About The Job
The roles and responsibilities of South Asia Supply Chain are extremely complex having in its geographic zone (South Asia) with ten diverse markets. Therefore, an emphasis on coordination and communication is required. At the same time, the business model is moving towards a higher share of seasonal products with increased stakes on sell-through. In this context, the role of New Products management is key to optimize sales via impactful launches as well as agile following up of the performance.
The person in this role is in charge of managing the pre-ordering strategy of new collections to launch as well as the distribution of fashion products of key launches with limited stock of new products in both Ready-to-Wear and Shoes activities. Based on the availability of stock prior to launches, he/she will coordinate with Merchandisers to determine the optimal launch network and strategy of activations. He/She implements the required actions (sales analysis, rebalancing of stock) to optimize sales while complying with the strategy defined by the merchandisers to define qualitative looks of the collections in every market and store network.
In the course of work, the person in this role will also be involved in the Showroom Buying session by working together with the Distribution Planners of both Women's and Men's Universe on the benchmark files that will aid the Zone Merchandisers in determining the Showroom Buy quantity up to potential. He/She will also work on the assortment and sizing primarily the Shoes collections as well as other Ready-to-Wear collections.
The New Product Distribution Planner works closely with other departments:
- Merchandisers (zone and country teams)
- Supply chain teams (Central & Zone)
- Logistics
Job responsibilities
Duties & Responsibilities
LAUNCH STRATEGY
- Participate with Zone Merchandisers as well as other departments (Retail, Client Development, Digital, Press) in the launch scenario for upcoming new collection to launch.
- Determine the pre-ordering strategy and carry out necessary setup in Distribution system and Order Management systems.
- Advise Merchandisers on the availability of products nearing to launch and the henceforth visibility of delivery from Central to our zone. In this aspect, he/she alerts if a full network launch or specific activations would not be possible and works with Zone Merchandisers to finetune the optimal network for launch.
- Coordinate the needs with both Central Supply Chain and Zone Merchandisers to support specific activations either at Zone level (Trunk Shows, Pop-Ins/Ups) as well as at Local level (Caravans, client appointments).
DISTRIBUTION
- Distribute products taking into account stock availability and strategy defined with Zone Merchandisers.
- Coordinate with central team and merchandisers in case of stock tension to adapt the launching scenario.
- Validate store specific requests for stock (client request, events).
- Contribute to sell-through optimization by implementing stock rebalancing on seasonal products from launch onwards upon analyzing the launch performance signals. Suggest changes in product offer if needed.
COMMUNICATION
- Provide stock status and visibility on distribution plan for upcoming collections to Zone Merchandisers.
- Collaborate with counterpart from other activities for a transversal communication to various markets on the launch scenarios and setup stock situation and distribution.
- Share performance reports on seasonal (sell-through) and share updates on rebalancing process.
CLIENT ORDERS
- Define most appropriate pre-ordering conditions for New Products.
- Respond to VIC requests from stores and source for products within the zone to support sales.
SYSTEMS
- Being the key-user in Order Management Systems (OMS) in orderability rules writing.
- Manage abnormalities hindering orderability via timely troubleshooting as well as escalations of system issues to IS Support and Central Transformation Team.
- Represent and participate in the global community in the evolutions of the applications, communicate changes and developments to Zone Supply Chain Teams and express business and operational needs to Central Team for resolution.
- Ensure most optimized setup in our distribution and ordering systems to allow correction behavior in managing pre-ordering and launch setup.
- Guide other team members in using Ordering Management system (OMS).
Showroom Buying
- Participate with Zone Merchandisers and Universe Distribution Planners in the Showroom buying with the preparation of benchmark files.
- Manage together with Universe Distribution Planners, the assortment definition in buying tool and determine the appropriate sizing for Shoes and Ready-to-Wear categories.
Profile
Key Requirements & Competencies- Bachelor's degree preferably in Operations Management or Supply Chain.
- Prior experience in Supply Chain Management and/or retail fulfilment operations
- Strong communication and interpersonal skills.
- Computer/data savvy:
- Solid proficiency in Microsoft Excel
- Power BI or equivalent, programming skills (VBA)
- SAP Experience is a plus
- Ability to prioritize and work efficiently under pressure with the capacity to deliver high-quality work within tight deadlines.
- Client-centric approach and commercial mindset.
- Possess an attention to detail with a critical thinking mindset.
- Team player and with the ability to adapt to accept new ideas and ways of working.
Reference LVM26059
