Merchandise Planner

Home Centre; Bengaluru; On-site; INR 600,000 - 900,000; Full time

Job summary

Home Centre in Bengaluru is seeking a Supply Planning & Merchandising professional to ensure end-to-end product availability and profitability for assigned categories. The role integrates demand forecasting, inventory planning, replenishment, and merchandising to ensure the right product is available in the right quantity, at the right location, at the right time, while maximizing sales and margins.

You will collaborate with Central Planning, Buying, Logistics and Distribution teams to ensure

Qualifications

• Experience in end-to-end supply planning and merchandising.
• Ability to forecast demand and plan inventory across channels.
• Skilled in monitoring stock health, OOS and ageing inventory.
• Ability to collaborate with central planning, buying, logistics and stores.
• Proficient in analyzing weekly KPIs and driving actions.

Responsibilities

• Ensure 100% product availability against base stock norms.
• Monitor store fill rates and address stock gaps.
• Coordinate with planning, buying, logistics to ensure timely replenishment.
• Maintain optimal stock levels across stores and DCs.
• Participate in S&OP meetings to align supply with demand.
• Validate store layouts and planograms against stock.
• Support assortment planning and lifecycle decisions.
• Drive inventory health actions: transfers, markdowns, liquidations.

Skills

Supply planning

Merchandising

Demand forecasting

Inventory planning

Replenishment

S&OP

Planograms

Pricing/promotions

Analytics

Cross-functional collab

Job description

Role & responsibilities

Role Summary

The Supply Planning & Merchandising professional is responsible for ensuring end-to-end product availability and profitability for assigned categories. The role integrates demand forecasting, inventory planning, replenishment, and merchandising to ensure the right product is available in the right quantity, at the right location, at the right time, while maximizing sales and margins.

Key Responsibilities

A. Supply Planning

1. Product Availability

• Ensure 100% product availability against approved base stock norms.
• Monitor store fill rates and proactively address stock gaps to minimize out-of-stock situations.

2. Inventory Planning & Replenishment

• Maintain inventory at stores and distribution centres as per defined inventory norms.
• Drive timely replenishment planning to achieve optimum stock levels while avoiding excess inventory.

3. Supply Chain Coordination

• Collaborate with Central Planning, Buying, Logistics, and Distribution teams to ensure timely procurement and replenishment.
• Monitor lead times and resolve supply-related bottlenecks to improve service levels.

4. Inventory Health Management

• Track and analyse stock health, including out-of-stock (OOS), excess inventory, ageing stock, and slow-moving products.
• Drive corrective actions through inter-store transfers, stock consolidation, markdowns, and liquidation strategies.

5. Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP)

• Participate in S&OP meetings to align supply plans with business demand, promotional calendars, and seasonal requirements.
• Support demand planning through data-driven inventory recommendations.

6. Store Layout & Stock Validation

• Validate store layouts and planograms against actual stock deployment.
• Identify and highlight stock, fixture, and assortment gaps to improve store execution.

B. Merchandising

1. Store Plotting & Assortment Planning

• Develop store-specific plotting plans based on available inventory, customer demand, and sales potential.
• Recommend assortment optimization to maximize productivity and space efficiency.

2. Product Lifecycle Management

• Support SKU selection, product launches, replenishment, and phase-out decisions.
• Monitor new product performance, sell-through, and lifecycle effectiveness.

3. Pricing & Promotions

• Ensure effective execution of promotional plans across stores.
• Monitor promotional compliance and recommend pricing or markdown strategies to improve inventory productivity and profitability.

4. Business Analytics

• Track weekly business KPIs and provide actionable insights.
• Identify high-performing products to accelerate sales and underperforming products for corrective actions.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

• Base Stock vs Actual Stock Availability
• In-Stock % / Out-of-Stock (OOS) %
• Fill Rate
• Sales vs Target
• Gross Margin %
• Inventory Turns
• Ageing Inventory
• Store Fixture Utilization (Plotted vs Available)
• Promotion Implementation & Compliance
• Replenishment Service Levels
• Stock Accuracy