Lead Planner - Outdoor Living

The Warehouse Group; Auckland; On-site; NZD 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading New Zealand retailer is seeking a talented Lead Planner to drive the success of its Outdoor Living categories. The role involves setting strategic direction, mentoring a planning team, and optimizing the product lifecycle. Candidates should have at least 5 years of retail planning experience, strong analytical skills, and a collaborative approach. A supportive work environment and various benefits including flexible working arrangements are offered.

Benefits

Flexible working arrangements

Team member discounts

Wellbeing support

Leave benefits

Qualifications

• 5 years retail and/or merchandise planning experience within a multi-category or large-scale retail environment.
• Proven ability to lead and mentor merchandise planners, driving capability development.
• Strong commercial acumen with flawless analytical skills.
• Excellent stakeholder management and influencing skills.
• Decisiveness in a dynamic, fast-moving environment.

Responsibilities

• Lead category strategy build in collaboration with lead buyer.
• Ensure optimised implementation of strategy by actively trading the category.
• Communicate data, actions, and outcomes clearly.
• Build and deliver budget within financial parameters.
• Collaborate with buying team to build a range reflecting category strategy.
• Lead the range review with buying team, delivering to critical path dates.
• Manage markdown and promotional plans effectively.
• Lead 2 direct reports with clarity and accountability.

Skills

Retail and/or merchandise planning experience

Strong commercial acumen

Stakeholder management skills

Analytical skills

Leadership and mentoring abilities

Job description

Company Description

Are you a talented Lead Planner with a passion for bringing products to life through data-driven insights? Here’s your chance to make an impact, shaping the success within our Outdoor Living categories !

The Warehouse Group (TWG) has become a Kiwi household name, and we proudly recognise the role that we play in communities throughout New Zealand. We are the largest general merchandise retailer in NZ across The Warehouse, Warehouse Stationery & Noel Leeming. We are at an exciting point in our journey where our focus is on becoming brand-centric, aiming to deliver an unparalleled experience for our customers. Agility and collaboration are cornerstones of our work culture, empowering us to adapt swiftly and work seamlessly together. By being brand-led and retail-focused, we are intentional about placing the right people in the right roles, allowing us to perform work that truly makes a difference.

Job Description

As the Lead Merchandise Planner for our Outdoor categories, you’ll set the strategic planning direction, leading a team of planners and partnering with the buying team to drive performance and profitability. This Lead Planner position will sit in the Home division and look after the Outdoor Living categories covering Dry and Green gardening, Hardware, Automotive, BBQs and Outdoor Furniture. You’ll lead and mentor two planners, building capability and ensuring best-in-class planning practices are embedded across the team. Acting as the link between market insights and product availability, you’ll ensure our customers find the items they need and love in our stores. This is a dynamic, hands-on role where you’ll bring your commercial insight and planning expertise to shape our category's success.

With strong financial acumen, assortment building skills and a real commercial mindset, you'll work collaboratively to drive optimisation and manage the product lifecycle process, whilst being consistently on top of performance.

Key responsibilities include:

• Lead category strategy build in collaboration with lead buyer.
• Ensure optimised implementation of strategy by actively trading the category and supporting team members
• Clearly communicate data, actions and outcomes, keep stakeholders up to date on progress, provide and receive constructive feedback
• Financial – build and deliver budget, working within financial parameters
• Customer – collaborate with buying team to effectively build a range that reflects the category strategy, chasing opportunities and managing risk to financial plan. Quickly identifying trade trends and taking appropriate action to optimise outcomes.
• Range and process - Lead the range review with the buying team. Deliver to critical path dates, articulate range decisions and impact on financial performance plan.
• Pricing and promotion – Manage markdown (clearance and promo) plan effectively within financial targets and market changes.
• Team – Lead 2x direct reports with clarity, integrity and accountability
• Take ownership of tasks, following policies and procedures, ensuring quality, accuracy and deadlines are met.
• Live the company culture, values and behaviours

Range

• Deliver product range, sales, and buy plans within critical path, financial parameters and budgets.
• Support and collaborate with Buying team to create and update product strategies to support long-term business plans.
• Ensure all product information is accurate and up-to-date using RPT as our sole ranging tool.
• Oversee and deliver range to optimise stock flow through managing entry, exit and sell thru metrics

Financial

• Build budgets that deliver to company strategy, customer demand and market opportunities.
• Manage future season OTB, reacting to trade, minimising risk and maximising opportunities.
• Create, oversee and manage Category Financials plans, planning stock flow to meet business requirements and reforecasting all metrics based on sales trends.
• Oversee the analysis of product performance and actions to improve

Pricing and Promotion

• Oversee and plan product pricing strategy as well as promotions opportunities, in line with company strategy
• Lead the in-season trading strategy to deliver optimised margin outcomes.
• Manage price and promotional impact to support budget, product lifecycle and stock flow.

Qualifications

You are a rock star of merchandise planning, you always have customers front of mind and can interpret data into stories, translate customer mission strategies into actionable decisions that deliver results.

All things that describe you – collaborative, excellent stakeholder management and communications skills, strong influencer.

To be considered for this role you must meet the following minimum requirements:

• 5 years retail and/or merchandise planning experience within a multi-category or large-scale retail environment
• Proven ability to lead and mentor merchandise planners, driving capability development
• Strong commercial acumen, coupled with flawless analytical skills to translate data into commercial outcomes
• Excellent stakeholder management and influencing skills, with experience partnering cross-functionally
• Decisiveness in a dynamic,fast-moving environment

Additional Information

We offer a dynamic and supportive team environment working with like-minded people within a business that cares about and recognises individuals.

We also offer a range of benefits that work for you, your lifestyle and your career which include flexible working arrangements, team member discounts, wellbeing support, leave benefits and more!

MAKE SUSTAINABLE LIVING EASY AND AFFORDABLE FOR EVERYONE! don’t hesitate. APPLY