Top 12 Merchandise Planner Skills to Put on Your Resume

In the competitive field of merchandise planning, standing out means blending sharp analytics with steady judgment and people sense. Below, the twelve skills that lift a resume from okay to impressive—practical, current, and tuned to the reality of retail right now.

Merchandise Planner Skills

1. Forecasting
2. Budgeting
3. Excel
4. SAP
5. Inventory Management
6. Data Analysis
7. Tableau
8. Negotiation
9. Trend Analysis
10. SQL
11. Market Research
12. Omnichannel Planning

1. Forecasting

Forecasting, for a merchandise planner, means projecting future sales, demand shifts, and inventory needs by mixing historical data with market signals and shopper behavior. You’re balancing risk and readiness so shelves stay full but not bloated.

Why It's Important

Accurate forecasts cut stockouts and overstock, align buys with demand, and keep cash flowing in the right direction. Better plans, lower costs, happier customers.

How to Improve Forecasting Skills

Blend methods, not just numbers. A quick blueprint:

1. Mine history: Identify seasonality, promotions impact, and product life cycles. Pattern-spotting beats guesswork.

2. Layer market context: Factor in macro trends, competitor moves, weather, and regional quirks. Data rarely tells the whole story alone.

3. Use the right models: Mix time-series approaches (moving averages, exponential smoothing) with causal drivers. Add scenario planning for “what if” shocks.

4. Partner cross-functionally: Sales, marketing, supply chain—collect their intel. Consensus forecasting reduces blind spots.

5. Iterate relentlessly: Measure forecast error (MAPE, WAPE, bias). Tune models, retire the laggards, champion what works.

6. Segment intelligently: Forecast by channel, region, and product tier. One-size-fits-none.

7. Adopt probabilistic thinking: Plan with ranges and confidence intervals, not just single-point numbers.

Do this consistently and your accuracy tightens over time.

How to Display Forecasting Skills on Your Resume

2. Budgeting

Budgeting allocates open-to-buy, sets category targets, and guards profitability. It’s where ambition meets arithmetic.

Why It's Important

Good budgets align inventory with demand and margin goals, protect cash, and steer timely course-corrections when performance veers off plan.

How to Improve Budgeting Skills

1. Anchor to demand: Tie budgets to bottom-up forecasts and product lifecycle realities, not wishful rounding.

2. Track in near-real time: Monitor sales, margin, and inventory turns weekly. Small adjustments early beat painful fixes later.

3. Build guardrails: Set thresholds for markdowns, buys, and replenishment to prevent drift.

4. Pressure-test scenarios: Best case, base case, worst case—adjust OTB and buys with contingency buffers.

5. Cut leakage: Negotiate freight, terms, and lead times. Trim holding costs by tightening reorder points.

6. Close the loop: Compare plan vs. actual, capture learnings, and feed them into the next cycle.

How to Display Budgeting Skills on Your Resume

3. Excel

Excel is the planner’s Swiss Army knife—data wrangling, modeling, visualization, all in one grid.

Why It's Important

From ladder plans to OTB to ad-hoc analysis, Excel speeds decisions and makes complex data readable, shareable, actionable.

How to Improve Excel Skills

1. Upgrade your formulas: Master XLOOKUP, INDEX(MATCH), SUMIFS, FILTER, and dynamic arrays. They cut clutter and boost reliability.

2. Pivots that sing: PivotTables and PivotCharts for fast “slice and reveal.” Add Slicers and Timelines for quick interactivity.

3. Power Query + Power Pivot: Clean, merge, and shape data; model with relationships and DAX for repeatable, scalable analysis.

4. Toolpak and stats: Use regression, correlation, and seasonality checks to support your forecasts.

5. Conditional formatting: Surface outliers, aging stock, and trend lines at a glance.

6. Macros/VBA (or Office Scripts): Automate drudgery—refreshes, formatting, recurring reports.

7. Data hygiene: Named ranges, tables, and documentation keep workbooks robust and auditable.

How to Display Excel Skills on Your Resume

4. SAP

SAP’s retail and supply chain tools bring planning, inventory, and sales data into one backbone. It connects forecasts to buys, replenishment, and analytics across channels.

