Senior Space Planning & Merchandising Leader

Schlemmer (South Africa); South Africa; On-site; ZAR 1,000,000 - 1,300,000; Full time

Job summary

Schlemmer in South Africa seeks an experienced Space Planning Manager to lead the Space Planning function, optimise retail space, merchandising strategies and store profitability. This strategic role combines commercial thinking, analytics, and team leadership to maximise category performance across the retail environment.

You will partner across Buyers, Category Managers, Operations, Logistics and suppliers, build effective dashboards, and drive continuous improvement in merchandising

Qualifications

• Marketing degree required.
• Minimum 5 years' experience in a senior management role.
• Experience within retail merchandising, category management, or space planning.
• Strong analytical and commercial decision-making abilities.
• Experience working with reporting systems and data analysis.
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills.
• Strong project management and strategic planning abilities.
• Customer-focused with the ability to drive operational excellence.

Responsibilities

• Lead the delivery of the Space Planning strategy and planogram refresh programme.
• Develop merchandising space plans aligned to category strategies and shopper behaviour.
• Analyse financial performance including GP per square metre, GMROI, GMROM, GMROSS, trading density, and stock density.
• Review dashboards and reporting to support commercial decision-making.
• Drive process standardisation and continuous improvement across the Space Planning function.
• Oversee Space Planning systems, reporting tools, and data management.
• Lead data analysis to optimise merchandising, inventory, and supply chain performance.
• Align category strategies with merchandising execution at store level.
• Partner with Buyers, Category Managers, Operations, Logistics, Store Development, and suppliers.
• Build merchandising strategies that improve profitability and customer shopping experiences.
• Lead, coach, and develop the Space Planning team to achieve business objectives.

Skills

Leadership

Data analysis

Stakeholder management

Communication skills

Project management

Strategic planning

Retail merchandising

Space planning

Education

Marketing Degree

Tools

Reporting tools

Job description

Schlemmer in South Africa seeks an experienced Space Planning Manager to lead the Space Planning function, optimise retail space, merchandising strategies and store profitability. This strategic role combines commercial thinking, analytics, and team leadership to maximise category performance across the retail environment.

You will partner across Buyers, Category Managers, Operations, Logistics and suppliers, build effective dashboards, and drive continuous improvement in merchandising