Retail Centre Planning Assistant. in Letchworth Garden City

The retail centre planning assistant will be responsible for ensuring that products appear in the right retail centre, at the appropriate time and in the correct quantities. This involves working closely with the demand planning, inbound, outbound and commercial teams to accurately forecast trends, plan stock levels and monitor performance.

Whilst the demand planner will select the profile available, the retail centre planning assistant will decide what width of SKUs should be stored and potential commercial gaps and the optimum depth of stock considering available logistics capacity, centre capacity and regional variations. The retail planning assistant plays a key role within the organisation, as profitability can be affected by how successfully they undertake their work. Retail planners will have to consider the prices and promotions to maximise profits and manage the performance of ranges, planning promotions and stock returns as necessary. They will also oversee delivery and distribution of stock and liaise with suppliers and supply chain.

The retail planning assistant will also need to understand what is going on in the market place in relation to competition and general market statistics. Knowing about customers' needs and economic trends in general will enable sound and rational decisions.

This permanent role is based upon 40hrs/week between Monday and Friday, which after a successful training and induction period will operate on a Hybrid basis to include one day per week working from home.

What you will be doing

• Developing, maintaining and reviewing centre stock profiles for 800 retail centres, in line with business requirements e.g. commercial targets/ promotions / brand switches/business streams etc.
• Facilitate the update of each retail centre at least once per year for a full review.
• Managing new projects related to retail centre stock profile development.
• Champion new initiatives and communicate to divisional directors and operations managers.
• Managing the BWO system, problem resolution, system analysis and development testing to help improve performance.
• Resolve queries from retail centres on profiles, capacity, replenishment etc.
• Implementation strategy for the launch of new brands at centres.
• Develop and provide weekly, monthly profiling performance review & design a KPI communication for management team.
• Maximise retail estate space in terms of profitability, range, price, width and depth of stock available and provide reports to illustrate market coverage and share.
• Reviewing and taking corrective action on surplus stock, slow stock and aging stock.
• Monitor and review all local orders outside of profiles and work with demand planners to understand the variances and mitigate through FC amendments, profile amendments and/or education of centre staff.
• Working closely with logistics to manage outbound volume in line with business requirements.
• Ensure logistics constraints are correct for changing demand volumes.
• Working closely with inbound team to ensure that retail availability is maximised through availability and net stock calculations.
• Creating a contingency order if the system fails to produce one.
• Planning seasonal and promotional stock at retail centres.
• Monitoring slow sellers and taking action to remove from profiles, reduce prices or return stock as necessary.
• Updating and reviewing system over-ride user tables.
• Production of Business Reports e.g. Aged Stock Reports / RC Availability Reports etc.
• Identifying production and supply difficulties and dealing with any problems or delays as they arise by switching to alternate parts.
• Coaching, training and supervising junior staff.

About You

• We seek applications from people striving for a position where they can personally change things and drive products to become category forerunners.
• We seek applicants that champion and drive change, pioneer new ideas and approaches, think outside of the box and seek to share information in a proactive and constructive manner whilst retaining the ability to manage the smaller details.
• High attention to detail and accuracy is essential.
• Ability to analyse system data and transform to be an effective communication.
• Ability to develop mutually beneficial internal and external relationships with key contacts.
• Skilled communicator – needs to be able to liaise effectively and build a strong rapport with a wide range of people from senior management to centre staff.
• Confident in manual planning processes and computer software use, particularly in MS Excel and demand planning software.
• High level of numeracy with the ability to understand trends and patterns within numbers and seasonal demands & strong analytical skills.
• Adept with managing huge amounts of detailed data.
• Excellent time management and prioritisation skills.
• Ability to be flexible and adapt to changing circumstances and procedures quickly to ensure smooth running of vital business operations.
• Ability to manage projects.
• Supervisory experience desirable to be able to effectively coach retail planning assistant(s).
• Excellent working knowledge of Excel.
• Tyre Industry knowledge or consumer goods retail experience required.
• You need to be strong enough to keep calm and diplomatic when under pressure.
• This role can require quick thinking to spot trends, evaluate large amounts of data and make sound decisions. Things can change very quickly and there are always deadlines to meet.

Benefits

For the right candidate we can offer a career path with development, in a stable working environment. Benefits include performance related bonus, pension, life assurance, annual holidays increasing with service, Employee Assistance Programme (EAP), generous discount & cash back scheme with major retailers, as well as staff discounts with ETEL Group automotive companies. So please apply and join us on our journey!