The Junior Planner manages the product lifecycle over a multi-period view to maximise sales and gross profit for cellular by developing, forecasting, and actively managing accurate budget plans and stock allocation and fulfilment targets.
Responsibilities
Post-mortem and seasonal strategy
Analyse portfolio performance versus plan, current trade, product and supplier performance, market activity and missed opportunities.
Extract prior-season learnings and work with Location Planning, Sourcing, Operations, Visual Merchandising, Marketing, E-commerce and Distribution Centre teams to apply them.
Support the development and presentation of the seasonal product strategy, including objectives, top-line financial plans, post-mortem and current-trade analysis, Open to Buy, test money, pricing and supplier strategies.
Partner with Location Planning to review zero-based plans and identify missed store opportunities.
Assortment and financial planning
Prepare and present balanced product assortment plans with Buying and Location Planning, aligned to seasonal strategy and department review-plan targets.
Consider sub-categories, planned promotions, volume opportunities, store profiles, optimums, price points and replenishment requirements.
Verify that KPIs, width and depth, PMO and sales targets are aligned and consistently flowed through the season and across store profiles.
Forecasting and stock management
Support timely order placement with strategic suppliers to meet planned demand.
Develop accurate sales forecasts and maintain forecasting and replenishment tools to support optimal stock levels, revenue and gross profit.
Review and adapt put-into-stock plans in response to supplier, Distribution Centre or other external constraints.
Assist with forward-order-book adjustments and action underperforming stock through markdowns, promotions or product-presentation responses.
Track stock ageing and help ensure stock ratios remain aligned to strategy and KPIs.
Current trade and execution
Continuously analyse current-season trade against plan and review portfolio performance across all KPIs.
Recommend and execute trade actions, with guidance, to optimise opportunities, minimise risk and manage stock levels.
Complete clear weekly trade analysis and commentary; communicate changes and actions to management and impacted teams.
Conduct store and competitor visits to assess trade, customer relevance and product assortments.
Follow up on order creation and changes, including phasing, rolling orders for overstocks and supplier non-performance.
Support the team to ensure order raising and allocations are completed on time and in line with merchandise-calendar deadlines.
What success looks like:
Seasonal plan sales and gross-profit targets are supported through sound analysis and effective execution.
The assortment is balanced, strategy-led and aligned to planned sales, PMO, markdown, clearance, stock-depreciation and service-level objectives.
Forecasts, stock turn, stock ageing, clearance and on-time-in-full performance are actively monitored and acted on.
Orders and allocations meet critical-path requirements, and trade actions are clearly documented and executed.
Qualifications
What you bring:
Relevant tertiary qualification in Commerce, Finance, Economics, Statistics, Mathematics, Retail Business Management or a related field.
1 - 2 years' relevant experience.
Strong numeracy, analytical thinking and attention to detail.
Retail-market and industry knowledge, including an understanding of supply and demand.
Proficiency in MS Office applications and confidence working with planning data, forecasts and reports.
Clear communication skills and the ability to collaborate across multiple teams.
Commercial acumen, an understanding of customer needs, and interest in merchandise and business processes across stores and the Distribution Centre.
Working knowledge of internal MRPG systems will be advantageous.
Key working relationships;
You will work closely with Planning Management, Planners and Trainee Planners, Location Planning, Buying, QA, Sourcing and Supply Chain, Operations, Visual Merchandising, Marketing, E-commerce and the Distribution Centre. You will also engage with suppliers and external training providers where required.