Why It's Important

Unified, real-time data reduces latency and guesswork. You plan with confidence, align stakeholders, and respond faster.

How to Improve SAP Skills

1. Tailor the setup: Configure planning views, hierarchies, and alerts to match your workflows.

2. Lean into Fiori: Use role-based apps and streamlined UX to speed common tasks.

3. Master data mastery: Tighten product, vendor, and location data governance. Bad inputs poison plans.

4. Adopt IBP (where available): Integrate demand, supply, and inventory planning for a synchronized view.

5. Analytics in the loop: Build dashboards in SAP’s analytics layer; monitor forecast error, turns, aging, and service levels.

6. Automate and alert: Rules, exceptions, and workflows that nudge action before problems swell.

7. Keep learning: New releases matter—features evolve, and so should your process.

How to Display SAP Skills on Your Resume

5. Inventory Management

Inventory management balances availability with efficiency. Right product, right place, right time—without drowning capital.

Why It's Important

Healthy stock levels lift sales, reduce carrying costs, curb markdowns, and protect service levels.

How to Improve Inventory Management Skills

1. Forecast with intent: Segment by velocity and margin; align safety stock to variability and service goals.

2. Automate replenishment: Set reorder points and lead-time parameters; let the system do the routine heavy lifting.

3. Audit regularly: Cycle counts and variance tracking keep records tight and shrink in check.

4. Strengthen supplier ties: Shorter lead times, reliable fill rates, and flexible MOQs tame volatility.

5. Embrace JIT (where appropriate): Reduce holding costs, but ensure supply reliability before going lean.

6. ABC/XYZ analysis: Prioritize attention—A/high-variability items get stricter controls than C/steady movers.

7. Consider dropship and cross-dock: For long-tail items or bulky goods, lighten the inventory footprint.

8. Watch aging and turns: Early markdowns beat late write-offs. Move slow stock decisively.

How to Display Inventory Management Skills on Your Resume

6. Data Analysis

Data analysis transforms raw numbers into decisions—assortment choices, price moves, buy depths, the works.

Why It's Important

It reveals trends, flags risks, and supports timely action that grows margin and trims waste.

How to Improve Data Analysis Skills

1. Govern your data: Standardize definitions, clean inputs, and document sources. Trustworthy data first.

2. Learn the stats that matter: Correlation vs. causation, confidence intervals, seasonality, outliers, cohort analysis.

3. Visualize with purpose: Use clear charts and dashboards; highlight exceptions and thresholds that demand action.

4. Forecasting proficiency: Compare models, track error, and keep bias on a leash.

5. Tell the story: Context, not just numbers. What changed, why it matters, what to do next.

6. Keep sharpening: Practice on real datasets; review past calls and refine your methods.

How to Display Data Analysis Skills on Your Resume

7. Tableau

Tableau turns tangled retail data into dashboards that wake people up—fast comprehension, quicker choices.

Why It's Important

Clear visuals expose demand shifts, inventory risks, and margin levers in time to act, not just observe.

How to Improve Tableau Skills

1. Prep the data first: Clean and shape data before loading. Structured inputs make better dashboards.

2. Use advanced features: Calculated fields, parameters, LOD expressions—power tools for nuanced analysis.

3. Design for the audience: Keep views focused; label clearly; guide the eye to what matters.

4. Blend sources: Combine internal sales with external signals (market, weather, events) for wider context.

5. Learn from the community: User groups, Tableau Public, and weekly challenges like Makeover Monday push your craft forward.

6. Iterate: Watch how stakeholders use your dashboards; prune clutter, add what they actually need.

How to Display Tableau Skills on Your Resume

8. Negotiation

Negotiation is the quiet engine of margin—terms, prices, MOQs, lead times, freight. The details decide the profit.

Why It's Important

Better agreements lower costs, reduce risk, and secure supply, all while preserving relationships you’ll need again.

How to Improve Negotiation Skills

1. Prep like a pro: Know your walk-away, your must-haves, and the supplier’s pressure points.

2. Aim for mutual wins: Trade value across levers—payment terms for pricing, volumes for exclusivity, speed for flexibility.

