Category Planner (OWNDAYS)

We are looking for an Assistant Manager, Category Planning to manage category planning across our retail network. The role will be responsible for ensuring the right stock is available at the right store/location at the right time, while maintaining healthy inventory levels and minimizing excess and ageing inventory.

This is a highly execution-oriented role and requires someone with retail category management experience, an analytical mindset and a good understanding of the category management and movement of stock across the retail distribution ecosystem.

Key Responsibilities

• Manage the overall portfolio of brands for OWNDAYS
• Analysis of category to understand the gaps in category to drive business
• Liaison with muti-national teams to drive category objectives
• Experience in buy planning, OTB management and assortment planning preferred
• Drive inventory planning based on sales trends, store requirements and inventory levels
• Track inventory availability, ageing, excess/slow-moving stock and identify potential stock-out risks
• Develop and maintain category reports, dashboards and trackers to provide visibility on key category metrics
• Support category forecasting and planning for new launches, campaigns, seasonality and business requirements
• Monitor inventory health across categories and recommend corrective actions
• Identify operational bottlenecks and work with relevant teams to improve business performance and category performance
• Support visual merchandising requirements by ensuring appropriate product availability and assortment at stores

Requirements:

• 3-4 years of relevant experience, preferably in retail planning, category planning, inventory planning or supply chain planning
• Prior experience with D2C brands, retail businesses, quick-commerce/offline operations or similar environments is preferred
• Strong first-principle problem-solving skills and ability to communicate the same to different stakeholder
• Strong proficiency in Excel – data analysis, pivot tables, lookups, dashboards, etc
• Data-driven mindset with strong analytical skills
• AI-first in their thinking