IND_Demand Planner

About Lowe's:

Lowe’s is a FORTUNE® 100 home improvement company serving approximately 16 million customer transactions a week in the United States. With total fiscal year 2024 sales of more than $83 billion, Lowe’s operates over 1,700 home improvement stores and employs approximately 300,000 associates. Based in Mooresville, N.C., Lowe’s supports the communities it serves through programs focused on creating safe, affordable housing, improving community spaces, helping to develop the next generation of skilled trade experts and providing disaster relief to communities in need. For more information, visit Lowes.com.

Lowe’s India, the Global Capability Center of Lowe’s Companies Inc., is a hub for driving our technology, business, analytics, and shared services strategy. Based in Bengaluru with over 4,500 associates, it powers innovations across omnichannel retail, AI/ML, enterprise architecture, supply chain, and customer experience. From supporting and launching homegrown solutions to fostering innovation through its Catalyze platform, Lowe’s India plays a pivotal role in transforming home improvement retail while upholding strong commitment to social impact and sustainability. For more information, visit Lowes India

About the Team:

The Demand Planning team is responsible for achieving desired forecast accuracy metrics, supporting sales and profit goals while achieving inventory productivity and in-stock goals.

Job Summary:

Demand Planner creates and maintains accurate item/location level forecasts for a group of product categories. Incorporating business intelligence, historical performance, and insights gathered from merchants, suppliers, marketing, planning & replenishment, and other sources into the demand forecast. Demand Planner is responsible for achieving desired KPIs – forecast accuracy and bias metrics, supporting sales and profit goals while achieving inventory productivity and in-stock goals.

Core Responsibilities:

• Responsible for maintaining the highest degree of forecast at item and stores level based on industry trends and demand patterns.
• Conduct forecast review and analysis to assess demand trends, measure forecast accuracy and recommend data-driven adjustments.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to support product lifecycle milestones, ensuring accurate demand planning for new items.
• Propose and implement forecasting improvements to enhance demand accuracy and efficiency.
• Partner with SSCM (US stakeholders) to review KPIs, gather market insights, and translating market insights into actionable forecast adjustments
• Oversee reset execution, ensuring product availability aligns with merchandising strategies and store needs.
• Provide weekly performance recaps, including ASE performance reviews, root cause analysis, and action plans aligned with business operations.
• Monitor and ensure KPI metrics consistently meet business goals.
• Update promotion forecasts in systems for planned events.
• Track and report on significant changes in sales forecasts, budgets, and business strategies to drive informed decision-making.
• Manage new store forecast adjustments, ensuring optimal inventory allocation for store openings and early sales phases.
• Address demand-related issues promptly and effectively to minimize disruptions.
• Attend Monthly forecast review meetings to align forecasts with business objectives and market trends.
• Participate in business meetings, translating market insights into actionable forecast adjustments.
• Build strong partnerships with SSCM Demand Planners and Inventory Replenishment teams (SSCM & SSCB) to drive seamless operations.
• Identify areas of opportunities and drive collaborative projects

Years of Experience:

Overall 2+ years of Experience

• 2 years of experience in Supply chain Management or Inventory Management
• 2+ years’ experience demand planning
• 1+ years’ experience reporting and data analytics

Required Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering, Supply Chain Management, Operations Research or Related Field
• MBA or master’s degree in Supply Chain or operations management

Skill Set Required:

Primary Skills (must have)

• Experience in demand planning, forecasting, or supply chain management.
• Ability to analyze data and identify trends, seasonality, outliers.
• Strong attention to detail to ensure accuracy in data analysis and reporting.
• Moderate proficiency in forecasting tools and inventory management systems
• Ability to collaborate cross-functionally with merchandising, supply chain, and operations teams.
• Experienced in any of the planning tools such as SAP APO, o9, JDA, Oracle Demantra etc.
• Excellent writing and communication skills, support in developing analytical documents for presentation to management
• Excellent problem-solving and time management skills

Secondary Skills (desired)

• Experience in Data mining and visualization tool such as Power BI, SQL, MS Access and Excel
• Experience with JDA Fulfillment and Allocation
• Experience of retail industry