Visibility Panel that several hundred HQ team members attended.

Minneapolis, Minnesota

Supervisor for a growing, 27 member, sales and service department that works in a digital environment.- Direct management of members of the digital team - supervise, train and develop team members focusing on expanding their capabilities in sales and other key categories.- Directed daily digital activities including prioritizing of workloads, answering questions or concerns, assisting with escalated chats/situations and setting expectations for processes and performance.- Effectively complete core supervisory responsibilities (i.e. reviews, disciplinary action, recognition, hiring, on-boarding, regular team meetings, quality monitoring, ad-hoc reporting etc.).- Created sales forecasts and monitor sales reporting for a roughly $10 million department.- Identified system/process changes needed; support change management of new systems/processes.- Collaborated cross-functionally on project based work.Achievements- Successfully stabilized the department by filling 11 vacancies (~50% of dept.) including one Lead position.- Implemented new performance metrics and standards which significantly raised the bar for chat representatives.- Executed the creation of a new Lead position focused on customer escalations and end-to-end customer resolution solutions.

Minneapolis, Minnesota

Inside sales representative focused on the consumer market. - Emphasis on sales conversion, up-selling, and product knowledge. - Utilized a consultative sales model to quickly establish rapport and develop customer relationships - Drove additional sales through referrals and outbound sales calls.AchievementsFY 2014 revenue: 111% to goalFY 2014 unit sales: 108% to goalAll KPI measurements at or above expectations.

Greater Minneapolis-St. Paul Area

Direct business to business sales within the Minneapolis/Saint Paul metro.- Focused on Industrial and Government accounts with a specialization in Healthcare.- Utilized a consultative sales model to drive additional customer orders.- Gave presentation to c-suite, executive committees, and presidents on the Hilti Value Proposition.- Implemented marketing material for the Minnesota and Iowa sales teams.- Competitor tool warranty expert for the twin cities metro team.Associations/Memberships:- Twin City Healthcare Engineering Association

Greater Minneapolis-St. Paul Area

Managed all retail operations for my location and was responsible for order execution and up-selling customers.- Provided out of state coverage for stores in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois.- Responsible for merchandising and creating displays for product throughout the store.- Managed inventory levels and determined product mix within the store.- Regularly coordinated with the outside sales team to drive product adoption and penetration within accounts.Achievements:- Hilti Masters Club Winner- Increased sales at my retail location from $1.7 million to $2.3 million in my first year- Top performing store in North America for 2011 sales event - two day total of $261,819

Greater Chicago Area

Managed a Hilti outlet inside of The Home Depot selling directly to contractors and home owners.- Interfaced with Home Depot management on product placement and sales transactions.- Worked closely with the Hilti outside sales team to drive sales.- Assisted struggling stores throughout Chicago metropolitan area.Achievements:- Top selling store in the Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota region - October 2010