Senior Planner

Job description / Role

Objective:

This position is responsible for leading pre-season and in-season merchandise planning by forecasting sales, managing inventory levels, and supporting the achievement of sales and margin targets. The role plays a key part in building buying budgets, driving category performance, and ensuring alignment between planning, buying, and retail operations.

Key responsibility:

Pre-season planning

• Prepare and approve seasonal commercial strategies for assigned categories.
• Lead the development and release of buying budgets (OTB) and oversee assortment planning.
• Monitor range building, pricing controls, and intake margins to support planned sales and margin targets.
• Supervise initial stock distribution and store-level allocations to ensure optimal merchandise mix.

In-season planning

• Reforecast sales and revise budgets based on in-season trends and performance.
• Monitor sales, identify underperforming areas, and implement corrective measures.
• Lead weekly trade meetings, conduct quarterly reviews, and deliver analytical presentations to management.
• Plan and execute discounting and markdown strategies aligned with inventory health.
• Oversee supply planning in coordination with supply chain and logistics teams.

Operational planning & coordination

• Track LFL (like-for-like) growth and budget achievement across departments.
• Manage store-level inventory and ensure the availability of core products at all times.
• Launch new product categories in alignment with seasonal plans and ensure timely replenishment.
• Conduct regular inter-store consolidations to optimize inventory and maximize sell-through.
• Coordinate with the retail and buying teams on weekly reports, performance reviews, and corrective action plans.
• Flag inventory-related concerns to the planning manager and buying head for timely resolution.
• Assist in preparing detailed buying budgets and assortment plans per department.

Desired experience:

• 2-5 years of progressive experience in retail or merchandise planning, with a focus on sales forecasting, inventory management, and trend analysis.
• Proficient in ERP systems, MS Excel, and other Microsoft applications.
• Strong understanding of end-to-end supply chain processes including procurement, distribution, and logistics.
• Bachelor's degree in business, supply chain management, logistics, operations, or a related field is preferred.

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.