Merchandise Planning Manager - Toddler Boy

Tesco PLC; Digswell; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Annual bonus up to 20%

25 days holiday + personal day

Private medical insurance

Maternity & adoption leave (26 weeks)

Virtual GP and EAP

Job summary

Tesco is seeking a Merchandise Planning Manager for the Toddler Boy category within Boyswear. You will own the planning and trading strategy, shaping a range customers love while driving sales, profit and stock performance.

Collaboration with Buying, Design, Sourcing, Supply Chain and Finance across UK, ROI, Central Europe and Online is essential. You will lead the category plan, forecast demand, manage stock, and drive in-season performance.

Qualifications

• Strong merchandising and merchandise planning experience within a retail or multichannel environment.
• Experience managing category planning, forecasting and trading activity in a fast-paced commercial business.
• Solid understanding of WSSI, stock management, intake planning, markdown and OTB processes.

Responsibilities

• Develop and deliver the category merchandise plan aligned with financial objectives.
• Manage category budgets for sales, stock, margin and markdown; identify risks/opportunities and actions.
• Lead range planning for Toddler Boy using customer and commercial insights.
• Own and manage the category WSSI and drive profitability actions.
• Develop forecasts and intake plans to optimise stock investment against OTB targets.

Skills

Merchandising planning

Forecasting & trading

WSSI understanding

Stock management

Stakeholder management

Analytical skills

Cross-functional collaboration

Problem solving

Job description

As the Merchandise Planning Manager, you'll take ownership of the planning and trading strategy for our Toddler Boy category within Boyswear, helping shape a range that customers love while delivering strong sales, profit and stock performance. Working at the heart of the business, you'll collaborate with Buying, Design, Sourcing, Supply Chain and Finance teams to drive category success across our UK, ROI, Central Europe and Online markets. You'll combine customer insight, market trends and commercial expertise to build winning range plans, optimise stock investment and maximise in-season performance. You'll play a key role in identifying growth opportunities, responding to changing customer needs and delivering profitable growth for one of our most important categories. You will be responsible for

• Developing and delivering the category merchandise plan, ensuring alignment with departmental strategy and financial objectives.
• Managing category budgets for sales, stock, margin and markdown, identifying risks and opportunities and recommending actions to support target delivery.
• Leading the range planning process for Toddler Boy, using customer and commercial insights to shape category decisions along with another part time job share colleague
• Owning and managing the category WSSI, reviewing performance and driving actions to maximise profitability.
• Developing forecasts and intake plans to ensure stock investment is optimised and aligned to OTB targets.
• Driving in-season trade performance through regular analysis of sales, stock, availability and customer trends.
• Partnering closely with Buying to develop balanced ranges, pricing architectures and profitable category strategies.
• Reviewing store and online performance, ensuring stock is allocated effectively across channels.
• Working closely with Supply Chain teams to support stock flow, availability and inventory efficiency.
• Managing markdown and exit strategies to optimise margin and minimise aged stock.
• Building strong relationships with stakeholders across Buying, Design, Sourcing, Supply Chain, Finance and Central Merchandising teams.
• Supporting and coaching Assistant Merchandisers and Merchandise Assistants to deliver strong commercial outcomes.
• Identifying opportunities to improve processes and ways of working across the department.
• Following our Business Code of Conduct and always acting with integrity and due diligence.
• Strong merchandising and merchandise planning experience within a retail or multichannel environment.
• Experience managing category planning, forecasting and trading activity within a fast-paced commercial business.
• A solid understanding of WSSI, stock management, intake planning, markdown and OTB processes.
• Strong commercial awareness with the ability to balance customer, sales, stock and profit objectives.
• Excellent stakeholder management skills and experience working collaboratively across multiple functions.
• Ability to analyse data, identify insights and translate these into clear commercial actions.
• Strong analytical and numerical skills, with experience in planning and forecasting.
• Effective prioritisation and organisational skills, with the ability to manage multiple deadlines.
• A proactive and solutions-focused approach to problem solving.
• Experience supporting and developing junior merchandising colleagues.

You might know us as a supermarket, technology company or even for our award-winning mobile network. Truth is, we’re all of those things, and much more. Our colleagues work with one goal in mind, helping to make every day a little better for our customers, colleagues and communities all over the world. No two customers are the same, neither are our colleagues., Tesco has become a market leader by doing the little things that really matter for our customers and colleagues.

It’s part of what makes Tesco such a great place to work, and we’re proud to have been accredited as one of Britain’s Top Employers again this year. We’re the UK’s number one retailer and we pride ourselves on offering a great shopping experience. We are passionate about our food, merchandise and services and will always try to get things right for our customers. But did you know we also offer great job opportunities? With stores, distribution centres and offices across the UK, and a vast variety of roles, we are always looking for people who have a hunger to work with customers and colleagues across our exciting business. We believe in treating each other with respect and giving everyone an equal opportunity to get on. It’s our people that make the difference every day - helping us make a difference for our customers.

• Annual bonus scheme of up to 20% of base salary.
• Holiday starting at 25 days plus a personal day (plus Bank holidays).
• Private medical insurance.
• 26 weeks maternity and adoption leave (12 months service required at the qualifying date) at full pay, followed by 13 weeks of Statutory Maternity Pay or Statutory Adoption Pay, we also offer 6 weeks fully paid paternity leave.
• Free 24/7 virtual GP service, Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) for you and your family, free access to a range of experts to support your mental wellbeing.