Planner: Brackenfell - Shoprite Group

About the role    

The purpose of the Planner role is to drive the planning, analysis and optimisation of merchandise performance for an assigned General Merchandise portfolio by developing robust sales, inventory, intake, assortment, margin and promotional plans that support profitable growth, stock efficiency and customer availability.

The role is accountable for translating trading data, customer demand patterns, financial targets and inventory performance into actionable planning recommendations that enable Buyers, Replenishment, Supply Chain, Finance and Operations to make informed commercial decisions.

The Planner acts as a planning subject matter resource within the assigned portfolio, proactively identifying risks and opportunities, challenging assumptions, improving forecast accuracy and strengthening planning disciplines that support sustainable category performance.

What you'll do    

Merchandise Planning and Performance Analysis

• Develop, analyse and maintain sales, margin, inventory, intake, markdown and promotional plans to evaluate portfolio performance against agreed commercial targets.
• Investigate trading variances, quantify the impact of performance gaps and diagnose root causes of over-performance and under-performance.
• Recommend planning actions to maximise sales and margin, improve inventory productivity and support delivery of category performance objectives.
• Track key merchandise performance indicators, identify emerging risks and opportunities, and escalate insights with clear recommendations and commercial rationale.
• Provide data-driven decision support that improves sales performance, profitability, stock health, availability and range productivity.

Forecasting and Inventory Optimisation

• Build, maintain and refine demand forecasts using historical trading data, customer demand patterns, seasonality, promotional activity and business trends.
• Review forecast accuracy, challenge planning assumptions and recommend adjustments that improve stock availability, service levels and inventory efficiency.
• Monitor inventory performance using key measures such as stock turn, weeks cover, stock-to-sales ratios and sell-through performance.
• Identify and address inventory risks, including overstocks, stock imbalances, slow-moving inventory, aged stock, stock-outs and availability constraints.
• Recommend stock interventions that balance availability, working capital, clearance activity, stock turn and margin outcomes.

Assortment and Range Planning

• Evaluate assortment performance and recommend range actions that improve sales density, margin contribution, stock efficiency and customer relevance.
• Analyse store, cluster, regional and channel performance to inform ranging, allocation and inventory placement decisions.
• Investigate customer and demographic trends to support assortment planning decisions.
• Monitor the effectiveness of store clustering and recommend improvements where appropriate.
• Contribute to category and assortment reviews by providing commercial analysis, scenario modelling and planning recommendations.

Promotional and Commercial Performance

• Plan, analyse and evaluate promotional and event performance to determine sales uplift, margin impact, stock sufficiency and achievement against business objectives.
• Assess promotional forecast accuracy and identify opportunities to improve promotional planning, stock readiness and return on investment.
• Investigate missed sales, margin leakage and stock availability issues, and recommend corrective actions to recover performance.
• Use scenario modelling and sensitivity analysis to support pricing, promotional, intake, markdown and stock investment decisions.

Stakeholder Collaboration

• Partner with Buyers, Replenishment, Supply Chain, Finance and Store Operations to align planning recommendations with category strategy, stock flow and commercial priorities.
• Provide stakeholders with clear planning insights, options and recommendations that support timely and commercially sound decision-making.
• Resolve routine and moderately complex merchandise planning issues by applying commercial judgement, data analysis and cross-functional input.
• Present findings, risks, trade-offs and recommendations in a concise and evidence-based manner to influence stakeholder action.
• Build strong working relationships that enable effective execution of merchandise strategies, planning decisions and corrective actions.

Planning Governance and Continuous Improvement

• Monitor the effectiveness of planning assumptions, models, parameters and outcomes to ensure planning outputs remain commercially relevant and accurate.
• Review planning processes, data inputs and reporting outputs, and recommend improvements that strengthen forecast accuracy, inventory productivity and decision quality.
• Document planning assumptions, methodologies, decisions and performance learnings to support governance, consistency and future planning cycles.
• Contribute to the enhancement of planning tools, dashboards, reports and disciplines to improve efficiency, accuracy and visibility of portfolio performance.
• Share insights, lessons learnt and planning best practices to strengthen capability and consistency across the broader planning team.

What you bring    

• Degree or Diploma in Commerce, Supply Chain Management, Retail Business Management, Economics, Statistics, Mathematics, or a related field – (essential).
• + 5 years’ experience in Merchandise Planning, Demand Planning, Inventory Planning, or a related retail planning environment – (essential).
• Demonstrated experience managing a merchandise planning portfolio within a retail, FMCG, or merchandise environment – (essential).
• Strong knowledge and application of forecasting, inventory management, assortment planning, merchandise planning principles, and planning methodologies – (essential).
• Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Office 365 with an advanced level of Excel skill – (essential).
• Strong numerical, analytical, and commercial problem-solving capability – (essential).
• SAP Retail experience – (desired).
• Arthur / Enterprise Planning experience – (desired).
• Experience within General Merchandise, Non-Foods, Hardlines, or a similar merchandise retail environment – (desired).
• Exposure to Power BI, SQL, business intelligence, or data visualisation tools – (desired).