: The job holder will be responsible for merchandise planning process to achieve department /category sales, margin, stockholding, and flow objectives under the guidance of Planning Manager. Responsible for maximizing sales and profitability in the business by providing effective merchandise strategies to achieve the strategic and financial objectives of the concept.
Responsibilities:
1. Merchandise Financial, Strategic and Assortment Planning
Maximise Sales and profitability for the department/category
Support in determining high-level financial goals including pre-season financial plans, in-season projections, open-to-buy management and new store budgets
Prepare and maintain department/category merchandise MIS analytics based on actual sales, sales forecasts, company order parameters, inventory checks, forth coming events, replenishment needs etc
Assist in the creation of merchandise plans for the category based on insights gained from merchandise analytics, customer preference, historical trends and future outlook projected by the buyer
Assist in discussing, deciding and freezing the department/category merchandise strategic plans around the following factors
Financials
Sales, Stock, OTB, Margins, Forward Cover etc
Store
Subgroub level Sales, Order Quantity, Allocation, Replenishment etc
Assortment
Style, Price, Brand, Supplier etc
Communicate the merchandise strategic plan to buying team for necessary execution
Ensure effective in season management across territories (stock balancing, markdown management, stock analysis, stock vs sales performance)
Help review the merchandise plans on a periodic basis to ensure profit is maximized and maintained to reach target levels
Ensure that the standards of Merchandise procedures and Methodologies are maintained and kept Uniform
2. Inventory Stock Optimization
Ensure optimum category inventory levels are maintained at Concept/Territory keeping in mind store requirements as well as working capital constraints
Ensure that no instances of category stock outs occur on account of any discrepancy on part of merchandise planning
Ensure excess category inventory is not maintained at the warehouses or the stores and there is proper adherence to the concept/territory ageing policy3. In Season Management (Daily / Weekly)
3. Category Promotions
Provide inputs on the expected margins, possible price points and other parameters for promotions within the product category
Help analyze the effectiveness of the promotions in achieving the targeted levels of sales and margins
Help analyze the existing stock levels and liaise with the Buying/VM/Marketing team for timely roll out of promotional campaigns to maintain the territory / warehouse inventory holding norms as well to achieve targeted sales
4. In season Management
Ensure performance is monitored against plan for the assigned category/department, regularly supported by exception reporting
Ensure effective in season management of the assigned category/department through regular analysis and action planning across concept and territory, based on the performance around the following anchors
o Sales vs. Stock
o Inflows/OTB
o Stock analysis
o Stock balancing
o Margin analysis
5. People Management (In case applicable)
Monitor trainee development and facilitate complaint resolution
Oversee team deployment and drive motivation levels of the trainees
Qualifications: Graduate degree in commerce or business administration/ Post Graduate degree in Business Administration / Diploma in Retail discipline. Planner - Total 5 years of experience out of which 3 years should be in a similar role and similar industry. Senior Planner - Total 8 years of experience out of which 3 years should be in a similar role and similar industry
About Us:
Our journey started in 1973 with a single store in Bahrain. Since then, we have grown into a global retail and hospitality group. The proud creator of 25 plus value led, own-built brands across retail, hospitality, food, and leisure.
Over the years, our UAE - based group has evolved into a comprehensive retail and hospitality entity, with over 2200 retail stores, leisure, and hospitality outlets, panning the GCC, Middle East, India, Southeast Asia, and Africa. Today, Landmark Group is one of GCC's largest omnichannel retailers and India's top home and fashion retailer.
We take immense pride in the organic growth of our retail brands, which have blossomed into household names. From Max, Splash, Babyshop, Centrepoint, Shoemart, Homecentre, Emax, Fitness First, to Funcity, to name a few, our brands span across a multitude of categories, enriching the lives of countless families over the past decade.
About the Team:
Home Centre is the largest omnichannel retailer for home furnishings in the Middle East, North Africa & the Indian sub-continent.
Home Centre offers outstanding value, quality products, and exceptional customer experience which is revealed in their new brand identity that is underpinned by their customer-first approach of enabling every home to tell its own unique story.
Established in 1995 with its first store in the UAE, today Home Centre has a wide network of over 80 stores, across the UAE, KSA, Bahrain, Egypt, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and India. Easy to navigate and serving as a one-stop solution for all home furnishing, the Home Centre e-commerce platform provides customers an extensive range of over 14,000 products at the tip of the fingers.