Head of Planning

Established in the 1930s as a trading business, Al-Futtaim Group today is one
of the most diversified and progressive, privately held regional businesses
headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Structured into five operating
divisions; automotive, financial services, real estate, retail and healthcare;
employing more than ‎35,000 employees across more than ‎20 countries in the
Middle East, Asia and Africa, Al-Futtaim Group partners with over ‎200 of the
world's most admired and innovative brands. Al-Futtaim Group's
entrepreneurship and relentless customer focus enables the organization to
continue to grow and expand; responding to the changing needs of our customers
within the societies in which we operate.
By upholding our values of respect, excellence, collaboration and integrity;
Al-Futtaim Group continues to enrich the lives and aspirations of our
customers each and every day

Overview of the role

The Planning Manager will be responsible for directing the development,
execution, and communication of the strategic merchandise financial plans.
This individual will partner with Buying in driving and maximizing sales and
margin. The Planning Manager is a key stake-holder and will partner with HOB,
OP's manager, Brand Partners and cross-functional teammates - leveraging
analytics and formulating strategies to drive the business.
The successful candidate must be able to move beyond applying standard
templates for solving problems, and support the team with creative, innovative
ideas that are translated into actionable insights for the business.

What you will do

• Manage, in complete partnership with Buying and Sales Operations, the six-month Seasonal Merchandise Plans for their respective areas of responsibility and with respect to the company's financial goals and targets. Guides their Planners in the development, presentation and defense of these plans.


• Manage, for their areas of responsibility, the Monthly Business Review (MBR) process by guiding the Planners in their development of sales, margin, receipt and inventory forecasts; the support of these forecasts with unit projections; and the reporting of unit performance, unit forecasts and receipt issues during the MBR meetings.


• Present top-line, cross-channel total results and forecasts at the Monthly Business Review meetings (MBR).


• Manage receipts and inventory against targeted weeks of supply objectives and partner with merchandising to recommend actions that drive sales and maximize gross margin by ensuring best receipt flow.


• Manage and guide the Planners in the development of ideal assortment to maximize sales and margin for each buy period, ensuring the appropriate costs, retails and number of customer choices to achieve each period's targets. Review and approve the Planners' unit quantities to buy and to reorder which will effectively maximize the ability of each channel to maximize sales and margin for each buy period.


• Manage markdown and promotional strategies and ensures exit strategy for seasonal lines to effectively mitigate aged inventory.


• Create Conceptual Assortment Plans (CAP) for Design needs and final Customer Choice (cc) counts by store level for assortments.


• Manage and provide direction to their Planners to partner across channels to ensure optimal inventories to best serve the customer needs, sharing inventories as needed which will maximize overall sales and margin.


• Prepare cross-channel department overviews to be presented at Weekly Business Meetings. Prepare comprehensive monthly hindsight recaps and present at monthly meetings.


• Guide the application of the lessons towards the framework for future deliveries and reaction to current business trends.


• Guide the development of their Planners' Weekly Unit Plans and Key Item programs to exploit category opportunities to drive sales and margin.


• Travel to stores on a regular basis, to observe the performance of their merchandise; to review markdown racks for future decisions on the purchase quantities of merchandise; to gain an understanding of the customer base, store layouts and back stock space; and to foster a strong working relationship with the store teams.


• Oversee the sales performance by comparing the actual sales versus the weekly targets, previous years & projections, and take corrective action in coordination with other departments

Required skills to be successful

• Strong analytical and financial skills.


• Demonstrated knowledge of industry practices and current trends.

What equips you for the role

• ‎5 -‎8 years of specialty retail experience with a minimum of ‎7 years in Planning.


• ‎2 - ‎4 years of demonstrated team leadership experience.

About Al-Futtaim Retail
Al-Futtaim Retail has established itself as one of the leaders in Retail
across the Middle East, Africa & Asia over the past ‎30 years. We have
developed partnerships with some of the biggest and most respected Brands in
the world including IKEA, ACE and Toys R Us in the Middle East and the Inditex
Group of Brands (Zara, Mango, Bershka and P&B) across Asia. We are also one of
the largest Global partners of Marks and Spencer's in both regions with over
‎75 stores offering both fashion & food options.

Most recently we have been responsible for bringing brands to the Middle East
for the first time with the exciting launches of Watsons and B&Q and we aim to
continue to be agile and adaptive to our markets with new launches and further
development. For this to be possible we aim to recruit the best talent from
all backgrounds who will continue to challenge and develop our diverse
workforce which includes over ‎100 nationalities across ‎12 countries. Join us
today and make a difference…