Sales Planning Analyst

Job Description

Analyst, Sales Planning

This position is part of the Sales Planning Department within the Home Entertainment Division. Sales Planning provides domestic US sales forecasting and budgeting, analytical insights and business strategies to both internal departments and external sales personnel related to the sell-through and rental of theatrical, direct-to-video and television product via physical DVD, Blu-ray, and UHD/4K product across a broad account base (physical retail, rental, online, D2C marketplaces). The department is also instrumental in providing strategic analyses, reporting, and modeling related to account performance, product development/placement, and cost/benefit decisions in partnering with accounts as well as addressing other business-related needs.

This position will specifically aid in the formulation and execution of commercial strategy at the national level for Sony's physical home entertainment business. Key aspects of the role will include analyses, forecasts, title/SKU selection, and other strategic recommendations for: national reprices, national sales programs, key title activations, new product development, and other market-driven initiatives.

Sales Planning works closely with senior management and most functional departments including Sales, Marketing, Finance, IT, Reporting, Business Affairs, Data & Analytics, Consumer Insights, Production and Retail Operations.

Responsibilities

Business Planning 50%
• Business Plan Management: Provide national and account-level consolidated revenue and gross profit budgeting and forecasting for key titles (theatrical, DTV, or TV), as well as the possible inclusion of new SKUs to the product mix as national or retailer exclusives.
• Title Management: Provide insights and recommendations of product placement, SKU management, pricing/repricing strategies, and goal forecasting. Provide drafting opportunities tied with new release street dates both theatrically and in home-entertainment windows.
• Account Management and Performance Evaluation: Utilize account-level analytics to include long range planning, recurring business reviews, analysis of space deals, seasonality trends with comparison to the industry and other deep-dive analyses and reporting.

Commercial Support 40%
• National Program Management: Partner with the sales force in management of promotional forecasting, title selection, pro forma profitability, trade spend, drafting opportunities, and other pre- and post-promotion analytical insights and recommendations for national programs. These include but are not limited to: Black Friday, Cyber Week, Easter, Father's Day, etc.
• Sales Support: Work collaboratively with internal and field sales personnel by facilitating strategic discussions focused on promotional concepts, price elasticity, title moratorium, and other product-related ad hoc requests (including recurring participation in meetings and discussions to help drive the business).
• Direct-to-Consumer Marketplace Support: Provide insights and guidance for a growing D2C marketplace business. Deal with fast-paced pricing and analysis. Offer details and support for sales tactics and promotions.

Reporting & Tracking 10%
• Develop, manage, and analyze national reports and trackers to provide key market insights and recommendations to key business priorities.

Qualifications

Education & Work Experience
• Bachelor's Degree in Business Management, Finance, Economics, Statistics or relevant field is strongly preferred
• A minimum of 1-3 year relevant experience is required. Experience within the entertainment/consumer packaged goods industry collaborating with both internal and external sales and management teams is strongly preferred
• Prior work experience within a fast-paced sales environment is required
• Experience working with buying teams from major retailers (physical or digital) strongly preferred
• Experience with retail landscape, Entertainment and/or Consumer Packaged Goods industry, market factors and strategies strongly preferred

Technical and Analytical Skills
• Strong capability with Microsoft Office applications (particularly Excel) is required
• Strong skills in analytical data systems used to pull and analyze sales data including, but not limited to, Business Objects, Tableau, Alteryx, Micro Strategy and account specific vendor data portals
• Analyzing and summarizing large data sets into an effective summary to facilitate decision making and strategic planning
• P&L management

Communication and Time Management Skill
• Adaptability, flexibility and ability to learn new systems/databases
• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to communicate effectively (both written and verbal) with varying levels of management and with external customers
• Coordination and collaboration with internal departments as well as the ability to work independently
• Strong attention to detail and ability to prioritize workload to meet deadlines

USA - Culver City - Akio Morita Building

Jobcode: Reference SBJ-r7q70k-18-217-203-172-42 in your application.