Category Manager

Name of the Company: KISAH Apparels Pvt Ltd

Job Description: Category Manager

Function: Business / Merchandising

Reporting To: Co-founder / CBO

Role Level: Manager / Senior Manager (based on experience)

Job Application form :- https://forms.gle/X9pwSrj9ygy8qHZD9

About Us:

Kisah is a fast-growing men's fashion brand redefining occasion-wear for Next-Gen and Gen Z consumers. Born digital, Kisah is now scaling as an omnichannel brand with presence across e-commerce, D2C, offline retail, both in India and globally. Our edge lies in bold, unique, and fashion-forward designs that reflect the evolving tastes of young consumerswhile staying simple, comfortable, and affordable.

Role Purpose

The Category Manager owns end-to-end growth of assigned category/categories at Kisah.

This role is responsible for demand forecasting, pricing, new launches, and seasonal planning, backed by a deep understanding of customers, regions, and buying behaviour.

The Category Manager is the business owner of the category P&L, working closely with BI, supply planning, design, marketing, and operations to drive sustainable, profitable growth.

Key Responsibilities

1. Category Growth & P&L Ownership

Own GMV, net revenue, margins, sell-through, and inventory turns for the category

Drive profitable growth across D2C, marketplaces, retail, and quick commerce

Identify growth levers by channel, region, price band, and product type

2. Demand Forecasting & Supply Alignment

Own SKU-level and style-level demand forecasts

Work with BI to translate historical sales, seasonality, and trends into forecasts

Partner with supply planning to:

Avoid stock-outs on winners

Control excess inventory on slow movers

Continuously improve forecast accuracy through learning loops

3. Pricing, Discounting & Margin Strategy

Define pricing architecture by:

Channel

Region

Occasion & season

Plan discounting strategy across full price, events, clearance, and end-of-season

Balance growth vs margin while maintaining brand positioning

4. New Launch & Range Planning

Plan season-wise launch calendars in collaboration with design and supply

Define:

Number of styles

Depth per style

Size and color mix

Track new launch performance and activate early reorders or corrections

5. Customer & Market Understanding (Core Differentiator)

Develop a deep understanding of the category customer:

Who they are

Why they buy from Kisah

Price sensitivity

Regional preferences

Occasion-led demand

Analyze returns, cancellations, and customer feedback to identify product gaps

Translate customer insights into actionable product and pricing decisions

6. Seasonal & Campaign Planning

Own category-level planning for:

Key festivals

Micro-events (Eid, Rakhi, Onam, wedding season, etc.)

Clearance & liquidation events

Work with growth, marketing, and merchandising teams to ensure:

Right assortment

Right pricing

Right inventory availability

7. Cross-Functional Collaboration

Work closely with:

BI for data enablement and forecasting

Design for product inputs and range correction

Supply Chain for production planning and replenishment

Growth & Merchandising for visibility and conversion

Act as the single point of accountability for category performance

Key Metrics (What Success Looks Like)

Category GMV growth

Sell-through %

Inventory turns & aging

Forecast accuracy (MAPE)

Gross margin %

Return & cancellation rates

New launch success rate

Skills & Competencies

Must-Have

Extremely analytical & data-driven

Strong business and logical thinking

Comfortable working with large datasets and dashboards

Excellent Excel / Google Sheets skills

Ability to connect numbers with customer behaviour

Good-to-Have

Experience in fashion / lifestyle / ecommerce categories

Understanding of demand planning & inventory economics

Exposure to BI tools (Power BI / Tableau / Looker)

Experience & Background

36 years experience in category management, merchandising, or business roles

Experience in ecommerce, D2C, marketplaces, or retail strongly preferred

Prior experience owning category-level decisions is a big plus

What This Role Is NOT

Not a reporting or dashboard role

Not a design-only or buying-only role

This is a business ownership role powered by data

Why Join Kisah

Opportunity to build categories at scale, not just manage them

High ownership, high impact role with direct influence on revenue

Strong BI backbone enabling smart decision-making

Fast-growing brand with ambition to scale 56x over the next few years