Kuwait

Merchandiser / Planner

Overview

Merchandise Planner with over 5 years of experience in end-to-end merchandise planning, buying, and inventory management. Proficient in using Power BI and Excel to analyze data, forecast demand, and optimize stock turnover. Skilled in aligning product assortments with market trends, ensuring high product availability, and managing supplier relationships to secure favorable terms and timely delivery. Adept at driving financial KPIs, optimizing markdown strategies, and collaborating cross-functionally to achieve strategic business goals and maximize profitability.

Education

Bachelor of Fashion Technology (Apparel Production)
National Institute of Fashion Technology | 2015-19

- Gained expertise in merchandising and apparel manufacturing technology.
- Developed a strong foundation in work study, industry trends, and production planning.
- Completed three internships, gaining hands-on experience in apparel production.

Experience

Merchandiser / Planner

H&M - Alshaya Group

Kuwait

10/2022 - Current

End-to-End Merchandise Planning & Financial Accountability: Led merchandise planning across 9 markets, 100+ retail stores, and 5 e-commerce platforms, ensuring alignment with seasonal strategies and financial KPIs. Increased full-price sales by 20% by leveraging trends, seasonal opportunities, and special events.
Stock Availability & Replenishment: Optimized allocation tools, achieving 90% product availability across all channels. Enhanced demand forecasting tools to improve sales predictions, ensuring optimal stock levels and efficient inventory turnover, reducing stockouts by 30%.
Cross-Functional Collaboration & Strategy Execution: Collaborated with supply chain, VM, operations, and marketing teams to optimize stock movements, store layouts, and promotional campaigns, resulting in a 15% increase in overall sales.
Trend Analysis & Assortment Planning: Analyzed historical data and market trends to refine assortments by regions, improving stock turnover by 12% and margin by 5%. Optimized product mix to increase full-price sales, making data-driven markdown and promotion decisions to maximize profitability.
Power BI Dashboards for Analysis: Built and maintained advanced Power BI dashboards, reducing reporting time by 90% and providing real-time insights into sales trends, stock levels, and margin performance. This enabled more informed, data-driven decision-making across teams.
Team Leadership & Development: Supported the development of assistant merchandisers, guiding them on best practices in merchandise planning and inventory management.
Risk Mitigation & Opportunity Identification: Mitigated risks by assessing inventory and market trends to ensure alignment with seasonal goals. Managed supply and demand across regions and channels, optimizing product flow, replenishment schedules, and markdown strategies.

Product Development Merchandiser

Puca Global

Dubai - UAE

02/2020 - 10/2020

Product Development & Assortment Planning: Led the product assortment planning for activewear and footwear categories, ensuring alignment with market trends, customer preferences, and sales targets.
Supplier Negotiations & Supply Chain Management: Led negotiations with suppliers to secure favorable terms, ensuring product availability, timely delivery, and competitive pricing. This contributed to a 25% reduction in lead times and improved product availability, optimizing supply chain efficiency.
Market Expansion & E-Commerce Strategy: Contributed to ecommerce strategies by enhancing product visibility, which drove a 20% increase in online sales. Leveraged technical expertise to improve customer engagement and product performance across digital channels.
Innovation & Market Leadership: Spearheaded the launch of the first-ever hemp products in the Middle East market, creating a new product category and generating significant market interest, increasing sales in the category by 30%.

Co-Founder

Cocachi

Kerala - India

01/2019 - 01/2020

Sustainable Brand Development: Co-founded and managed an eco-friendly kidswear brand, driving product innovation from concept to market. Focused on creating a sustainable product assortment, aligned with emerging market trends and consumer demand, ensuring environmental impact reduction and business growth.
Merchandising & Buying Strategy: Led the end-to-end merchandising process, including developing buying plans and ensuring stock availability, with a strong emphasis on organic and sustainable products.
Supplier & Production Optimization: Negotiated supplier contracts to secure favorable pricing and lead times, optimizing the flow of products and ensuring timely replenishment.
Market Research & Growth Strategy: Leveraged trend analysis and market research to align the product range with consumer preferences, positioning the brand competitively in the growing sustainable fashion market.

Skills

Merchandise Planning & Strategy
‍
Performance KPI Management

Demand Planning
‍
‍Markdown Optimization

Pricing Strategy
‍
Buying & Sourcing Strategy
‍
Supplier & Vendor Management
‍
Data Analysis & Forecasting

Achievements

H&M President's Award
Recognized by the president half-yearly for going above and beyond.
‍
Employee of the Quarter
Recognized as Employee of the Quarter multiple times for driving sales and improving eﬃciency.

Alshaya Recognition Club Award
Recognized for exceptional knowledge of Demand Planning.

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