Senior Merchandise Planner

Objective:

To maximise Sales and Profitability in the Business by providing effective Merchandise Strategies, Planning and In Season management of Assortments and Inventory by Department /Concept/Territory/Class/Sub-Class and Item levels to achieve or exceed strategic targets set by the Business.

Key Responsibilities:

Planning (Seasonally)

• Prepare a Post Seasonal Analysis of past performance at Concept/Terittory and Department levels down to Class/Sub-Class and Item levels.
• Discuss and prepare a SWOT analysis of the above and document action plans in preperation for the Strategic Planning Process
• Derive Seasonal Strategies on Sales , Pricepoint , Supplier, Brands,Size,Colour and Assortment Dimensions (Where applicable) at Concept/Territory levels down to Class/Sub-Class levels together with the Buyers taking into account past performance and future trends ..
• Presentation of the Departmental Strategies to the Management for approval
• Prepare and Derive Seasonal Budgets at Concept/Territory levels down to Class/Sub-Class levels based on the approved Strategy to match the Financial targets set for Sales , Opening /Closing Stocks , Inflows , Forward covers and Sales Margins.
• Prepare and Drive Merchandise Financial Plans For Sales , Opening and Closing stocks with Forward covers and Planned Inflows for by month and Season with agreed Inflow and Sales Margin Percentages at Dept/Class/Subclass levels( where Applicable).
• Prepare Store Grading at Class/SubClass levels to determine the Width and Depth of Ranges for Large , Medium and Small stores with Order quantiies ( where aplicable) .
• Prepare a Theoretical Range Plan and present to the Planning Manager for approval.
• Share the above with the Buyers and together finalise into a Buy Plan (Range Plan) by month at Class/Subclass levels to match the Strategy Plans for (Quantities,Options,Prices and Suppliers) and Finacial paremeters (OTB/Inflows) set by Month.
• Prepare reports to measure actuals against plan for In Season management of all of the above.(where applicable)

In Season Management (Daily / Weekly)

• Monitor Orders being placed against Open to Buy targets by month on the Buy Plan ensuring that the Orders are placed timeously and according to assortment plans . (Daily/Weekly)
• Ensure that Order Status and Deliveries are followed up and that propoed actions are communicated to the buyers for action to be taken , where deliveries deviate to plan to ensure availability.(Daily /Weekly)
• Monitor Reports on Performance of Dept /Concept /Territory perfromance down to Class/Subclass( where Applicable) to identify any exceptions to Sales , Stockholdings, Forward Covers and Inflows and propose actions on out of line situations to the Buyers in a weekly Department meeting with action to be taken by the Planner (where Applicabe) (weekly)
• Monitor Good and Bad selling Items to agreed parameters and propose actions to be taken on Reorders or Price Adjustments for Slow sellers .(Weekly) .
• Ensure the availability of all replenishment items and thata scheduled review of Replenishment Orders take place to ensure availability and that there are no stock outs . (Weekly)
• Check that all stock received in Territories is allocated to Stores and is selling, discuss out of line situations with the Buyers and inform Territories of out of line situations for action to be taken .(Weekly)
• Check for Items that need consolidation to agreed parameters and inform Territories for action .(Weekly)

I n Season Management (Bi –Monthly and Monthly)

• Monitor Seasonal Budget performance against Plan and reforecast taking into account past performance and trends for Sales, Opening and Closing Stocks and monthly Inflows/Open to Buy ( monthly) (Where Applicable).
• Monitor Sales Margins to ensure that Margins are being achieved across Territories By department ( Bi-Monthly),
• To propose any adjustments or actions for the exceptions above ,propose actionsto be taken together and with agreement of the Buyers to Management for approval on a (Monthly ).
• Identiify consolidations of stock based on agreed parameters and propose with the Buyer to Management for approval and communicating to the Territories on actions to be taken . (Monthly)
• Identify and propose Price Adjustments to be actioned on slow sellers with the Buyer to Management for approval and communicate to the territories for action to be taken.(Monthly)
• To Analyse Territory Ageing Stocks and identifying out of line situations to agreed Concept Targets and proposing actions to management for approval and communicating to Concept Retail Managerand Territories on actions to be taken.(Monthly)
• Analyse Promotions and Events and communicate the performance results and out of line situations to the Buyer and Management Team with lessons learnt . (Monthly).
• Prepare and attend a Monthly Management Meeting to give feedback on Department performance and actions to be taken on out of line situations together with the buyer to management .(Weekly/Monthly)

Store/Competitor Visits.

• Visit Territories and Stores on an agreed frequency to be abreast with Product performance and trends.
• Be in tune with Territory /Store specific requirements with regard to Quantity, Range, Price and Customer base
• Visit Competitors to identify their Range Composition, Options and Prices .
• Report findings and out of line situations to the Buyer and put together an action proposal and communicate to Management and Territories

Systems Maintenance and Enhancement.

• Ensure that there are adequate reports to measure performance to plan for all of the above
• Ensure that systems are maintained and that data integrity is sound
• Ensure that any additional System requirements are communicated to the Planning Manager

People Management (In case applicable)

• Monitor Trainee Planner development and facilitate complaint resolution
• Oversee team deployment and drive motivation levels of the Trainee Planners

Key Requirements:

• Basic qualifications: Bachelor's Degree from NIFT / Pearl Academy / Degree in Retail Fashion Management or similar course
• Advanced qualifications: Post Graduate from NIFT / MBA in Retail Management or similar course
• Minimum 5 years of experience in the retail industry in a planning role. Candidates should be from an Apparel Retail background or industry
• Good knowledge of Merchandise planning and an analytics
• Good knowledge of Retail Industry and products
• Planning and organising skills
• Analytical skills
• Good knowledge of MS Office