Merchandise Planner

Merchandise Planner

Responsibilities

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
• Lead 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
• Take a lead 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.

Inventory Stock Optimization 

• Ensure optimum category inventory levels are maintained at Concept/Territory/class keeping in mind territory requirements as well as ideal stock cover norms.
• Ensure that no instances of category stock outs occur on account of any discrepancy on part of merchandise planning
• Work collaboratively with stakeholders -Buying, Logistics to manage intake based on business requirements.

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
  • Inflows/OTB
  • Stock analysis
  • Stock balancing
  • Margin analysis

People Management (In case applicable)

Good People skills and Stakeholder Management Skill-Buying, Operations, Finance, Merchandising  etc.

Qualifications

Graduate degree in commerce or business administration/ Post Graduate degree in Business Administration

Required Skills

MS Office, Planning systems.

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

SHOEMART is the largest retailer of footwear and accessories in the Middle East, with over 160 stores to cater to the entire family. With an impressive 34-year history, we have earned our place as one of the most trusted footwear retailers in the region, serving nearly 7 million shoppers annually.

We also manage two additional footwear retail chains: SHOEXPRESS, which has 50 stores and is the leading value footwear brand in the self-service format within the region, and Pablosky with 9 stores, a premium kids’ footwear brand known worldwide.

We take immense pride in being the preferred footwear business for more than 150 vendors from around the world, some of whom have been supporting us for over 30 years.

SHOEMART not only offers an extensive range of in-house brands like Celeste, Duchini, Le Confort, Missy, Juniors, and many others but also carries leading international brands such as Adidas, Kappa, Lee Cooper, and Skechers, among others. Our vision is to “Grow Brands that Our Customers Love and Deliver Great Value.”