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For Companies At a Glance
- Tasks: As a Demand Planner, you'll ensure product availability and drive sales growth through data analysis.
- Company: Join a leading retail company committed to customer satisfaction and exceptional service.
- Benefits: Enjoy flexible working options, competitive salary, and opportunities for professional growth.
- Why this job: Make a real impact on business performance while collaborating with diverse teams in a dynamic environment.
- Qualifications: 3-5 years in demand planning or inventory management, with strong analytical and stakeholder management skills.
- Other info: Embrace a culture of continuous improvement and adaptability in a fast-paced setting.
The predicted salary is between 36000 - 60000 £ per year.
As a Demand Planner, you will play a crucial role in ensuring market-leading product availability, driving sales growth, and optimizing our inventory levels and cost to serve. You will analyze and validate demand forecasts and collaborate with various stakeholders to develop and execute effective demand planning strategies. Your role is key in maintaining our commitment to customer obsession, ensuring that we continue to deliver exceptional service and value to our customers. Your efforts will directly contribute to enhancing our bottom line, making a tangible impact on our profitability and overall business performance.
What I am accountable for:
- Cross-functional collaboration: Build and sustain strong relationships with commercial teams, including Buyers, Range Planners, Technical, and Product Development. Hold stakeholders accountable to ensure process compliance, balancing product availability and P&L performance.
- Supplier Partnerships: Proactively drive the supplier agenda by fostering trust-based strategic partnerships and developing joint business plans. Focus on enhancing network operations, optimizing stock holding, improving working capital, and achieving supplier targets.
- Data optimization: Use data analytics, market trends, performance metrics, and customer behaviour insights to solve complex problems, ensure data integrity, and optimize supply chain systems for exceptional customer availability.
- Customer Focus: Apply a customer lens across all KPIs, perform root cause analysis at various levels, and develop action plans that add value to both the bottom line and customer satisfaction (CSAT).
- Category Management: Ensure comprehensive management over category profiles, validate and communicate the impacts of future events and seasonal trade patterns to ensure success for both suppliers and retail teams.
- Risk Management: Anticipate and identify potential risks, proactively develop and implement contingency plans, and evaluate risks within the broader strategic planning context.
- Continuous Improvement: Apply a continuous improvement mindset to create and lead initiatives for your product portfolio that generate improvements in service or drive efficiencies, positively impacting both top line and Cost to Serve.
- Long-Term Planning: Drive long-term supply planning with a horizon beyond one year, considering both company ambitions and market challenges to ensure supply security and resilience.
What I need to know:
- Essential Experience: Minimum of 3-5 years in demand planning, inventory management, or a related role within the retail industry.
- Supply Chain knowledge: Deep understanding of supply chain dynamics, inventory management, and distribution strategies specific to the sector. Strong knowledge of best-in-class forecasting methods and tools in FMCG industry.
- Technical & analytical skills: Experience with complex analytics, data interrogation, and root cause analysis to solve complex problems and optimize demand planning software (e.g., SAP, Oracle, JDA, Blue Yonder).
- Customer-centric mindset: Ability to apply a customer focus across all KPIs and decision-making processes.
- Continuous improvement: Demonstrates end-to-end thinking to improve processes and KPIs, delivering efficiencies and P&L improvements.
- Stakeholder management and collaboration: Ability to develop strong business relationships, manage stakeholders, and communicate effectively across levels. Ability to tell stories and provide clear answers.
- Business acumen: Strong commercial understanding of the market and Sainsbury’s ambitions and challenges.
Desirable Adaptability: Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, dynamic environment with a flexible approach to changing priorities.
What I need to show:
- Own it: Deliver tasks and take ownership of problems you identify. Share your thoughts and challenge others constructively. Use business context and information to make decisions. Review goals regularly with your line manager.
- Make it better: Be open-minded and seek simpler, more effective ways of working. Respond positively to change and show curiosity about the business. Seek feedback and understand your strengths and areas for development. Provide fair and accurate feedback to others.
- Be human: Ask questions to understand others’ perspectives and show respect and care. Listen actively and ask questions to build relationships. Gather customer feedback and use insights to improve the customer experience.
Category Demand Planner employer: Sainsburys
Contact Detail:
Sainsburys Recruiting Team
StudySmarter Expert Advice 🤫
We think this is how you could land Category Demand Planner
✨Tip Number 1
Network with professionals in the retail and supply chain sectors. Attend industry events or webinars to connect with potential colleagues and learn about the latest trends in demand planning. This can help you gain insights into the role and make valuable connections.
✨Tip Number 2
Familiarise yourself with the specific tools and software mentioned in the job description, such as SAP or Oracle. Consider taking online courses or tutorials to enhance your technical skills, which will demonstrate your commitment and readiness for the role.
✨Tip Number 3
Prepare to discuss your experience with cross-functional collaboration. Think of examples where you've successfully worked with different teams to achieve a common goal, as this is crucial for the Demand Planner position.
✨Tip Number 4
Stay updated on market trends and customer behaviour insights relevant to the FMCG industry. Being knowledgeable about current challenges and opportunities will allow you to speak confidently about how you can contribute to the company's success during interviews.
We think you need these skills to ace Category Demand Planner
Some tips for your application 🫡
Tailor Your CV: Make sure your CV highlights relevant experience in demand planning, inventory management, and supply chain dynamics. Use specific examples that demonstrate your ability to optimise inventory levels and drive sales growth.
Craft a Compelling Cover Letter: In your cover letter, express your passion for customer-centric strategies and continuous improvement. Mention how your skills align with the company's goals and how you can contribute to enhancing their bottom line.
Showcase Analytical Skills: Emphasise your technical and analytical skills in your application. Provide examples of how you've used data analytics and forecasting methods to solve complex problems in previous roles.
Highlight Stakeholder Management: Demonstrate your ability to build strong relationships with various stakeholders. Include examples of successful collaborations with commercial teams or suppliers that led to improved outcomes.
How to prepare for a job interview at Sainsburys
✨Showcase Your Analytical Skills
As a Demand Planner, you'll need to demonstrate your ability to analyse data and solve complex problems. Be prepared to discuss specific examples of how you've used data analytics in previous roles to optimise inventory levels or improve demand forecasting.
✨Emphasise Cross-Functional Collaboration
Highlight your experience in working with various stakeholders, such as commercial teams and suppliers. Share examples of how you've built strong relationships and held stakeholders accountable to ensure process compliance and product availability.
✨Demonstrate Customer-Centric Thinking
Make sure to convey your understanding of customer needs and how they influence demand planning. Discuss how you've applied a customer lens to KPIs and decision-making processes in your past roles to enhance customer satisfaction.
✨Prepare for Scenario-Based Questions
Expect to face questions that assess your risk management and contingency planning skills. Prepare to discuss how you've anticipated potential risks in the supply chain and the strategies you've implemented to mitigate them.
