Strategic Planning Analyst | FMCG Inventory & Forecast

Clicks Group; Cape Town; On-site; ZAR 500,000 - 900,000; Full time

Job summary

Clicks Group in Cape Town is seeking a Planning Analyst to translate financial plans into category budgets, supporting the Category Planning team to achieve the customer and product vision.

You will develop annual merchandise plans, monitor inventory and margins, and collaborate with buyers and stakeholders to optimize assortments and store performance. This role focuses on delivering sustainable sales and profitability across FMCG retail.

Qualifications

• Experience in retail merchandise planning and demand forecasting.
• Strong financial planning and analysis skills.
• Proven ability to translate financial plans into budgets for category teams.
• Knowledge of OTB, inventory management and assortment planning.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.

Responsibilities

• Build a strategic category plan in collaboration with the Category Buyer, considering customer needs, trends and market share.
• Develop the annual merchandise financial plan by department for sales, stocks, margins and markdowns.
• Partner with stakeholders to develop pre-season sales, margin, receipt and inventory targets.
• Develop and monitor projections, inventory flow and seasonal sell-off plans; validate monthly forecasts for open-to-buy.
• Analyze performance trends and adjust in-season plans to maximize sales and profitability.
• Prepare and monitor budgets and forecasts by store/channel/product lifecycle; re-forecast as needed.
• Contribute analysis for S&OP meetings on forecast changes to budgets.
• Adapt planning processes and systems to best-in-class discipline.
• Support analysis on slow-moving products to optimize OTB and stock turn.

Skills

Merchandise planning

Forecasting

Inventory management

Open-to-Buy

Budgeting

Data analysis

Excel proficiency

Communication

Education

BComm Finance or relevant degree

Job description

Clicks Group in Cape Town is seeking a Planning Analyst to translate financial plans into category budgets, supporting the Category Planning team to achieve the customer and product vision.

You will develop annual merchandise plans, monitor inventory and margins, and collaborate with buyers and stakeholders to optimize assortments and store performance. This role focuses on delivering sustainable sales and profitability across FMCG retail.