The Category Planner turns the fashion businesss sales and margin targets into a buying plan the team can act on. The role decides how much to buy, when to buy it and where it goes, across categories such as menswear, womenswear, kidswear, ethnic wear, footwear and accessories.

The Planner keeps the right stock in every store through the season, maximises full-price sell-through and keeps ageing stock low.

Key responsibilities

1. Season & OTB planning

- Build seasonal sales, margin and inventory plans by category, sub-category, store and month.
- Prepare and manage the Open-to-Buy (OTB) budget; track commitments against it through the season.
- Plan key seasons and events: Onam, Vishu, Ramzan, Diwali, Christmas, wedding season, back-to-school and End of Season Sale (EOSS).
- Set opening and closing stock targets and stock-to-sales ratios.

1. Assortment planning

- Work with buyers to build the range plan: option counts, price architecture, fabric/fit mix, brand vs private label.
- Define store clusters (by size, location, customer profile) and the assortment depth for each.
- Plan size curves by category and cluster using past sales.

1. Allocation & replenishment

- Plan initial allocation of new stock to stores by cluster, capacity and sales potential.
- Run replenishment for core and basic lines; set min/max levels.
- Plan inter-store transfers (IST) to move slow stock to stores where it sells.

1. In-season management

- Track weekly sales, sell-through, stock cover and margin against plan; flag gaps early.
- Recommend chase buys for best-sellers and cancellations or deferrals for slow movers.
- Plan markdowns, promotions and EOSS depth to clear stock while protecting margin.




- Manage ageing stock and plan liquidation or vendor returns.

1. Reporting & analysis

- Publish weekly and monthly MIS: sales vs plan, OTB position, top/bottom sellers, ageing.
- Run post-season analysis to improve the next seasons plan.
- Maintain clean item, size and store master data in the ERP / planning tool.

Education

- Graduate in any discipline; MBA in Retail / Marketing or a degree from NIFT or a similar fashion institute preferred.

Experience

- Merchandise planning, allocation or replenishment in apparel or fashion retail (multi-store chains, department stores or fashion brands).
- Hands-on experience with OTB, season planning, size curves and markdown planning.

Skills & tools

- Advanced Excel: pivots, lookups, formulas and large data sets.
- Strong retail math: sell-through, margin, markdown, stock cover, GMROI.
- Experience with ERP / planning tools (e.g., SAP, Ginesys, LS Retail or similar); Power BI is a plus.
- Understanding of fashion trends and Kerala customer preferences, including ethnic and festive wear.
- English and Malayalam required; Tamil preferred.

Competencies

- Analytical thinking — finds the story in sales and stock data.
- Commercial judgement — balances availability, sell-through and margin.
- Attention to detail — keeps plans, OTB and master data accurate.
- Collaboration — works closely with buyers, stores and the warehouse.
- Ownership — acts early when the season goes off plan.

What we offer

- A key role in a growing multi-format Kerala retail chain’s fashion business.
- Exposure to the full season cycle, from planning to EOSS.
- Market-competitive salary (CTC range to be confirmed) and performance-linked incentives.

📌 Category Planner-Fashion (Thiruvananthapuram)
🏢 Jeyachandran Textiles
📍 Thiruvananthapuram