Merchandise Planner – Fashion

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 Merchandise Planner II will use a data-driven approach to optimize sales, margin and inventory in an omnichannel environment. They will forecast future seasonal demand at category – subcategory level for each region, maximize sell-thru in-season by collaborating with key stakeholders: Commercial, Finance, Ecommerce and Buying. Responsible to lead the OTB, pricing & gross margin impact, end of product lifecycle process working in collaboration with Commercial, Buying, Finance, Ecommerce as well as other roles within Supply Chain.

Key Responsibilities

Area of responsibility:
Define the sales plan and OTB by partnering with Buying, Finance, Retail, and Ecommerce business to develop the merchandise strategy, using data-driven input from sales trends, market conditions and supplier demands to drive profitable decision making.

Develop and provide buying with category assortment recommendations plans and sizing analysis by Channel / Region / Store and sell through reports at SKU Level by stores which are aligned with the merchandise strategy and proactively suggest improvements to optimize revenue and profitability through what if Scenarios.

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

Monitor inventory mix in each location and recommend seasonal stock transfers, if needed, in order to boost sales.

Typical KPI for this function:
Stock Holding
Quality of the stock mix
Aging of the stock
Net Working Capital
Range efficiency
Forecast accuracy
Full Price Sell Through

 What you’ll need to succeed

• Preferably graduated with a Bachelor degree in Science or Busines
  • 3+ years of experience in Planning in Fashion Retail or FMCG
  • 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 candor and value open debate to ensure the best ideas come to life, collaborating with
  stakeholders
  • Self starter enthusiastic and pragmatic
  • Proficient in the English language
  • Full Price Gross Margin 

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.  

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.