Assistant Manager - Planning

Job description / Role

Key responsibilities

• Assist in sales forecasting, cost to buy planning, and inventory management across fashion, beauty, and lifestyle categories.
• Drive data-based business analysis for weekly, monthly, and seasonal performance reviews.
• Partner with category and merchandising teams to ensure accurate planning, replenishment, and stock allocation.
• Monitor sell-through performance, pricing, and promotions to optimize margin and conversion.
• Maintain detailed Excel-based dashboards covering GMV, margins, discounts, and category performance.
• Identify growth opportunities and risks through data trends and competitor benchmarking.
• Collaborate with finance, logistics, and marketing teams for stock, pricing, and campaign planning.
• Provide decision-support analysis for management presentations and business reviews.
• Ensure data accuracy and reporting discipline across all planning tools and trackers.

Key requirements

• Bachelor's degree in business, finance, economics, or related discipline.
• 3-5 years of experience in planning, merchandising, or business analytics within e-commerce or fashion retail.
• Prior experience with major platforms such as Myntra, Namshi, Noon, Trendyol, Amazon, or similar preferred.
• Exceptional proficiency in Microsoft Excel (pivot tables, lookups, advanced formulas) and data analysis.
• Strong understanding of GMV, margin, sell-through, and stock KPIs.
• Excellent analytical, logical, and communication skills.
• Self-motivated, proactive, and able to work in a fast-paced, high-pressure environment.
• Strong ownership mindset – a 'numbers person' who enjoys digging deep into data and delivering actionable insights.

Key KPIs

• Accuracy of demand forecast and business projections.
• Achievement of GMV, sell-through, and margin targets.
• Timeliness and quality of reporting and analytics.
• Improvement in inventory efficiency and stock health.
• Contribution to data-driven commercial decision-making.

About the Company

The Apparel Group is a global fashion and lifestyle brand conglomerate residing on the crossroads of a modern economy - Dubai, UAE. The mercurial growth in the last 17 years has been by acquiring a host of world class fashion labels from around the world - Nine West, Tommy Hilfiger, Kenneth Cole, Aldo & Tim Hortons just to name a few.

Today the group caters to thousands of eager shoppers through its over 1530 stores, 75 International brands and employing 12,000 multi cultural staff in over 4 continents. Apparel believes in turning dreams in to reality and we give everyone - our customers, our stakeholders, our employees - an equal opportunity to do so.

Apparel group has carved its strong presence not only in the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, and Saudi Arabia but opened thriving gateways to market in India, South Africa, Poland, Singapore, Jordan, Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia. Additionally, clear strategies are in place to enter emerging markets such as Hungary, Pakistan, Egypt and Philippines.