Job Description

Dis-Chem Pharmacies in Midrand has an opportunity available for a Demand Planner to join the team. The purpose of this role is to manage the demand and supply requirements for the relevant category. This involves creating and maintaining sales and income forecasts and related buy-plans to ensure the appropriate quality and quantity of inventory is purchased to support category strategy and achieve business objectives.
Minimum Requirements
Essential:

• Grade 12 Matric or a Senior Certificate with Mathematics and Accounting
• Tertiary Qualification in Retail Management, Finance, Logistics, Supply Chain or similar field.
• Minimum of 4 years experience in Planning

Advantageous:

• SAP BI.
• SAP or Supply Chain certification

Job Specification Financial Planning:

• Manage the development of annual, seasonal, monthly and weekly merchandise plans across categories.
• Seasonal KPIs and evaluation by store.
• Develop and communicate comprehensive department financial and product strategies.
• Reconcile top-down and bottoms-up department and category plans and forecasts for categories.
• Develop plans and recommend purchase quantities and develop accurate receipt flow forecasts.
• Ensure alignment of category plans to departments financial objectives.
• Develop merchandise category level pricing recommendations and strategies in alignment with the Categorys financial plans.
• Analyse historic performance and planned strategies to identify areas of opportunity or risk.
• Drive revenue as measured by Demand and Net Sales.
• Maximise the conversion of demand to net sales.

Planning & Forecasting:

• Utilize F&R system to evaluate and set optimal inventory stock levels and planning parameters based on historical demand variations/forecast and desired service levels.
• Analyse future import planning and projections for all global sourcing requirements for both Dis-Chem stores and Distribution Centres (DCs).
• Assist in planning and organizing with warehouse promotional stocks jabs.
• Obtain a strong knowledge of the business and detailed understanding of product sales behaviours such as seasonality, trend, price and promotional activity.
• Ensure the effective utilisation of forecasting methods and software tools to deliver and monitor forecast accuracy.
• Plan and manage the open to buy process; forecasting sales, markdowns and receipts to maximise opportunity and minimise risks.
• Track promotions, analysing promotion post mortems and provide recommendations to improve processes for the next activity.
• Establish and maintain consolidated reports.
• Conduct weekly business analysis, ensuring the appropriate inventory level, by means of consistently reviewing Orders, Days stock cover, Sell Thru and Trend.
• Allocate certain amounts of stock to each outlet throughout the season, to minimise unnecessary stock holdings for efficient stock management.
• Assist in planning strategies for discontinued and redundant stock.

Continuous Process Improvements:

• Influence the Store Demand through the monthly Forecast process.
• Monitor and assess effectiveness of process and drive continuous improvement.
• Assist in creating implementing Policies and procedures.
• Develop balanced range & react to trade to rebalance the range.
• Manage inventory to achieve targeted stock efficiencies.
• Manage forward buy levels in accordance with OTB.
• Manage the inflow of stock to achieve stock availability targets.
• Continually develop expertise to support growth for new projects

Monitoring & Analytics:

• Ensure timely reporting to ensure management remain up-to-date on category performance.
• Use inventory reports available to monitor inventory levels and project forward coverage to identify opportunities to reduce safety stock, MOQ, lead-time and non-productive inventory.
• Undertake analysis that supports or challenges category/business strategy.
• Establish and manage all promotional, new, and dropped item purchase orders to ensure product is delivered on time and in full, for all local and import sourced items.
• Ensure that capturing of quality data to support quality analysis.
• Monitor service levels and recommend methods to improve.
• Expedite any potential promotional and low stock items. Gather and analyses inventory data and effectively responds to problematic situations, creates solutions that drive value for the company and their customers, incorporating innovative approaches.
• Identify relevant market-related data and competitive intelligence.

Report Creation and Analysis:

• Identify problems and maximise data availability on SAP BI in order to make recommendations that will benefit both our stores and Distribution Centres.
• Track product promotions by analysing promotion end results and formulate recommendations to improve processes for the next activity.
• Conduct Independent analysis of all KPIs and relevant business inputs.
• Develop, maintain and update tools, reports, etc to support the needs of the business.
• Review, analysis and consolidation of forecasts to provide accurate and timely weekly and monthly information and analysis at product and customer level for designated customers.
• Identify potential risks and opportunities in the forecast and flag up issues and potential solutions.
• Analyse past sales to predict future sales on all products and create reports for Management

Business Team Involvement:

• Support the Replenishment team on new store setups, inventory analysis and case fill rate.
• Challenge and consolidate the promotions and launches sales forecasts projected by the Sales and Marketing teams.
• Collaborate with internal Supply Planning team to identify future inventory needs.
• Drive improvements to meet targets for key products and packs, taking responsibility for training and development of colleagues in this area.
• Assist department in developing and implementing purchasing strategies for products.
• Assist colleagues with excel training and reporting.
• Assist Managers with add-ons when required.
• Visit stores and competitors; compile and provide feedback to line management on competitor activities and consumer demands, and assist with appropriate actions to reduce or increase assortments timeously as required.

General:

• Housekeeping must be in accordance to Dis-Chem standards. Make sure that your work station is always clean and tidy.
• Adhere to Dis-Chem Policies and Standard Operating Procedures.
• Adhere to Health and Safety rules and regulations.
• Adhere to Dis-Chem Uniform and personal appearance policy.

Competencies
Essential:

• Supply Chain planning
• English Read, write and speak well. Ability to communicate with stakeholders at multiple levels internal as well as externally.
• Understanding of basic financial principles.
• High level of interpersonal skills. Trustworthy and Honest. Negotiation skills. Ability to work in a team environment.
• Problem solving - Ability to articulate issues both verbally and in writing, outlining possible solutions. Analytical mindset.
• Prioritisation skills. Solid time management skills and deadline driven. Ability to work under pressure.
• Implementation of policies and procedures, as well as consistently assessing operational needs for continuous improvement purposes and to achieve company objectives effectively.
• Computer Skills Microsoft Office: Word, PowerPoint, Outlook. Advanced Excel and SAP F&R. Qlickview experience.

Special conditions of employment:

• Office based with frequent visits to stores
• South African citizen
• MIE, clear criminal and credit
• Drivers license and own reliable transport.

Remuneration and benefits:

• Market related salary
• Medical aid
• Provident fund
• Staff account

ONLY SUCCESSFUL APPLICANTS WILL BE CONTACTED. IF YOU HAVEN`T BEEN CONTACTED WITHIN TWO WEEKS AFTER THE CLOSING DATE CONSIDER YOUR APPLICATION AS UNSUCCESSFUL.
Dis-Chem Pharmacies is an equal opportunity employer. Dis-Chems approved Employment Equity Plan and targets will be considered as part of the recruitment process aligned to Dis-Chems Employment Equity & Transformation Strategy. Dis-Chem actively supports the recruitment of People with Disabilities.