TPS Group Holdings, a family of brands including The Paper Store, Uncharted and Gifts & More, is all about transforming daily routines into joyful escapes that inspire and surprise. Our mission is to connect with every customer through carefully chosen products, immersive shopping experiences, and service that goes the extra mile—creating a space that sparks joy with every visit.
Position Overview: The Allocation Analyst is instrumental in driving inventory efficiencies across retail locations, with the goal of maximizing sales, minimizing stockouts, and reducing excess inventory. This analytical role involves evaluation of sales trends, inventory levels, store performance and demand forecasts to make data-backed allocation decisions. This role is highly cross functional, partnering closely with buying and planning to effectively execute allocation and assortment strategies across locations.
What You’ll Do
- Execute daily system-driven allocations and replenishments to maintain strong sales, margin, inventory turn, and in-stock levels across assortments.
- Review store-level and e-commerce forecasts to ensure alignment with sales potential and inventory capacity.
- Analyze inventory data and store level trends to identify opportunities for improving product availability, reducing stockouts, and minimizing excess inventory on slow sellers. • Analyze store, district, and regional performance data to build expertise in location level trends; use findings to support allocation decisions and improve inventory alignment.
- Partner with planning and buying teams to align allocation strategies, initial inventory levels, and assortment plans; support execution through ongoing communication around replenishment and inventory needs.
- Maintain presentation minimums and style/store eligibility to ensure adequate inventory for merchandising standards and store-specific assortment needs.
- Review style forecasts to support promotion events and catalog drops with appropriate inventory levels.
- Monitor end-to-end product flow –from allocation through warehouse receipt, distribution center processing, and store delivery. Report issues or delays ensuring timely inventory movement.
- Partner with warehouse teams to resolve order discrepancies and maintain accurate case pack data, supporting efficient product handling across the chain.
- Facilitate inter-store transfers to support buyer led assortment strategies or optimize effective sell-through across locations on end-of-life merchandise. • Execute initial inventory plans for new and remodeled locations by aligning stock levels to Buyer-developed assortment strategies; analyze like-volume and assorted store performance to build targets and monitor post-launch results to support ongoing optimization.
- Recap and report on product and location-level performance; present findings and actionable insights to cross-functional partners to inform future allocation decisions.
- Identify and report trends in forecast discrepancies and replenishment inefficiencies to the Allocation Manager to support continuous process improvement.
- Engage in ongoing training to stay current on system enhancements and process improvements. Support in testing new system releases for functionality and usability.
- Complete any additional tasks assigned by management.
Who You Are
- Bachelor’s degree in fashion merchandising, business, analytics, or a related field. This is an entry-level opportunity, and prior professional experience is not required. Internship, retail, buying, planning, or merchandising experience is a plus.
- Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite, with a strong focus on Excel (e.g., formulas, pivot tables, VLOOKUP); eager to deepen skills through hand on experience
- Basic analytical and quantitative skills; comfortable working with data and drawing insights
- Exceptional organizational and time-management skills; ability to prioritize, multitask, and meet deadlines independently in a fast-paced environment.
- High attention to detail, accuracy, and quality; proactive problem-solving capabilities
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills
- Highly collaborative, resourceful, self-motivated, and committed to contributing to a positive, solution-oriented, and progressive work environment.
- Professional presentation in attire, demeanor, and appearance.
- Ability to work on-site at the Corporate Office in Acton, MA, four days per week.
TPS Group Holdings LLC, is an equal-opportunity employer and considers all qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, national origin, religion, sex, disability, age, veteran status, or any other classification protected by state, local or federal law.
Please be aware that any pay ranges displayed on The Paper Store's job postings are to accommodate the wide range of candidate experience, store sales volume and geography.
Qualifications
Job Requirements:
- Bachelor’s degree in fashion merchandising, business, analytics, or any related field. Prior internship or experience in retail, buying, or merchandising is preferred but not required.
- Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite, with a strong focus on Excel (e.g., formulas, pivot tables, VLOOKUP); eager to deepen skills through hand on experience
- Basic analytical and quantitative skills; comfortable working with data and drawing insights
- Exceptional organizational and time-management skills; ability to prioritize, multitask, and meet deadlines independently in a fast-paced environment.
- High attention to detail, accuracy, and quality; proactive problem-solving capabilities
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills
- Highly collaborative, resourceful, self-motivated, and committed to contributing to a positive, solution-oriented, and progressive work environment.
- Professional presentation in attire, demeanor, and appearance.
- Ability to work on-site at the Corporate Office in Acton, MA, four days per week.
Competencies:
- Accountability: Demonstrates a sense of corporate responsibility. Takes personal ownership and responsibility for the quality and timeliness of work. Ensures that actions are consistent with words.
- Communication: Communicates information with consistency and clarity; uses active listening to effectively understand and provide feedback. Adjusts communication style to suit the audience to promotion engagement and increase understanding.
- Creativity and Initiative: Forward-thinking, recognizes opportunities and finds new ways of doing things and implements and improves whenever possible. Encourages creativity and innovation.
- Professionalism: Maintains a professional and positive manner even under changing and uncertain conditions. Works well with a wide range of individuals to provide support, encouragement and direction. Engage others to accomplish organizational and departmental goals. Is seen as a role model.
- Personal Development: Displays self-awareness, a high level of energy, persistence and a positive outlook. Continuously seeks ways to improve and learn from mistakes and constructive feedback.
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree in fashion merchandising, business, analytics, or a related field
- Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite, especially Excel formulas, pivot tables, and VLOOKUP
- Basic analytical and quantitative skills with the ability to interpret data
- Strong organizational and time-management skills
- Ability to prioritize, multitask, and meet deadlines independently
- High attention to detail, accuracy, and quality
- Proactive problem-solving capabilities
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills
- Collaborative, resourceful, and self-motivated work style
- Professional presentation in attire, demeanor, and appearance
- Ability to work onsite at the Acton, Massachusetts corporate office four days per week
- Internship or experience in retail, buying, planning, or merchandising
The Paper Store Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about The Paper Store and has not been reviewed or approved by The Paper Store.
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Wellbeing & Lifestyle Benefits — Employee discount and occasional appreciation events are seen as meaningful lifestyle perks that add tangible value. These perks can make roles feel more appealing for part‑time or entry‑level employees.
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Retirement Support — Access to a 401(k) plan with a company match is available to eligible staff. This provides a baseline for long‑term savings despite mixed views on overall compensation.
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Healthcare Strength — Full‑time roles include medical, dental, vision, prescription coverage, and life/disability insurance, with company‑paid short‑term disability noted. The breadth of coverage reflects a standard, comprehensive retail benefits offering.
The Paper Store Insights
What We Do
The Paper Store is a family-founded, privately-held American specialty gift retailer based in Acton, Massachusetts. It operates over 100 stores across the Northeast, Florida, and Illinois, offering a curated selection of on-trend brands and products. The company provides a unique, boutique-style shopping experience catering to contemporary suburban families with a diverse range of items, including apparel, accessories, jewelry, stationery, and other unique gifts.
