Planning Analyst - Cape Town

Clicks Group is a retail-led healthcare group which has been listed on the JSE Limited since 1996. Through market-leading retail brands Clicks, GNC, The Body Shop and Claire's, the group has over 840 stores across southern Africa. Clicks Group is a leader in the healthcare market where Clicks has the largest retail pharmacy chain with over 620 in-store pharmacies, while United Pharmaceutical Distributors (UPD) is South Africa's leading full-range national pharmaceutical wholesaler.Job Objectives In collaboration with the Category Buyer, build a strategic plan for Category incorporating an understanding of customer needs and wants, trends, competitive environment and market share To develop the annual merchandise financial plan by department for sales, stocks, margins, GP and markdowns taking into account key and relevant financial metrics and inputs To partner and support relevant key stakeholders on the development of pre-season sales, markdown, margin, receipt and inventory targets aligned to the strategic business goals whilst ensuring assortments that balance range and space requirements for all stores To develop and monitor projections, inventory flow, and seasonal sell-off plans as well as validate monthly forecast for open-to-buy management To analyze and reflect current trends in performance of strategy based on actual sales performance; revise in-season plans for sales and profitability To prepare and continuously monitor financial budgets and forecasts for the departments by store / channel by product lifecycle and to re-forecast the merchandise financial plans in line with current performance (monthly and weekly), new initiatives or significant deviations, at the appropriate level & review with relevant key stakeholders in order to maximize sales, margin and inventory productivity To provide other analysis related to driving business goals (e.g. range hindsight, price curves, cross-selling, etc.) To prepare buy plans for key events e.g.: Christmas, Easter etc. Adapt new planning processes and systems (Enterprise, Assortment Planning) and consistently utilize new methodology to achieve 'best in practice' discipline Support the analysis on slow or poor performing products to optimize the OTB and category Stock Turn To contribute analysis in the S&OP meeting on the impact of forecast changes to budget plans Minimum requirements Job Related Knowledge Essential Deep understanding of the consistent management and planning of the supplier base performance metrics, promotional planning cycle, product lifecycle, supply chain optimization for their products, business analysis and reporting Understanding of customer needs and wants, trends, competitive environment and market share Financial planning models and methodologies FMCG, Supply Chain and Logistics Job Related Skills Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, to build relationships and drive consensus and collaboration across functional groups Business math acumen and analysis to comprehend financial information and reporting to make business decisions Forecasting financial trends up to 3 years Ability to forecast consumer trends and buying habits 9 - 24 months in the future Presentation skills with focus being on oral and written communication skills Proficiency on MS Office Excel, Word, Outlook and Power Point Complex Problem solving Report Writing Retail mathematical calculations (e.g. variance to last year, percent of total, turn, Open-to-Buy and sales per square foot) Ability to solve practical problems and deal with a variety of concrete variables in situations where only limited standardization exists. Job Experience Essential Ideal min 5-7 years of experience in: retail merchandise planning, demand forecasting; inventory management, allocation or replenishment; financial planning or financial analysis experience Strong problem-solving and analytical skills; strong aptitude with numbers; retail math skills, understanding of forecasting methodology Ability to make decisions with limited information but also able to synthesize large quantities of data to drive business decisions Desirable Previous experience in enterprise planning or similar planning systems advantageous Experience in retail replenishment and allocation; retail sales, category planning or merchandising experience desirable Education B Comm Finance or relevant B Degree