Since its launch in 1993 with a collection of six essential handbags, Kate Spade New York has always been colorful, bold, and optimistic. Today, it is a global lifestyle brand that designs extraordinary things for the everyday, delivering seasonal collections of handbags, ready-to-wear, jewelry, footwear, home décor, and more. Known for its rich heritage and unique brand DNA, Kate Spade New York offers a distinctive point of view and celebrates communities of women around the globe who live their perfectly imperfect lifestyles.
Kate Spade New York is part of the Tapestry portfolio, a global house of brands committed to stretching what's possible. Tapestry has unwavering optimism and is committed to being innovative and wholly inclusive. Visit Our People page to learn more about Tapestry's commitment to equity, inclusion, and diversity.
Primary Purpose: The Demand Planner is responsible for planning inventory flow and optimization for the Kate Spade Wholesale channel in Europe & Middle East. The Demand Planner will develop a strategic product SKU level demand plan aligned to the global strategy and oversee inbound and outbound shipments to ensure a smooth delivery to the end customer. Reporting to the Demand Planning Manager, the Demand Planner plays an integral part in delivering sales and margin targets as well as working cross functionally to optimise cross channel inventory opportunities.
The successful individual will leverage their proficiency in Demand Planning to:
- Own and maintain inventory reporting, including monthly statistics on sales, inbound production deliveries, stock holding, out of stock prevention and reorder analysis. Ensure optimal inventory levels are held to maximize sales and minimize inventory liability risk
- Perform root cause analysis of supply/demand issues, provide solutions for the commercial business and escalate to the Demand Planning Manager where necessary
- Analyse monthly and seasonal sales, reacting to trends and informing future buy strategy
- Plan SKU level demand under made to forecast inventory model in line with sales and inventory targets
- Review MOQ's and reinvest in relevant SKUs to ensure sales plans are achievable
- Lead cross functional alignment meetings to provide teams with an overview of seasonal buy vs sales plan strategy, ensuring seasonal plans are in line with global guidance
- Review current and future inventory holding to minimize inventory excess and maximize sales
- Own SKU level forecast maintenance using planning tool RPAS
- Partner closely with cross functional teams (Finance, Sales, Buying and Account Services) to ensure inventory investments are aligned to the global strategy. Identify risk and create actionable steps to mitigate and react accordingly in a fast-paced environment
- Partner with Wholesale Customer Service on facilitating Stock Transfer Orders (STO) to ensure smooth outbound delivery to end customer
The accomplished individual will possess:
- 2-3 years in a Demand Planning/Buying/Supply Chain role, with experience in Retail, B2B, Franchise or Wholesale business models
- Highly analytical with an eye for detail and ability to translate data into action points
- Ability to multi-task in a fast-paced environment and perform well under pressure and multiple deadlines
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills
- Strong Excel skills (Pivots, VLOOKUP's, ifs/sumifs)
What Kate Spade can offer you:
- Hybrid working (3 days working from the office, 2 days remote)
- Option to finish early on a Friday (Flex Fridays)
- 1 Paid Volunteering Day per year and opportunities to volunteer with global projects
- Learning & Development opportunities
- Internal mobility & career progression
- Regular Social Events - Seasonal & Cultural
- Equity Inclusion & Diversity initiatives which include employee resource groups & regional inclusion council
Other benefits include:
- 25 days holiday in addition to bank holidays
- Annual Incentive Plan (company performance bonus)
- Multi brand discount up to 50% off Kate Spade, Coach, Stuart Weitzman
- Private Healthcare with health assessment (Bupa)
- Bupa rewards - Financial wellbeing support and wellness discounts
- Free 24/7 support for family building, fertility and menopause with Maven
- Private Dental Cover
- Eyecare vouchers
- Employee Assistance Program
- Employer Pension Contribution
- Gym discount
- Interest free season ticket loan
- Cycle to work scheme
Our Competencies for All Employees
- Courage : Doesn't hold back anything that needs to be said; provides current, direct, complete, and "actionable" positive and corrective feedback to others; lets people know where they stand; faces up to people problems on any person or situation (not including direct reports) quickly and directly; is not afraid to take negative action when necessary.
- Creativity : Comes up with a lot of new and unique ideas; easily makes connections among previously unrelated notions; tends to be seen as original and value-added in brainstorming settings.
- Customer Focus: Is dedicated to meeting the expectations and requirements of internal and external customers; gets first-hand customer information and uses it for improvements in products and services; acts with customers in mind; establishes and maintains effective relationships with customers and gains their trust and respect.
- Dealing with Ambiguity : Can effectively cope with change; can shift gears comfortably; can decide and act without having the total picture; isn't upset when things are up in the air; doesn't have to finish things before moving on; can comfortably handle risk and uncertainty.
- Drive for Results: Can be counted on to exceed goals successfully; is constantly and consistently one of the top performers; very bottom-line oriented; steadfastly pushes self and others for results.
- Interpersonal Savvy : Relates well to all kinds of people, up, down, and sideways, inside and outside the organization; builds appropriate rapport; builds constructive and effective relationships; uses diplomacy and tact; can diffuse even high-tension situations comfortably.
- Learning on the Fly: Learns quickly when facing new problems; a relentless and versatile learner; open to change; analyzes both successes and failures for clues to improvement; experiments and will try anything to find solutions; enjoys the challenge of unfamiliar tasks; quickly grasps the essence and the underlying structure of anything.
Kate Spade is an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer and we pride ourselves on hiring and developing the best people. All employment decisions (including recruitment, hiring, promotion, compensation, transfer, training, discipline and termination) are based on the applicant's or employee's qualifications as they relate to the requirements of the position under the consideration. These decisions are made without regard to age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic characteristics, race, color, creed, religion, ethnicity, national origin, alienage, citizenship, disability, marital status, military status, pregnancy, or any other legally-recognized protected basis prohibited by applicable law. Visit Kate Spade at www.katespade.com
