Associate - Merchandise Planning - Luxury Fashion

Chalhoub Group; United Arab Emirates; On-site; AED 120,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

Chalhoub Group is seeking a skilled Planning professional in Fashion Retail to optimize sales and inventory in an omni-channel environment. The ideal candidate will have over 3 years of experience, strong analytical skills, and the ability to collaborate effectively with various stakeholders. Join us for a rewarding career with competitive benefits and opportunities for growth.

Benefits

Healthcare

Child education contribution

Remote and flexible working policies

Exclusive employee discounts

Qualifications

• 3+ years of experience in Planning in Fashion Retail.
• Experience in forecasting, merchandise planning, and financial planning systems.
• Commercially minded with a proven track record of delivering financial targets.

Responsibilities

• Define the sales plan and OTB by partnering with Buying, Finance, Retail, and E-commerce.
• Monitor inventory aging and recommend actions on markdowns to achieve inventory targets.
• Drive pricing strategy and plan seasonal markdowns to maximize sales and gross margin.

Skills

Analytical skills

Stakeholder management

Communication

Problem-solving

Tools

Excel

MS Office

Planning tools

Job description

INSPIRE | EXHILARATE | DELIGHT

For over six decades, Chalhoub Group has been a partner and creator of luxury experiences in the Middle East. The Group, in its endeavour to excel as a hybrid retailer, has reinforced its distribution and marketing services with a portfolio of eight owned brands and over 300 international brands in the luxury, beauty, fashion, and art de vivre categories. More recently, the Group expanded its expertise into new categories of luxury watches, jewellery, and eyewear.

Every step at Chalhoub Group is taken with the customer at heart. Be it constantly reinventing itself or focusing on innovation to provide luxury experiences at over 750+ experiential retail stores, online and through mobile apps, each touch point leads to delighting the customer.

Today, Chalhoub Group stands for 14,000 skilled and talented professionals across seven countries, whose cohesive efforts have resulted in the Group being ranked third in the Middle East and first in Saudi Arabia as a Great Place to Work.

To keep the innovation journey going, the Group has set up The Greenhouse, which is not just an innovation hub, but also an incubator space and accelerator for start-ups and small businesses in the region and internationally. This is just one of the several initiatives taken by the Group to reinvent itself, catalyzed by forward thinking and future-proofing. The Group has also been embedding sustainability at the core of its business strategy with a clear commitment towards people, partners, and the planet, and by being a member of the United Nations Global Compact Community and signatory of the Women's Empowerment Principles.

What You'll Be Doing

You will use a data-driven approach to optimize sales, margin, and inventory in an omni-channel environment. You will forecast future seasonal demand at category subcategory level for each region, maximize sell-thru in-season by collaborating with key stakeholders: Commercial, Finance, E-commerce, and Buying. Responsible for leading the OTB, pricing & gross margin impact, end-of-product lifecycle process working in collaboration with Commercial, Buying, Finance, E-commerce, and other roles within Supply Chain.

Key Responsibilities

Area of responsibility:

1. Define the sales plan and OTB by partnering with Buying, Finance, Retail, and E-commerce to develop the merchandise strategy, using data-driven input from sales trends, market conditions, and supplier demands to drive profitable decisions.
2. Develop and provide buying with category assortment recommendations, plans, and sizing analysis by channel, region, and store, along with sell-through reports at SKU level, aligning with the merchandise strategy and proactively suggesting improvements to optimize revenue and profitability through what-if scenarios.
3. Monitor inventory aging and recommend actions on markdowns and liquidation to achieve inventory targets, considering category and brand identity.
4. Drive pricing strategy and plan seasonal markdowns by item to maximize sales and gross margin in collaboration with Buying and Retail.
5. Assess and highlight risks and opportunities on sales, gross margin, and inventory, based on supply or demand gaps, and recommend possible solutions.
6. Re-plan business in-season based on latest performance and present it to management with recommendations.
7. Monitor inventory mix in each location and recommend seasonal stock transfers if needed to boost sales.

What You'll Need To Succeed

• 3+ years of experience in Planning in Fashion Retail
• Highly analytical and data-driven, comfortable working with quantitative figures
• Advanced knowledge of Excel, MS Office, and planning tools
• Experience in forecasting, merchandise planning, allocation, replenishment, and financial planning systems
• Commercially minded problem-solver with a proven track record of delivering financial targets
• Strong stakeholder management skills, aiming for win-win solutions
• Excellent communication, influencing, and presentation skills
• Knowledge of retail & fashion business
• Ability to communicate openly and collaborate effectively with stakeholders
• Self-starter, enthusiastic, and pragmatic

What We Can Offer You

Join us to turn your aspirations into reality. We offer enriching experiences, learning and development opportunities, and exposure to diverse roles within the organization or through internal mobility. Our group provides diverse career paths for extraordinary individuals every day.

We value your contributions and offer a competitive benefits package including healthcare, child education contribution, remote and flexible working policies, and exclusive employee discounts.

We Invite All Applicants to Apply

We believe diversity in thought, culture, background, abilities, and perspectives is essential to truly inspire, exhilarate, and delight our customers. Chalhoub Group is committed to inclusion and diversity.

We welcome all applicants to join our exciting future. We ensure equal opportunity for all, regardless of gender, age, race, religion, nationality, or disability status.