Sales Planner (Import / Export)

Sales Planner (Import / Export) – Milnerton, Cape Town.

Sales Planner, preferably with relevant tertiary qualification and minimum 3-5 years’ sales planning experience with advanced Excel skills required to join this Import and Distribution Company based in Cape Town.

Excellent career development opportunity for a dedicated, focused and meticulous candidate.

Salary: R30 000 – R35 000 per month.

Minimum Requirements:

• Relevant Degree or similar essential.
• Minimum 3-5 years’ experience in an import/export environment required.
• Own transport required.
• Strong Excel skills required.
• Clear communication skills essential.

Responsibilities:

• Regularly monitor and evaluate the accuracy of sales forecasts, adjusting models and strategies as needed to improve accuracy.
• Work closely with the Sales Manager to ensure that inventory levels align with forecasted demand, avoiding excess or insufficient stock.
• Develop and maintain inventory models to ensure optimal stock levels across multiple customer locations (stores).
• Generate regular reports on key performance indicators (KPIs) such as forecast accuracy, inventory turns, and stock-out rates.
• Work closely with Procurement, Sales, and Marketing teams to align sales forecasts with business strategies, commercial trends, and other factors that can impact demand.
• Liaise with the Procurement Department to gather information on lead times and any potential supply chain disruptions.
• Communicate effectively with various stakeholders (customers and internal team) to provide insights into demand planning decisions and potential supply chain issues.
• Stay abreast of industry trends and emerging technologies to drive continuous improvement initiatives in demand planning processes to enhance efficiency and accuracy.
• Develop and maintain accurate sales forecasts using historical sales data, market trends, and business insights.
• Continuously update forecasts based on real-time sales data, market conditions, and promotional activities.
• Monitor inventory levels and turnover rates. Work closely with sales, marketing, and finance teams to understand promotional activities.
• Lead and utilize portals to pull forecasts and POS sales reports.
• Develop a goal to hit best forecast accuracy (3-5% variance).
• Analyze data to identify areas for improvement in demand and supply planning processes.
• To be accountable for forecast accuracy within the allocated categories.
• To be accountable for optimized inventory levels within the allocated categories and minimum order quantity within the allocated categories.
• To recognize and reconcile forecast exceptions to track and manage sales against forecast and validate forecast for OTB management of customers.
• To enable the sales teams by providing a timeous, accurate, and optimal sales forecast.
• Conduct planning to ensure alignment with the forecasting by the vendors.
• Present historical vs actual analysis in line with annual budget & BPE as well as promotional plan.