Junior Demand Planner - (Baby / Health)

Clicks is on the hunt for a Junior Demand Planner, to ensure effective demand and statistical forecasting for assigned categories in order to drive profitability through increased sales, improved margins, and working capital productivity.

Responsibilities

1. Be accountable for forecast accuracy within the allocated categories.
2. Be accountable for optimized inventory levels within the allocated categories and minimum order quantity.
3. Partner with the Category Managers on the development of pre-season sales, markdown, margin, and inventory plans.
4. Analyze and propose to the merchandising department top line shifts in the assortment investment at the category level.
5. Monitor projections, inventory flow, and seasonal sell-off plans as well as validate monthly forecast for open to buy management.
6. Recognize and reconcile forecast exceptions to track and manage sales against forecast.
7. Determine causal factors impacting forecasts and respond appropriately (weather, moving events, promotions, etc.).
8. Ensure effective stakeholder management and engagement to determine trends, identify new products, evaluate risks, and determine inventory and replenishment requirements.
9. Generate and deliver accurate and timely management reports and maintain key metrics against goals to analyze forecast performance.
10. Effectively analyze post-promotional and event data to determine opportunities and improve future forecasts.
11. Lead and prepare for the consensus forecast meetings with key stakeholders to enhance insights and decisions.
12. Ensure the effective execution of the range review process to assist the Category Team in determining optimal range.

Education

Diploma in Purchasing / Business Management Financial / Retail Management (Desirable). Bachelor's Degree in Statistics, Math, Decision Science, Marketing, Business, or related area or equivalent experience.

Job Experience

Strong planning and buying experience with solid understanding of financial and statistical analysis of both 1 - 3 years' experience in Demand Planning in a retail / FMCG environment. Distributions requirement planning and other supply chain processes such as production planning, scheduling, and transportation. Supply chain software knowledge (BY / EP) advantageous (Desirable).

Job Related Knowledge

1. Retail / FMCG Demand Forecasting, Supply Chain, and Logistics.
2. Data analysis models.
3. Ability to understand and fine-tune algorithms for optimal forecast performance.
4. Execution of the new stores / lines / products process using required commercial acumen.
5. Understanding of the consistent management and planning of the supplier base performance metrics, promotional planning cycle, product lifecycle, supply chain optimization for their products, business analysis, and reporting.
6. Financial planning models and methodologies (Desirable).
7. Understanding of customer needs and wants, trends, competitive environment, and market share (Desirable).

Job Skills

1. Causal factor determination and event-driven adjustments.
2. Deep analytical skills.
3. Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, to build relationships and drive consensus and collaboration across functional groups.
4. Business math acumen and analysis to comprehend financial information and reporting to make business decisions.
5. Forecasting consumer trends and buying habits 9 – 24 months in the future.
6. Complex decision making based on statistics, trends, and opinions.
7. Presentation skills with focus on oral and written communication skills.
8. Proficiency in MS Office Excel, Word, Outlook, PowerPoint, spreadsheets, and databases.
9. Complex problem solving.
10. Retail financial & mathematical calculations (e.g., variance to last year, percent of total, turn, Open-to-Buy).
11. Strong negotiating and influencing skills.

Competencies

1. Deciding and Initiating Action.
2. Persuading and Influencing.
3. Presenting and Communicating Information.
4. Analysing.
5. Planning and Organising.
6. Delivering Results & Meeting Customer Expectations.
7. Adapting and Responding to Change.
8. Coping with Pressures and Setbacks.
9. Entrepreneurial and Commercial Thinking.