Merchandise Demand Planner

Job description / Role

Merchandise Demand Planner - Guess!

INSPIRE | EXHILARATE | DELIGHT

For over six decades, Chalhoub Group has been a partner and creator of luxury experiences in the Middle East. The Group, in its endeavour to excel as a hybrid retailer, has reinforced its distribution and marketing services with a portfolio of eight owned brands and over 300 international brands in the luxury, beauty, fashion, and art de vivre categories. More recently, the Group expanded its expertise into new categories of luxury watches, jewellery, and eyewear.

Every step at Chalhoub Group is taken with the customer at heart. Be it constantly reinventing itself or focusing on innovation to provide luxury experiences at over 750+ experiential retail stores, online and through mobile apps, each touch point leads to delighting the customer.

Today, Chalhoub Group stands for 14,000 skilled and talented professionals across seven countries, whose cohesive efforts have resulted in the Group being ranked third in the Middle East and first in Saudi Arabia as a Great Place to Work®.

To keep the innovation journey going, the Group has set up "The Greenhouse", which is not just an innovation hub, but also an incubator space and accelerator for start-ups and small businesses in the region and internationally. This is just one of the several initiatives taken by the Group to reinvent itself, catalysed by forward thinking and future-proofing. The Group has also been embedding sustainability at the core of its business strategy with a clear commitment towards people, partners and the planet, and by being a member of the United Nations Global Compact Community and signatory of the Women's Empowerment Principles.

What you'll be doing

The Demand and Merchandising Planner will use a product-driven approach to optimize sales, margin and inventory in an omnichannel environment. The role will forecast future seasonal demand at category - subcategory level for each region, as well as NOOS and basic lines to maximize sales, collaborating with key stakeholders.

The Role will also be responsible to lead the OTB working in collaboration with commercial, Retail, Finance, Ecommerce as well as other roles within Supply Chain.

To succeed in this role, you should be professional, highly analytical, strategic, and possess excellent communication skills. The successful candidate should also have an in-depth knowledge of advanced merchandising and forecasting practices.

Key Responsibilities

- Define the sales plan and OTB by partnering with Buying, Finance, Retail, and Ecommerce business to develop the local merchandise strategy, using input from sales trends, modeling techniques, market conditions, and supplier direction to drive profitable decision-making.
- Monitor Inventory Aging and recommend actions on markdowns and liquidation to achieve inventory targets considering Category and Brand identity.
- Drive pricing strategy and plan seasonal markdowns by item to maximize sales and gross margin in collaboration with Buying and Retail.
- Assess and highlight risks and opportunities on sales, gross margin and inventory, based on supply or demand gaps, recommending possible solutions.
- Re-plan business in-season based on latest performance and present it to management with recommendations
- Develop and provide buying with category assortment recommendations plans by Channel / Region / Store which are aligned with the merchandise strategy and proactively suggest improvements to optimize revenue and profitability
- Monitor inventory mix in each location and recommend seasonal stock transfers, if needed, to boost sales.
- Own the Continuity (NOOS) Product demand forecasting through scenario building and continuous monitoring and improvement of sales velocity planning models
- Customize merchandise strategy adjusted for local market needs in collaboration with Buying and Suppliers through execution of proper phase-in/out, and category/family mix adjustments
- Optimize & execute reporting to foster clear understanding and tailored communication of business performance amongst all internal and external stakeholders

Typical KPI for this function:

- Forecast accuracy, Forecast Bias, MAPE
- Quality of the stock mix
- Aging of the stock
- Net Working Capital
- Range efficiency
- Full Price Sell Through
- Full Price Gross Margin

Requirements

What you'll need to succeed

Your Profile:

- Preferably graduated with a Bachelor degree in Science, Engineering, Business, Fashion Merchandising
- 3+ years of experience in Demand Planning in Fashion Retail or luxury industry
- Proven track record of CPI (Continuing Process Improvement)
- Highly analytical and data-driven working comfortably with quantitative figures
- Advanced knowledge of excel and MS office and planning tools
- Experience in of forecasting, merchandise planning, allocation, replenishment and financial planning processes and systems
- Commercially minded problem-solver with proven track-record of delivering financial targets
- Strong stakeholder management, aiming for win-win solution
- Excellent communication, influencing and presentation skills
- Knowledge of retail & fashion business
- Communicate with candour and value open debate to ensure the best ideas come to life, collaborating with stakeholders
- Self-starter enthusiastic and pragmatic

What we can offer you

With us, you will turn your aspirations into reality. We will help shape your journey through enriching experiences, learning and development opportunities and exposure to different assignments within your role or through internal mobility. Our Group offers diverse career paths for those who are extraordinary, every day.

We recognise the value that you bring, and we strive to provide a competitive benefits package which includes health care, child education contribution, remote and flexible working policies as well as exclusive employee discounts. To view all our perks and benefits, click here.

We Invite All Applicants to Apply

It Takes Diversity Of Thought, Culture, Background, Differing Abilities and Perspectives to truly Inspire, Exhilarate and Delight our customers. At Chalhoub Group, we are committed to inclusion and diversity.

We welcome all applicants to apply and be part of our exciting future. We ensure equal opportunity for all our applicants without regard to gender, age, race, religion, national origin or disability status.

About the Company

The Chalhoub Group is the leading partner for luxury across the Middle East since 1955. As an expert in retail, distribution and marketing services based in Dubai, the group has become a major player in the fashion, beauty and gift sectors regionally.

By blending its Middle East expertise and intimate knowledge of luxury, Chalhoub Group is building brands in the region, by offering service excellence to all its partners and a unique experience to its customers through its passionate teams.

With a growing workforce of more than 9,000 people, implemented in 14 countries, as well as the operating of over 470 retail outlets, the group's success is attributed to its most valued asset of highly skilled and dedicated teams. Professionalism and passion are what fuel the Chalhoub Group's competitive edge in today's market.

By being committed to implementing sustainable practices into their business, the Chalhoub Group has been awarded in 2013 the CSR Label from the Dubai Chamber of Commerce.