Manager - Planning and Merchandising

Apparel Group; Saudi Arabia; On-site; SAR 120,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

A global fashion and lifestyle retail conglomerate is seeking a Merchandise Planning Manager in Saudi Arabia. You will manage the seasonal planning and merchandise strategy, ensuring stock availability, assortment accuracy, and sales performance. The ideal candidate has 6-8 years of experience in merchandise planning and is proficient in Excel and ERP tools. This role offers a dynamic work environment with significant responsibilities in driving sales performance.

Qualifications

• 6-8 years of progressive experience in merchandise planning or retail merchandising.
• Strong analytical capabilities with hands-on experience in OTB planning.
• Proficient in Excel and ERP/planning tools.

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute merchandise plans based on historical data and market trends.
• Monitor achievement of sales and growth targets through performance reviews.
• Finalize seasonal assortment plans in coordination with buying and merchandising teams.

Skills

Analytical capabilities

Hands-on experience in OTB planning

Proficient in Excel

Education

Bachelor's degree in Business Administration

Retail Management

Supply Chain

Tools

ERP/planning tools

Job description

This position is responsible for managing the seasonal planning and merchandise strategy for assigned categories or regions. The role ensures optimal stock availability, assortment accuracy, and sales performance in alignment with brand objectives, financial targets, and customer expectations.

Key Responsibility:

• Develop and execute merchandise plans based on historical data, market trends, brand objectives, and sales targets.
• Build the P&L foundation and support the annual sales budgeting process for each store and category.
• Monitor achievement of sales and like-for-like (LFL) growth targets through weekly and monthly performance reviews.
• Manage Open-to-Buy (OTB), stock-to-sales ratios, and WSSI to ensure effective inventory control and timely replenishment.
• Finalize seasonal assortment plans and store‑wise allocations in coordination with buying and merchandising teams.
• Perform critical path analysis to track product launches, resolve delays, and highlight opportunities for stock pulls or adjustments.
• Track ageing inventory and lead markdown and promotional planning to ensure inventory freshness and margin optimization.
• Monitor Never‑Out‑of‑Stock (NOS) items and ensure seasonal readiness and coverage levels across stores.
• Conduct market and store visits to gather consumer insights, competitor benchmarking, and validate assortment effectiveness.
• Analyze store performance at category and SKU level to drive stock consolidations and inter‑store transfers.
• Maintain optimum merchandise mix across regions and formats based on customer profile, product lifecycle, and space productivity.
• Partner with operations, supply chain, finance, and marketing teams to ensure alignment on trading actions, stock flow, and campaign execution.
• Lead weekly trading meetings and provide insights and action plans for sales recovery or upside opportunities.
• Contribute to new store planning by supporting initial allocations, assortment curation, and regional strategy alignment.
• Support incentive plan recommendations for store staff to drive performance and sell‑through.
• Participate in vendor and principal discussions for product feedback, planning strategy, and market updates.
• 6-8 years of progressive experience in merchandise planning or retail merchandising.
• Strong analytical capabilities with hands‑on experience in OTB planning, WSSI, stock management, and in‑season projections.
• Proficient in Excel and ERP/planning tools.
• Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Retail Management, Supply Chain, or related field.

About Us

“Apparel Group is a global fashion and lifestyle retail conglomerate residing at the crossroads of the modern economy – Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Today, the Apparel Group caters to thousands of eager shoppers through its more than 1750+ stores and 75+ brands across all platforms employing 17,000 multicultural staff covering four continents.

Apparel group has carved its strong presence not only in the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, and Saudi Arabia but opened thriving gateways to market in India, South Africa, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia. Additionally, clear strategies are in place to enter emerging markets such as Hungary, Pakistan, Egypt and Philippines. Also, Apparel Group provides customers the experience of shopping from the comfort of their own home with ease and convenience via our E-Commerce site 6thStreet.com

Apparel Group Operates Brands from around the world, originating from USA, Canada, Europe, Australia, Asia and include leading names in Fashion, Footwear & Lifestyle such as Tommy Hilfiger, Charles & Keith, Skechers, Aldo, Nine West, Aeropostale, Jamie’s Italian to name a few and other key brands include Tim Hortons, Cold Stone Creamery, Inglot, Rituals etc..

The Apparel Group owes its amazing growth to the vision and guidance of its dynamic Chairman, Nilesh Ved, who has taken the company from strength to strength since its inception in the last two decades.”

Job Info

• Job Identification 8384
• Job Category Buying Merchandising & Planning