Sarah K. Mcdonald (Don) Email & Phone Number

Plano, Texas, United States

• Aids Buyer in developing assortment and writing POs• Assist Buyer with Company and vendor meeting preparation• Facilitates vendor set-up• Manage sample process• Support buyer in identifying business opportunities• React quickly and decisively to business opportunities to achieve and consistently maintain positive comp sales growth and increased comp margin• Actively participate in negotiations with Buyer• Assist Buyer in collection of trend data• Maintain electronic photo files• Comp shop and recap results• Creatively use trend data to apply to business• Understands and clearly communicate to vendor partners the guidelines of the ticketing and domestic/import shipping manuals• Work with Buyer to manage inventory and identify risks in assortment

Allocation – Allocate fashion and basic merchandise at SKU level based on the buyer intent and allocation objectives. Accountable for ensuring stores are at optimal inventory levels and presentation standards are met to drive sales, in-stocks, and service customers.Inventory Productivity and Receipt Timing - Collaborate with planning manager and merchandising organization to review and challenge assortment flow receipt plan and ensure sufficient quantities are purchased to support the assortment plan.Analysis - Perform pre-season, in-season, and post-season analysis to uncover opportunities and risks. Develop recommendations for in-season changes and pre-season assortment plans to ensure maximization of objectives.Size Profiling - Partner with merchant organization on size strategy execution providing analysis, depth needs, range recommendations, and pack configuration.Pack Optimization - Develop and implement strategies to create vendor pre-packs based on pack configuration analysis; identify opportunities to add new sizes and/or liabilities to omit sizes from assortment.

Inventory Management – Monitors all incoming distribution center merchandise to identify new SKUs and current inventory needs to meet desired inventory levels. Distributes merchandise based on individual store sales history, SKU sell through, and store contribution percentages.Identify SKU Selling Patterns – Interprets and anticipates seasonal SKU selling patterns to optimize product flow and replenishment methods. Defines appropriate target inventory levels for promotional event by evaluating sales projections and using previous promotion sales history. Minimum and Maximum Inventory Level – Establishes, monitors and adjusts minimum and maximum inventory levels for multiple SKUs for several different store levels. Values determined by total and average store quantities, monthly average rates of sale, inner packs and minimum displayable quantities. Buying and Planning Partnerships – Conducts regular meetings with the Buying and Planning staff to focus on common goals including adhering to the Open to Buy, promotional distributions, average store quantities, seasonal distributions, best sellers and other topics as they arise. Also communicates with vendors and distribution centers regarding issues that affect the flow of merchandise. These include cross dock discrepancies, compliance issues, product quality and shipping errors.

Responsible for creation, accuracy and integrity of all purchase orders, new order forms, and price change requests. Work with buyers, planners/allocators, trade/tariff engineers, packaging designers, marketing specialists and domestic/foreign vendors to identify and solve issues throughout SKU life cycle. SKU Management- Create New Order Forms for all new SKUs. Create documents for all retail price changes and initial markdowns. Maintain/update Product Master for all SKUs. Add/validate information in our internal systems related to product attributes.Purchase Order Management - Write all purchase orders both new and re-buy for every SKU. Problem solve any discrepancies. Determine correct PO text and product testing protocols. Responsible for accuracy of all purchase orders. Initiate PO adjustments for approval. Correspond with vendors. Labeling & Packaging - Review/Approve all labels (price, care, law, and warning), template hang-tags, boxes, and packaging. Request French translations. Correspond with vendors, Brand Packaging, and/or Certifications for corrections and/or approvals. Create all tags for furniture and other large scale merchandise (about 15% of total company SKUs). Ecommerce SKU Validation - Ensures product information (materials/dimensions) supplied from the vendor is correct. Marketing & Media - Submit SKUs for Mailers, Inserts and all marketing media.

SKU Creation and Management - Product set up and maintenance in Pier 1's information systems for all merchandise in the Seasonal Category.Communication - Communicates with vendors via email and phone to gather and validate product information. Also communicates with functional partners through out Pier1 including, Visual Merchandising, Packaging, Trade and Product Compliance, Logistics and Photo Studio.Sample Management - Managed the flow of seasonal merchandise samples. Includes sample room organization, tracking shipments from vendors, assisting support departments with sample needs and ship outs.Reporting- Responsible for compiling and organizing information need by the buyer for presentation or analysis.

Managing and updating all social media avenues such as Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin and company website. Coordinating and implementing promotions across all social media platforms. Creating exhilarating presentations for workshops and seminars. Organizing and updating Microsoft CRM database along with prospect or association contact lists. Schedule free talks with local business associations in the DFW area. Networking and selling.

Helped College of Business students with computer programs and technical issues while monitoring student traffic at all times. Collaborated with fellow team members in order to give the best service as possible which contributed to the College of Business' reputation being the best computer lab on campus.

Assisted to the needs, wants and questions of consumers first and foremost by answering phones and helping in person. Lead in store sales of subscriptions to magazines and acquired reservations of games by twice the amount of fellow co-workers and managers.