Manager - Planning - Women's Wear

SUMMARY

To lead and manage category planning for Women’s Western Wear by developing robust assortment and inventory strategies aligned with customer trends, business objectives, and market dynamics. The role ensures optimal stock levels, achieves sales and margin targets, and supports seamless coordination between buying, retail, and supply chain teams.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Category Planning & Assortment Management

• Own the category planning process for Women’s Western Wear, ensuring alignment with business goals, market trends, and customer preferences.
• Develop assortment plans that balance fashion trends, price points, and seasonal demand across sub-categories.
• Collaborate with the buying team to ensure assortment strategies are effectively translated into product selection and launch calendars.
• Work closely with the planning and retail teams to forecast demand and supply, minimizing stock-outs and overstock situations.
• Monitor product performance, analyzing sales, sell-through rates, and customer feedback to make data-driven assortment adjustments.

Inventory & Open-to-Buy (OTB) Management

• Prepare and manage inventory plans, including monthly and seasonal replenishment strategies.
• Optimize Open-to-Buy allocations ensuring efficient capital deployment and stock rotation.
• Track stock turns, ageing, and markdowns to recommend corrective actions and maximize profitability.
• Coordinate with supply chain and logistics teams to ensure timely replenishment and reduce lead times.

Trend Analysis & Market Insight

• Stay abreast of market trends, customer behavior, and competitive activity to inform assortment planning and inventory decisions.
• Work with the buying and marketing teams to align product offerings with emerging customer preferences and lifestyle shifts.
• Participate in market visits and collaborate with vendors to anticipate supply constraints and demand shifts.

Collaboration & Cross-functional Support

• Partner with the buying team to ensure seamless execution of assortment and launch plans.
• Support marketing initiatives by providing category-level insights for campaigns, promotions, and merchandising strategies.
• Work with retail teams to assess in-store performance and implement layout or display improvements to enhance customer experience.
• Provide data-backed recommendations to senior management to support strategic planning.

Financial Performance

• Track category performance metrics such as sales, gross margin, stock turns, and sell-through rates.
• Provide forecasts and actionable recommendations to achieve revenue and profitability targets.
• Support budgeting, planning, and reporting processes for the category.

Process Improvement

• Identify opportunities to improve planning processes, forecasting accuracy, and inventory efficiency.
• Drive initiatives to enhance data-driven decision-making across the category planning function.