Planning Manager | Retail | Watsons

Job Requisition ID: 161156

Established in the 1930s as a trading business, Al-Futtaim Group today is one of the most diversified and progressive, privately held regional businesses headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Structured into five operating divisions; automotive, financial services, real estate, retail and healthcare; employing more than 35,000 employees across more than 20 countries in the Middle East, Asia and Africa, Al-Futtaim Group partners with over 200 of the world’s most admired and innovative brands. Al-Futtaim Group’s entrepreneurship and relentless customer focus enables the organization to continue to grow and expand; responding to the changing needs of our customers within the societies in which we operate.

By upholding our values of respect, excellence, collaboration and integrity; Al-Futtaim Group continues to enrich the lives and aspirations of our customers each and every day

Overview of the role:

The Planning Manager will be responsible for directing the development, execution, and communication of the strategic merchandise planning. This individual will partner with Buying in driving and maximizing sales and margin. The Planning Manager is a key stakeholder and will partner with HOB, OP’s manager, Brand Partners, and cross-functional teammates – leveraging analytics and formulating strategies to drive the business.

The successful candidate must be able to move beyond applying standard templates for solving problems and support the team with creative, innovative ideas that are translated into actionable insights for the business..

What you will do:

• Manage, in complete partnership with Buying and Sales Operations, the six-month Seasonal Merchandise Plans for their respective areas of responsibility and with respect to the company’s financial goals and targets. Guides their Planners in the development, presentation and defense of these plans.
• Manage, for their areas of responsibility, the Monthly Business Review (MBR) process by guiding the Planners in their development of sales, margin, receipt and inventory forecasts; the support of these forecasts with unit projections and the reporting of unit performance, unit forecasts and receipt issues during the MBR meetings.
• Present top-line, cross-channel total results and forecasts at the Monthly Business Review meetings (MBR).
• Manage receipts and inventory against targeted weeks of supply objectives and partner with merchandising to recommend actions that drive sales and maximize gross margin by ensuring the best receipt flow.
• Manage and guide the Planners in the development of an ideal assortment to maximize sales and margin for each buy period, ensuring the appropriate costs, retail and number of customer choices to achieve each period’s targets. Review and approve the Planners’ unit quantities to buy and to reorder which will effectively maximize the ability of each channel to maximize sales and margin for each buy period.
• Manage markdown and promotional strategies and ensure exit strategy for seasonal lines to effectively mitigate aged inventory.
• Create Conceptual Assortment Plans (CAP) for Design needs and final Customer Choice (cc) counts by store level for assortments.
• Manage and provide direction to their Planners to partner across channels to ensure optimal inventories to best serve the customer needs, sharing inventories as needed which will maximize overall sales and margin.
• Prepare cross-channel department overviews to be presented at Weekly Business Meetings. Prepare comprehensive monthly hindsight recaps and present at monthly meetings.
• Guide the application of the lessons towards the framework for future deliveries and reaction to current business trends.
• Guide the development of their Planners’ Weekly Unit Plans and Key Item programs to exploit category opportunities to drive sales and margin.
• Travel to stores on a regular basis, to observe the performance of their merchandise; to review markdown racks for future decisions on the purchase quantities of merchandise; to gain an understanding of the customer base, store layouts and back stock space; and to foster a strong working relationship with the store teams.
• Oversee the sales performance by comparing the actual sales versus the weekly targets, previous years & projections, and take corrective action in coordination with other departments.

Required Skills to be successful

• Strong analytical and financial skills.
• 2 – 4 years of demonstrated team leadership experience.
• Demonstrated knowledge of industry practices and current trends.

What equips you for the role:

Minimum Qualification and Knowledge:

Education: Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration or equivalent.

Minimum Experience:

Minimum of 5 – 8 years of specialty retail experience with a minimum of 7 years in Planning/ Space Planning.

About Al-Futtaim Retail

Al-Futtaim Retail has established itself as one of the leaders in Retail across the Middle East, Africa & Asia over the past 30 years. We have developed partnerships with some of the biggest and most respected Brands in the world including IKEA, ACE and Toys R Us in the Middle East and the Inditex Group of Brands (Zara, Mango, Bershka and P&B) across Asia. We are also one of the largest Global partners of Marks and Spencer’s in both regions with over 75 stores offering both fashion & food options.

Most recently we have been responsible for bringing brands to the Middle East for the first time with the exciting launches of Watsons and B&Q and we aim to continue to be agile and adaptive to our markets with new launches and further development. For this to be possible we aim to recruit the best talent from all backgrounds who will continue to challenge and develop our diverse workforce which includes over 100 nationalities across 12 countries. Join us today and make a difference…