Merchandise Planner/Retail Planner

Merchandise Financial, Strategic and Assortment Planning :

- Maximize 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.

- Communicate the merchandise strategic plan to buying team for necessary execution.

- Ensuring effective in season management across territories (stock balancing, markdown management, stock analysis, and Stock vs sales performance).

- Help review the merchandise plans on a periodic basis to ensuring profit is maximized and maintained to reach target levels.

- Ensuring that the standards of Merchandise procedures and Methodologies are maintained and kept Uniform.

Inventory Stock Optimization :

- Ensuring optimum category inventory levels are maintained at Concept/Territory keeping in mind store requirements as well as working capital constraints.

- Ensuring that no instances of category stock outs occur on account of any discrepancy on part of merchandise planning.

- Ensuring 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 :

- Ensuring performance is monitored against plan for the assigned category/department, regularly supported by exception reporting.

- Ensuring 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.

- Manage Merchandise Assortment Planning for existing brands, strategic planning for liquidation and ensuring increase in sales to achieve targets

- Effectively managed to work in Negative Working Capital

- Manage relations with the Vendors in terms of bookings and follow ups, OTB Management as per the plan and requirements, margins and week cover

- Prepare & maintain category merchandise MIS and Merchandise analytics based on actual sales, sales forecasts, merchandise calendar, company order parameters, inventory checks, replenishment needs, customer preference, historical trends & future outlook etc.

- Ensure effective in-season management at pan India level (stock balancing, markdown management, stock analysis, stock vs sales)

- Category promo-Liaise with VM/Marketing/Loyalty teams for timely & effective rollouts