3. Communicate crisply: Ask precise questions, summarize agreements, document next steps.

4. Use data as leverage: Share demand forecasts and performance metrics to justify structure, not just price.

5. Think creatively: Bundles, test orders, consignment, vendor-managed inventory—unusual shapes can fit tight puzzles.

6. Debrief every time: What worked? What slipped? Capture playbooks for the next round.

How to Display Negotiation Skills on Your Resume

9. Trend Analysis

Trend analysis reads the tea leaves—past sales, market chatter, macro shifts—to spot where demand is heading.

Why It's Important

Spotting a swell early means buying smart, pricing right, and avoiding stale inventory that drags margins down.

How to Improve Trend Analysis Skills

1. Go granular: Break trends by region, channel, and customer segment. Big averages hide small truths.

2. Blend qualitative and quantitative: Pair dashboards with customer feedback, store teams’ notes, and social listening.

3. Seasonality plus events: Map holidays, promotions, weather, and cultural moments against performance.

4. Benchmark competitors: Monitor assortment shifts and price moves to catch inflections early.

5. Test and learn: Trial buys and micro-campaigns validate hunches before you scale.

6. Refresh constantly: Trends fade. Keep a rolling window and retire yesterday’s darlings.

How to Display Trend Analysis Skills on Your Resume

10. SQL

SQL lets you pull, shape, and interrogate the data living in your retail systems. Faster answers, fewer bottlenecks.

Why It's Important

Direct database access means you can analyze sales, inventory, and customer signals without waiting in line for reports.

How to Improve SQL Skills

1. Nail the foundations: SELECT, WHERE, GROUP BY, HAVING, ORDER BY; keys and indexing basics.

2. Think in joins: INNER, LEFT, and RIGHT joins; blend fact tables with dimensions cleanly.

3. Use window functions: Rankings, moving averages, partitions—powerful for retail time-series.

4. CTEs and subqueries: Build readable, modular logic that others can maintain.

5. Optimize: Read execution plans; create the right indexes; avoid row-by-row traps.

6. Practice on real problems: Basket analysis, stock aging, promo lift, cannibalization checks.

How to Display SQL Skills on Your Resume

11. Market Research

Market research gathers the outside view—consumer behavior, competitor posture, category momentum—to guide what you buy and how you price it.

Why It's Important

Inside data shows what happened. Market research hints at what could happen next, and why.

How to Improve Market Research Skills

1. Blend sources: Use shopper surveys, social listening, search trends, and industry reports to cross-validate signals.

2. Build consumer segments: Needs and preferences vary—mirror that in your research and assortment choices.

3. Competitor tracking: Monitor assortment changes, pricing tiers, promotions, and reviews to spot gaps and threats.

4. Qual + quant together: Pair focus groups or interviews with web analytics and panel data for a full picture.

5. Operationalize insights: Translate findings into buy quantities, price ladders, and channel mixes you can test.

How to Display Market Research Skills on Your Resume

12. Omnichannel Planning

Omnichannel planning weaves stores, e-commerce, and marketplaces into one experience. Inventory, pricing, and promotions move in concert, not chaos.

Why It's Important

Customers hop channels mid-journey. Unified planning keeps availability high, messages consistent, and revenue flowing to the easiest path to purchase.

How to Improve Omnichannel Planning Skills

1. Unify data: Centralize product, inventory, and customer data for a single source of truth.

2. End-to-end visibility: Real-time stock by location; accurate ATP; smart order routing.

3. Personalize: Use behavior and preferences to tailor offers and recommendations across touchpoints.

4. Flexible fulfillment: BOPIS, ship-from-store, curbside—offer options that align cost and speed.

5. Agile planning: Short cycles, rapid tests, and quick pivots when demand zigs.

6. Coordinated marketing: Promotions and pricing aligned across channels; avoid cross-channel cannibalization.

7. Cross-functional rhythm: Merch, ecom, stores, and logistics working from the same calendar and KPIs.

8. Upskill continuously: Train teams on tools, data literacy, and customer experience principles.

How to Display Omnichannel Planning Skills on Your Resume