About the Role
Are you a strategic thinker with a passion for demand planning, forecasting, inventory management, and outdoor recreation? Join Fleet Farm as a Vendor Analyst supporting our Firearms, Ammunition & Fishing categories and play a critical role in ensuring the right products are available at the right time and in the right locations.
In this role, youll serve as a key link between our merchants, suppliers, inventory teams, distribution centers, and stores. Youll analyze sales and inventory trends, develop SKU-level forecasts, manage purchase orders, monitor supplier performance, and make recommendations that improve product availability and inventory productivity.
Were looking for someone who combines strong analytical and supply chain skills with genuine knowledge of the products and customers in these categories. That knowledge can come from professional experience in retail, buying, merchandising, supply chain, or vendor management-or from personal experience with firearms, ammunition, fishing, hunting, shooting sports, or outdoor recreation.
If you enjoy turning data into action and understand the products and customers behind the numbers, wed love to hear from you!
What Youll Do
Partner with Merchants & Suppliers
- Build strong relationships with suppliers and merchants supporting firearms, ammunition, fishing, and related outdoor categories.
- Partner with suppliers and merchants on forecasts, financial plans, inventory strategies, promotions, and business objectives.
- Communicate expectations, identify issues, and work collaboratively with suppliers to improve performance.
Forecast & Plan Inventory
- Develop and maintain SKU-level forecasts using historical sales, seasonality, promotions, market trends, and customer demand.
- Analyze inventory levels and recommend order quantities to balance product availability with inventory investment.
- Identify potential out-of-stocks, overstocks, and slow-moving inventory and develop strategies to address them.
- Monitor forecast accuracy and adjust plans as business conditions change.
Own the Order Process
- Create and manage purchase orders across hundreds of SKUs.
- Monitor vendor confirmations, lead times, shipments, and order fulfillment.
- Partner with suppliers, distribution centers, and stores to ensure accurate and timely product flow.
- Identify and resolve shortages, delays, and other fulfillment issues.
- Expedite orders when necessary to protect product availability.
Drive Category Performance
- Analyze sales, inventory, margin, turns, sell-through, and service-level performance.
- Identify trends and provide actionable recommendations to merchants and leadership.
- Recommend SKU and assortment changes based on customer demand, sales performance, inventory trends, and regional insights.
- Identify opportunities to improve inventory productivity and reduce excess inventory.
Support Seasonal & Promotional Planning
- Support inventory planning around key hunting, fishing, shooting, and outdoor seasons.
- Plan for seasonal transitions, promotional events, and new product launches.
- Anticipate changes in customer demand based on seasonality, promotions, market trends, and category knowledge.
- Develop strategies for discontinued and end-of-life products.
Optimize Store Inventory
- Execute store allocations and inventory transfers to improve product availability.
- Analyze regional sales patterns to help position inventory where customer demand is strongest.
- Partner with inventory teams and stores to address product availability and inventory imbalances.
Deliver Business Insights
- Build and communicate reports covering sales, inventory, forecast accuracy, supplier performance, and service levels.
- Turn data into clear recommendations and business actions.
- Identify trends, exceptions, and potential risks and proactively communicate them to key stakeholders.
- Monitor and deliver key inventory and business metrics established by leadership.
Act with Integrity
- Maintain confidentiality and handle sensitive business and supplier information with professionalism.
- Make decisions based on accurate data, sound business judgment, and Fleet Farms values.
What You Bring
- Experience in demand planning, forecasting, purchasing, inventory management, supply chain, merchandising, or a related analytical field.
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with the ability to translate data into actionable business decisions.
- Experience with SKU-level forecasting, inventory planning, replenishment, purchasing, or supplier management.
- Retail experience strongly preferred, particularly experience working with seasonal or product-driven merchandise.
- Strong Excel skills and experience with inventory, ERP, forecasting, or planning systems preferred.
- Strong communication and collaboration skills with the ability to effectively partner with merchants, suppliers, inventory teams, distribution centers, and stores.
- High attention to detail with a proactive, solutions-oriented mindset.
- Ability to manage a high volume of SKUs, purchase orders, deadlines, and competing priorities.
- Ability to work independently while also collaborating effectively across functions.
Category Knowledge - Highly Preferred
We are particularly interested in candidates with professional or personal knowledge of:
- Firearms
- Ammunition
- Fishing
- Hunting
- Shooting sports
- Outdoor recreation
You do not need to have worked professionally in these categories to be considered. We value candidates who have developed meaningful product and customer knowledge through their personal interests and experience.
Your category knowledge may come from:
- Professional experience in firearms, ammunition, sporting goods, fishing, hunting, or outdoor retail.
- Buying, merchandising, purchasing, supply chain, or vendor management experience within an outdoor-related business.
- Personal experience as an angler, hunter, sport shooter, or outdoor enthusiast.
- Strong knowledge of products, brands, seasonality, customer preferences, and purchasing behaviors within these categories.
We want someone who can look at the data and understand what it means for the customer.
Why Join Fleet Farm?
- Join a dynamic and growing Midwest retailer with a strong connection to outdoor recreation.
- Work alongside passionate merchants, suppliers, and inventory professionals.
- Make a direct impact on product availability, inventory performance, and the customer experience.
- Combine your analytical and supply chain expertise with your knowledge and passion for firearms, ammunition, fishing, and the outdoors.
- Work in a fast-paced environment where your recommendations directly influence business results.
- Partner with a variety of teams and suppliers across the organization.
- Competitive compensation, benefits, and opportunities for career growth and development.
Equal Employment Opportunity
Fleet Farm is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all qualified applicants and employees without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.
We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities throughout the application and employment process. If you need an accommodation, please contact our Human Resources team.
Fleet Farm is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace.