Planning Analyst

Clicks Group; Wes-Kaap; On-site; ZAR 600,000 - 900,000; Full time

Job summary

Clicks Group is seeking a Planning Analyst to join the Category Planning team. You will translate business financial plans into category specific sales, margin and inventory budgets to support category teams in achieving the customer and product vision.

You will develop annual merchandise financial plans by department, monitor forecasts, and collaborate with stakeholders to optimise stock turns and profitability across stores.

Qualifications

• Ideal min 5-7 years of experience in retail merchandise planning, demand forecasting, inventory management or related fields.
• Strong numerical and analytical abilities with retail math and forecasting methodology knowledge.
• Ability to synthesize large data sets to drive business decisions.

Responsibilities

• Build a strategic category plan with customer needs, trends and market share insights.
• Develop annual merchandise financial plans by department for sales, stock and margins.
• Partner with stakeholders to align pre-season targets with business goals and store space.
• Develop and monitor projections, inventory flow and monthly forecasts for OTB management.
• Analyse performance and revise in-season plans for sales and profitability.
• Prepare and monitor budgets and forecasts by store/channel/product lifecycle.
• Contribute analysis to S&OP and optimize stock turns and inventory productivity.

Skills

Interpersonal skills

Communication

Analytical skills

Forecasting

Excel/Spreadsheet skills

Presentation skills

Problem solving

Education

B Comm Finance or relevant B Degree

Tools

MS Office Excel

MS Word

MS Outlook

MS PowerPoint

Job description

Clicks is on the hunt for a Planning Analyst that forms part of the Category Planning team. The purpose is to translate the business financial plans into category specific sales, margin and inventory budgets and to support the category teams to achieve the customer and product vision through viable business category plans.

Job Description

Job Objectives:

• In collaboration with the Category Buyer, build a strategic plan for Category incorporating an understanding of customer needs and wants, trends, competitive environment and market share
• To develop the annual merchandise financial plan by department for sales, stocks, margins, GP and markdowns taking into account key and relevant financial metrics and inputs
• To partner and support relevant key stakeholders on the development of pre-season sales, markdown, margin, receipt and inventory targets aligned to the strategic business goals whilst ensuring assortments that balance range and space requirements for all stores
• To develop and monitor projections, inventory flow, and seasonal sell-off plans as well as validate monthly forecast for open-to-buy management
• To analyze and reflect current trends in performance of strategy based on actual sales performance; revise in-season plans for sales and profitability
• To prepare and continuously monitor financial budgets and forecasts for the departments by store / channel by product lifecycle and to re-forecast the merchandise financial plans in line with current performance (monthly and weekly), new initiatives or significant deviations, at the appropriate level & review with relevant key stakeholders in order to maximize sales, margin and inventory productivity
• To provide other analysis related to driving business goals (e.g. range hindsight, price curves, cross-selling, etc.)
• Adapt new planning processes and systems (Enterprise, Assortment Planning) and consistently utilize new methodology to achieve “best in practice” discipline
• Support the analysis on slow or poor performing products to optimize the OTB and category Stock Turn
• To contribute analysis in the S&OP meeting on the impact of forecast changes to budget plans

Job Related Knowledge

• Deep understanding of the consistent management and planning of the supplier base performance metrics, promotional planning cycle, product lifecycle, supply chain optimization for their products, business analysis and reporting
• Understanding of customer needs and wants, trends, competitive environment and market share
• Financial planning models and methodologies
• FMCG, Supply Chain and Logistics

Job Related Skills:

• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, to build relationships and drive consensus and collaboration across functional groups
• Business math acumen and analysis to comprehend financial information and reporting to make business decisions
• Forecasting financial trends up to 3 years
• Ability to forecast consumer trends and buying habits 9 – 24 months in the future
• Presentation skills with focus being on oral and written communication skills
• Proficiency on MS Office Excel, Word, Outlook and Power Point
• Complex Problem solving
• Report Writing
• Retail mathematical calculations (e.g. variance to last year, percent of total, turn, Open-to-Buy and sales per square foot)
• Ability to solve practical problems and deal with a variety of concrete variables in situations where only limited standardization exists.

Job Experience

• Ideal min 5-7 years of experience in: retail merchandise planning, demand forecasting; inventory management, allocation or replenishment; financial planning or financial analysis experience
• Strong problem-solving and analytical skills; strong aptitude with numbers; retail math skills, understanding of forecasting methodology
• Ability to make decisions with limited information but also able to synthesize large quantities of data to drive business decisions
• Previous experience in enterprise planning or similar planning systems advantageous
• Experience in retail replenishment and allocation; retail sales, category planning or merchandising experience desirable

Education:

• B Comm Finance or relevant B Degree
• Leading and Deciding
• Interaction and Presenting
• Analysing and Interpreting
• Planning and Organising
• Delivering results and meeting customer's expectations