Responsible for store and Merchandising support through store selection for new programs, development and updating of store ranks for assortment planning, communication of new and remodeling stores to ensure all merchandise is available for store opening or re-opening, and other special projects as needed.Duties/Accomplishments:* Ensuring all categories of merchandise are available for all new stores by monitoring every new store allocations and on hands until opening and recommending to merchants and planners to which categories additional merchandise is needed.* Analyze potential stores for new programs; checking sales in similar merchandise and other financial and store criteria and presenting those selections to the merchants and planners. * Meeting with all Regional Managers twice a year to go through stores and look at call outs of merchandise requests or requests for larger assortments of certain items, requests for discontinuation of non-performing items and working with planners to re-assort, if necessary to get the right products in the right stores.* Re-ranking of all stores by category based on a weighted 3/6/12 month selling to assist in assortment planning and to achieve optimal inventory levels and faster turns.* Servicing stores who have had recent burglaries to receive replacement merchandise while being sensitive to a difficult and traumatic situation.* Other special projects including an initiative to assist stores with low merchandise space to carry only the most profitable merchandise for it while still carrying merchandise that is most profitable for the company.

Responsible for purchasing, reducing and maintaining inventory levels of CRD Bell Bike helmets and accessories, while keeping steady stock levels to fully service the customer.* Achieved an average of 95% or better fill rate constantly for my accounts, assist in reducing Excess and Obsolete inventory by 15% of total budgeted inventory for the year and worked with the sales team to accurately determine forecasts for the accounts I serviced.* Analyzing current inventory levels and future forecasts by sku to determine future need for materials. Cut purchase orders and followed up with our Hong Kong team on any delivery challenges and kept in daily contact by email. Participated in monthly calls to discuss any issues with orders and deliveries. Negotiated improved delivery of delayed shipments while avoiding expediting charges for shipments when possible.*Prepared monthly material build plans to advise vendors of future capacity needs and to secure the company’s production space in the factories which assisted in shorter lead times.* Reviewed customer forecasts from the sales team, analyzed past forecasts to determine trends or seasonality in order to provide the most accurate future forecasts and entered those forecasts by month into the system. Maintained responsibility for the forecasts and made adjustments as the business changed. * Prepared and analyzed reports related to the business in regards to monthly sales, inventory, turns and comparison to budget numbers and presented those in monthly meetings.* Was involved in the company’s corporate Innovation Road product lifecycle meetings presenting SKU rationalization reports to help determine underperforming SKUs and suggesting action to eliminate or to combine function with a similar item to increase sales performance

Responsible for analysis, planning and allocation of apparel, accessories, stationary, frames, bedding and other assorted product types across multiple divisions and determining retail store needs utilizing both business analysis and planning skills to ensure growth in sales while maintaining inventory levels in 860 stores nationwide.* Contributed to the increase to 6x the initial yearly sales in the apparel business. I also initiated improved stock levels in the frame area of business resulting in an increase of 12% in sales in only 12 weeks.* Training and developing new allocation analysts* Analyzing stock levels and developing methods to improve over/under stocked stores* Developed merchandise assortment plans* Executing the layout of assortment plans through allocation* Recommending additional product buys to fill in gaps in the assortment plans *Evaluated selling to determine additional needs in stores and flowing product back to stores who have sold through* Responsible for allocation of flow merchandise by determining stores with need through the use of pulling sales/inventory levels from data warehouse and develop an Excel spreadsheet in which to analyze.

Responsible for development, order planning, purchasing, sales analysis, financial planning, replenishment tracking and overall product performance of a ladies moderate clothing line in 325 stores includingDeveloping markdown methods which improved overall gross margin by 1.8%, while improving stock levels* Responsible for monthly buys and maintaining open to buy and following and reporting sales of this product line* Reporting of the business including, but not limited to, sales, margins, turn rate, stock levels, purchasing and open to buy.* Managed the development of monthly floorplans and fixture plans* Developed assortment and prepared orders based on financial plans, sales history and current trends.*Analyzed stock levels and developed methods to improve over/understocked stores*Monitored orders weekly for replenishment and on time delivery and adjusted orders as needed* Prepared copy for items included in advertising.

Responsibilities included production planning of apparel. * Preparation of purchase orders and shop orders* Collaborated with import coordinators to plan the production of apparel in factories worldwide* Gathered the components, accuracy checks and following a service calendar to maintain the timely preparation and deliveries of the orders.* Coordinated production of apparel using materials with multiple dyelots.* Trained users both within the company and in the worldwide factories of vendor shipping software.

*Subjected products to multiple tests to determine compliance with JCPenney and government standards. Products included soft line goods, including apparel and home products and piece goods in the development stage. *Testing of items, analyzing test data; organizing the data and formulating reports based on research and testing. *Led seminars and gave presentations to educate the buyers, brand managers and manufacturers on the importance of providing quality products to JCPenney customers.