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.
Minimum Requirements:
- Total 5 years of experience out of which 3 years should be in a similar role and similar industry
- Hands on experience of pre-season merchandise financial planning & in-season demand planning
- Knowledge of merchandise planning and analytics
- Good knowledge of Retail Industry and products
Merchandise Financial, Strategic and Assortment Planning
- Maximize Sales and profitability for the department/category
- Assist 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 eg. Trade pack based on actual sales vs Budget, sales forecasts, 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, Sub group level Sales, Order Quantity, Allocation, Replenishment etc. Assortment, Style, Price, Brand, Supplier etc.
- Ensure effective in season management across territories (stock balancing, markdown management, stock analysis, stock vs sales performance.
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 policy.
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.
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: sales vs. stock, tracking inflows vs plan, stock analysis, stock balancing and margin analysis.
