CMO Assortment Analyst

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CMO Analyst Job Description

• Job Description

The Assortment Analyst collaborates with cross-functional teams to develop and communicate assortment strategy(s) that align with future financial, store and product opportunities at the category assessment level to maximize sales and profitability. Position conducts research, gathers and analyzes data, develops projections, and makes recommendations on issues related to sales, margins, inventory, assortment and other merchandise statistics and metrics.  Position works with in house tools and third-party optimization software and partners with appropriate members of the merchandising team to ensure a collaborative and consistent approach is taken towards the business strategies and/or imperatives.

Essential Job Functions

• Research, compile and analyze data to develop projections and make recommendations that support category management organization (CMO) team decisions.
• Prepare and complete reports on category and/or product performance.
• Collaborate and communicate with category Merchandising Manager, other members of the CMO team and business partners in the NCS and field to ensure the successful execution of planned and modified category strategies and imperatives including process improvements and new methodologies.
• Interact professionally, effectively and respectfully through verbal and written communication with all professional contacts with emphasis on company interests.
• Effectively create complex documents and reports using products within the Microsoft Office suite and other automated applications.
• Work directly with Merchandise Managers to understand the overall marketing strategy; the intricacies of product groupings; and how consumers shop each category.
• Travel to visit local PETCO stores or competitors for fact-finding, training or other meetings on an occasional basis.
• Independently prioritize and accomplish multiple tasks within established timeframes.
• Commit to quality animal care.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Using store profiles and product attributes, monitor and analyze assortment matrix to maximize efficiency of SKU and store distribution. 
• Work directly with Merchandise Managers and CMO team to affect change where necessary. 
• Proactively identify assortment SKUs based on product attributes and store profiles to generate incremental sales in stores.
• Prepare analyses to support proposed SKU assortment utilizing established third party software and in house tools and procedures for approvals.
• Prepare SKU analysis for category and store assortment level reviews.
• Make recommendations on assortment mix to increase sales and maximize return as needed. This will include multi-year comparative analysis and ‘what-if’ scenarios (ROI & Turn analysis).
• Using store profile segmentations, identify product groupings for supplemental displays to drive sales. 
• Work with Merchandise Managers and CMO team and other business partners to implement programs in appropriate stores.
• Analyze historical data and current trends to identify risks and opportunities by category. 
• Analyze store specific “bottom dweller” SKUs to identify SKUs that are not meeting minimum established criteria for performance. 
• Recommend removal from store assortments to improve overall GMROI and Turn.
• Perform analyses and make recommendations to support strategy or strategy changes including pre-season and in-season assortment analysis and item level markdowns.
• Develop inventory and ladder plans to support category assortment strategies and drive sales.
• Independently develop and analyze reports in DSS or Polaris to obtain necessary data to complete analyses. Responsible to create reports to validate data for other analysts as required.
• Perform additional duties as required.

Education and Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Finance or Economics, and a minimum of 3 to 5 years of progressively responsible, professional experience preferably in a major retail environment that includes the ability to analyze category, product and inventory data and build financial models.
• Demonstrated excellent communication, interpersonal, analytical and presentation skills are necessary due to the nature and level of interaction with peers and management. 
• Proven advanced ability to use applications within Microsoft Office suite as well an advanced ability to extract and analyze data from databases and third-party optimization software and make appropriate recommendations having significant margin impact.
• Strong project management skills and leadership skills are required.
• An equivalent combination of education and 3 years of related experience may be substituted for a bachelor’s degree.
• A Master’s degree in Business is a plus.

Petco Animal Supplies, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age, protected veteran status, or any other protected classification.