Forecasting Analyst

Description:

Are you a Forecasting Analyst with strong Excel skills and experience across retail, merchandising or commercial analytics? This is an exciting opportunity to join a fast-growing, global beauty retailer on an 8-month FTC, supporting high-profile forecasting and commercial decision-making across both physical retail and eCommerce. The business is moving quickly and needs someone who can hit the ground running, taking ownership of forecasting activity across stores, online and margin!

The Company

This is a leading global beauty retailer with a rapidly expanding presence in the UK. The business operates across both physical retail and eCommerce, offering hundreds of beauty brands alongside its own exclusive products. With a growing store footprint, a strong online proposition and an ambitious growth strategy, this is a particularly exciting time to join the business. The wider Revenue Growth Management function works across pricing, trading, forecasting and commercial analytics, partnering closely with teams across Retail, eCommerce, Finance, Supply Chain and Category. You will join a team of around eight analysts and report directly into the Head of Revenue Growth Management.

The Role

As the Forecasting Analyst, you will take ownership of sales and margin forecasting across both physical stores and eCommerce.

Your responsibilities will include:

• Building top-line sales forecasts by store, partnering with Retail, Omni Trading and Category teams to incorporate traffic, conversion and average basket expectations.
• Forecasting product performance across stores and channels, working closely with senior category stakeholders.
• Creating detailed eCommerce forecasts across daily, weekly, monthly and full-year timeframes.
• Translating online sales forecasts into operational order forecasts, helping Supply Chain plan labour and capacity effectively.
• Owning and presenting the monthly forecasting meeting to senior leadership, covering sales and margin expectations, risks, opportunities and key decisions.
• Conducting ad hoc deep-dive analysis to identify commercial opportunities and provide strategic recommendations.
• Leading margin forecasting by channel, providing insight into promotional activity, loyalty offers, redemptions and code usage.
• Working with BI to develop a holistic view of campaign performance and optimise trading activity.
• Partnering closely with Finance on budgets, strategic planning and in-year reforecasts.
• Supporting seasonal forecasting and wider commercial planning activity.

This is an individual contributor role with significant exposure to senior stakeholders and the opportunity to make a genuine commercial impact.

Your Skills & Experience

• Experience in forecasting, merchandising, trading or commercial analytics.
• Experience within a retail, eCommerce or omni-channel environment.
• Strong Excel skills; Excel will be a key tool used day-to-day.
• Experience working with sales and/or margin forecasting.
• An understanding of how physical retail and online trading work together.
• Strong stakeholder management and communication skills, with the confidence to present findings to senior audiences.
• A proactive approach and the ability to take ownership of projects.
• Strong commercial awareness and an analytical mindset.
• The ability to hit the ground running in a fast-paced environment with limited training required.
• Exposure to Supply Chain, operational planning or wider commercial analytics would be beneficial.