Merchandise Planner

Merchandise and sales planning

• Develop seasonal, monthly, and weekly merchandise plans aligned with Nysaa's sales and commercial objectives.
• Forecast sales, stock, intake, and inventory by category, brand, store, and channel.
• Analyze historical sales, market trends, seasonality, and promotions.
• Track performance against budgets, forecasts, and targets; recommend corrective actions.
• Support assortment and range plans based on customer demand and commercial performance.

Inventory and stock management

• Maintain effective inventory levels and stock availability across stores.
• Monitor stock cover, sell-through, stock turn, ageing, and availability.
• Identify overstock, understock, slow-moving, and non-performing products and recommend actions.
• Coordinate replenishment and allocation with Supply Chain and Operations.
• Maintain store-level allocation and replenishment plans.
• Prepare initial stock and assortment requirements for new store openings.

Open-to-Buy and financial planning

• Manage and monitor the Open-to-Buy plan with Merchandising and Finance.
• Track planned versus actual sales, purchases, stock levels, and inventory commitments.
• Recommend future purchases using sales performance and available inventory budget.
• Support markdown and clearance planning to optimize inventory and reduce aged stock.

Reporting and analysis

• Prepare regular trading and merchandise performance reports.
• Analyze sales and sales growth, sell-through, stock turn, stock cover, gross margin, average selling price, inventory ageing, availability, and markdown performance.
• Identify business risks and opportunities and provide actionable recommendations to management.
• Maintain accurate merchandise planning and reporting data.

Cross-functional collaboration

• Work with Buyers to translate category and brand strategies into commercially viable plans.
• Coordinate with Retail Operations, Marketing, Supply Chain, and Finance on store needs, promotions, stock availability, replenishment, budgets, and financial targets.

Qualifications and experience

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Finance, Retail Management, Supply Chain, Merchandising, or a related field.
• 3–5 years of experience in merchandise planning, retail planning, commercial planning, or a similar role.
• Beauty, cosmetics, fashion, or specialty retail experience is preferred.
• Experience with multiple brands, categories, and retail locations is an advantage.

Technical skills and competencies

• Strong experience in sales forecasting, inventory planning, replenishment, and commercial analysis.
• Advanced Microsoft Excel, including Pivot Tables, XLOOKUP/VLOOKUP, SUMIFS, and data analysis.
• Strong understanding of retail planning and merchandise KPIs.
• Experience with ERP, merchandising, BI, or planning systems.
• Strong analytical and numerical skills; able to interpret large datasets and turn insights into commercial actions.
• Competencies include analytical thinking, commercial acumen, planning, organization, attention to detail, problem-solving, stakeholder management, communication, collaboration, and meeting deadlines.

Key performance indicators