Samuel Kuo Email & Phone Number

Greater Minneapolis-St. Paul Area

Managed strategy, planning, and execution for multiple divisions' clearance markdown programs including Beauty, Household and Paper, Healthcare, Outdoor Living, Stationery, and Seasonal accounting for over $750 million of annual inventory.-Built and reported weekly markdown forecasts to senior management and merchant teams, highlighting variances and trends while providing key insights and recommendations.-Identified and created new tool to provide visibility into clearance… Show more Managed strategy, planning, and execution for multiple divisions' clearance markdown programs including Beauty, Household and Paper, Healthcare, Outdoor Living, Stationery, and Seasonal accounting for over $750 million of annual inventory.-Built and reported weekly markdown forecasts to senior management and merchant teams, highlighting variances and trends while providing key insights and recommendations.-Identified and created new tool to provide visibility into clearance profitability using financial analysis to drive improved inventory buys, resulting in annual savings of over $15 million.-Managed and developed new markdown process for company seasonal/holiday events, driving over $10 million in annual gross margin benefit. Show less

Greater Minneapolis-St. Paul Area

Managed $60 million Stationery, $40 million Entertaining, and $30 million Gifting category and two captainships leading the division.-Created and led training program to onboard division analysts on capabilities of Target India support team, increasing usage by over 40pp, affording incremental work time devoted towards strategy development.-Negotiated with vendor to allow for half minimum order quantities, enabling profitable management of end-of-season inventory, delivering savings… Show more Managed $60 million Stationery, $40 million Entertaining, and $30 million Gifting category and two captainships leading the division.-Created and led training program to onboard division analysts on capabilities of Target India support team, increasing usage by over 40pp, affording incremental work time devoted towards strategy development.-Negotiated with vendor to allow for half minimum order quantities, enabling profitable management of end-of-season inventory, delivering savings of over $1.5 million in clearance markdowns annually.-Negotiated vendor-funded promotions to help sell through unproductive inventory, affording the markdowns needed to execute a full assortment transition, resulting in 17pp sales increase. Show less

Greater Minneapolis-St. Paul Area

Managed $55 million Stationery category by accurately forecasting new items, right-sizing inventory, analyzing supply chain metric, and maintaining key relationships with cross-functional partners.-Reduced all supply chain expenses and average inventory by $500K (4pp) by analyzing unproductive inventory trends and building tool to optimize buys and promotions.-Achieved 100% Item Fit by partnering with merchants, sourcing organization, and vendors to negotiate the most profitable… Show more Managed $55 million Stationery category by accurately forecasting new items, right-sizing inventory, analyzing supply chain metric, and maintaining key relationships with cross-functional partners.-Reduced all supply chain expenses and average inventory by $500K (4pp) by analyzing unproductive inventory trends and building tool to optimize buys and promotions.-Achieved 100% Item Fit by partnering with merchants, sourcing organization, and vendors to negotiate the most profitable case packs and packaging, delivering $1 million savings in contribution expenses.-Negotiated with largest Stationery vendor to improve costs on domestically-ordered product, which drove a 500 bps increase in direct contribution for entire Stationery business. Show less

Greater Minneapolis-St. Paul Area

Worked on project to improve import product planning for long lead-time businesses.-Developed a sales and inventory forecasting strategy for the Domestics early read programs.-Established division-wide best methods for inventory control and planning.-Increased sales forecasting accuracy by 11pp.