Location - Jakkur (Yehalanka) - 5 days Work from Office
The Senior Manager – Buying & Merchandising will be responsible for leading the end-to-end Planning, Buying and Merchandising function for Ample's Non-Tech portfolio across Retail Exclusive Brand Outlets (EBOs) and E-commerce channels.
The role is accountable for driving topline growth, profitability and inventory efficiency through robust planning, data-driven decision making and best-in-class merchandising practices. A key expectation from this role is to leverage technology, analytics and automation to build scalable planning and merchandising processes that improve speed, accuracy and business performance.
Key Responsibility :
1. Merchandise Planning & Forecasting
- Develop annual, seasonal and monthly merchandise plans aligned to business objectives.
- Drive demand forecasting at category, channel and store levels using historical trends, market
- intelligence and business insights.
- Build and monitor financial plans covering sales, inventory, intake, sell-through and margin.
- Continuously review forecast accuracy and implement corrective actions.
2. Buying & Open-to-Buy (OTB) Management
- Own the Open-to-Buy (OTB) process across all brands and channels.
- Ensure optimum inventory investments while maintaining healthy stock availability.
- Work closely with brand principals and respective teams on purchase planning and order
- management.
- Balance new launches, continuity products and seasonal inventory.
3. Assortment Planning & Merchandising
- Define channel-wise, store-wise and cluster-wise assortments.
- Drive localized assortment strategies based on customer demographics, sales trends and store
- performance.
- Ensure optimal width and depth of assortment across categories.
- Review assortment productivity and recommend portfolio rationalization wherever required.
4. Inventory & Merchandising Operations
- Lead replenishment planning across retail and e-commerce channels.
- Drive inventory optimization through Inter-store transfers, Replenishments, Stock replacements,
- Inventory consolidation, Slow-moving stock correction.
- Ensure optimum stock availability while minimizing excess inventory.
- Drive EOL (End-of-Life) inventory liquidation strategies.
5. Promotion & Pricing Management
- Plan and execute promotional calendars aligned with business objectives.
- Evaluate pricing and discount strategies to maximize sales while protecting margins.
- Monitor offer effectiveness and post-promotion performance.
- Ensure governance around markdowns and discount controls.
6. Visual Merchandising & Planogram Excellence
- Drive planogram development, execution and compliance.
- Ensure effective space planning and category adjacencies.
- Continuously improve store productivity through data-driven merchandising decisions.
7. Process Automation & Digital Transformation
- Identify opportunities to automate planning and merchandising processes.
- Implement technology solutions to improve planning accuracy and execution efficiency.
- Leverage BI tools, merchandising platforms and analytics to enable faster decision making.
- Partner with Technology and Data teams for system enhancements and process digitization.
8. Analytics, Reporting & Business Reviews
- Develop dashboards and MIS for business performance.
- Lead weekly, monthly and quarterly business reviews.
- Track merchandise productivity across brands, channels and categories.
- Generate actionable insights and recommend interventions to improve business performance.
9. Cross-functional Collaboration
- Partner closely with Brand Principal, Retail Operations, E-commerce, Marketing, Finance, Supply Chain and Warehouse teams.
- Work with brand partners on seasonal range planning, launches and inventory management.
- Ensure seamless execution from planning to sell-through.
10. Team Leadership
- Build and mentor a high-performing Buying & Merchandising team.
- Establish structured planning processes and governance.
- Drive a culture of ownership, analytical thinking and continuous improvement.
- Develop succession planning and capability building within the function.
Preferred Experience
- 10–15 years of experience in Buying, Planning and Merchandising.
- Experience in Fashion, Sportswear, Footwear, Lifestyle, Toys or Consumer Retail.
- Strong exposure to Omnichannel retail and Exclusive Brand Outlets (EBOs).
- Proven experience managing merchandise planning, buying and inventory optimization.
- Experience working with international brands will be an advantage.
- Hands-on experience with merchandising, planning and analytics platforms.
