Retail Merchandising and Planning Consultant

Retail Merchandising and Planning – Consultant

We Are

Accenture's Retail Merchandising and Planning practice helps the world's leading retailers reinvent how they buy, plan, allocate, and manage product across the value chain. We work at the intersection of merchandising strategy, planning process design, and AI-enabled decision making, helping clients across apparel, hardlines, grocery, and specialty retail modernize their operating models and improve performance in demand forecasting, assortment planning, and inventory productivity.

You Are

A retail merchandising and planning professional who pairs functional expertise with a strong aptitude for learning and a drive to deliver. You've built a foundation close to the buy — in category management, merchandise financial planning, assortment, allocation, replenishment, or demand/supply planning — and you understand how these functions connect end-to-end. Depth in every area isn't expected at this level; what matters is that you bring real functional knowledge, apply it to solve client problems, and build quickly on your base. You're comfortable executing analysis, contributing to client-ready deliverables, and engaging with client stakeholders day to day, and you're eager to grow into broader leadership as you take on more responsibility.

The Work

As a Consultant, you will execute and contribute to workstreams within larger transformation engagements for retail clients, working alongside client stakeholders and Accenture leadership to develop recommendations, drive delivery, and help realize results.

Project Execution

• Contribute to the delivery of a workstream within a broader transformation program, owning discrete tasks, key components of deliverables, and analyses end-to-end
• Synthesize disparate data sources into insights and clear, client-ready deliverables
• Work with clients to identify and interpret key project requirements
• Develop and nurture relationships with client stakeholders within your scope
• Support project planning and coordination to ensure effective, on-time delivery of client work
• Coordinate with subject matter experts within the firm to align on priorities and accomplish objectives
• Produce high-quality, timely work and exhibit integrity in decisions and firm relationships

Merchandising & Planning Transformation

• Support assessments of current-state merchandising, planning, and inventory management capabilities against industry-leading practices
• Contribute to future-state operating model design spanning category management, merchandise financial planning, assortment planning, allocation, replenishment, demand planning, and supply planning
• Support the development of capability strategies, transformation roadmaps, and value cases that quantify the impact of change
• Apply sub-industry nuance across apparel, hardlines, and/or grocery to help tailor recommendations to client-specific dynamics

AI & Technology Enablement

• Bring current knowledge of AI, analytics, and emerging planning technologies to help identify where they can solve merchandising and planning business problems
• Support clients in evaluating planning platforms and AI-enabled decision-making tools as part of broader transformation
• Contribute to the design and delivery of GenAI- and agentic-enabled planning capabilities where applicable to client roadmaps

Business Development & Practice Development

• Provide merchandising and planning insights and benchmarking
• Support the development and review of client-facing summaries and analyses
• Work with the team to identify and assess opportunities for value creation and performance improvement
• Create and curate deliverable content (POV slides, working session prep, case studies) to capture merchandising and planning knowledge and support internal knowledge share and business development
• Help aggregate and manage data and intellectual capital for ongoing benchmarking, and insight generation
• Collaborate closely with junior and senior Accenture team members

Basic Qualifications

• 3 years of relevant professional experience in one or more of the following: Category Management, Merchandise Financial Planning (MFP), Assortment Planning, Allocation, Replenishment, Demand Planning, or Supply Planning at a Retailer
• Bachelor's degree

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in professional services at a consulting firm (or equivalent internal consulting experience)
• Strong problem-solving ability and sound business judgment
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Ability to manage and prioritize multiple tasks in a dynamic, fast-moving environment
• Comfort operating in ambiguous situations
• Familiarity with the operational nuances of one or more retail sub-industries, including apparel, hardlines, or grocery
• Experience supporting operating model design, process reinvention, capability assessments, roadmaps, or value case development
• Experience developing deliverable content
• Working knowledge of current trends in technology, analytics, and AI, and how they apply to merchandising and planning business problems
• Prior industry experience in Buying, Planning, or Product Development
• Hands-on experience leveraging AI tools such as Claude, ChatGPT, Copilot, or Gemini in a professional environment
• Familiarity with leading planning platforms such as o9, Blue Yonder, Anaplan, Oracle, or RELEX
• MBA or equivalent advanced degree

Compensation at Accenture varies depending on a wide array of factors, which may include but are not limited to the specific office location, role, skill set, and level of experience. As required by local law, Accenture provides a reasonable range of compensation for roles that may be hired as set forth below. We anticipate this job posting will be posted until 10/31/2026. Accenture offers a market competitive suite of benefits including medical, dental, vision, life, and long-term disability coverage, a 401(k) plan, bonus opportunities, paid holidays, and paid time off. See more information on our benefits here:

U.S. Employee Benefits | Accenture

Role Location Annual Salary Range California $70,350 to $188,100 Colorado $59,100 to $188,100 Connecticut $59,100 to $188,100 District of Columbia $59,100 to $188,100 Illinois $59,100 to $188,100 Maine $59,100 to $188,100 Maryland $59,100 to $188,100 Massachusetts $59,100 to $188,100 Minnesota $59,100 to $188,100 New York $66,300 to $188,100 New Jersey $59,100 to $188,100 Ohio $59,100 to $188,100 Virginia $59,100 to $188,100 Washington $80,200 to $188,100

About Accenture

Accenture is a leading global professional services company that helps the world’s leading businesses, governments and other organizations build their digital core, optimize their operations, accelerate revenue growth and enhance citizen services—creating tangible value at speed and scale. We are a talent- and innovation-led company with approximately 791,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Technology is at the core of change today, and we are one of the world’s leaders in helping drive that change, with strong ecosystem relationships. We combine our strength in technology and leadership in cloud, data and AI with unmatched industry experience, functional expertise and global delivery capability. Our broad range of services, solutions and assets across Strategy & Consulting, Technology, Operations, Industry X and Song, together with our culture of shared success and commitment to creating 360° value, enable us to help our clients reinvent and build trusted, lasting relationships. We measure our success by the 360° value we create for our clients, each other, our shareholders, partners and communities.

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