About the position
CATEGORY PLANNER
OUTLINE
EAST RAND
Department: Marketing
Reports to: Product planning manager
Industry: Direct Selling / Consumer Goods
The Category Planner is responsible for developing, executing, and managing category strategies that drive sales growth, profitability, and market penetration across the organisation's product portfolio. This role integrates merchandising, sales planning, demand forecasting, and promotional execution to ensure that products are optimally ranged, competitively priced, well-stocked, and effectively marketed to distributors and end consumers.
- Key Responsibilities
- Category Strategy & Planning
- Develop and execute monthly product plans aligned with business objectives.
- Identify product growth opportunities based on consumer insights, sales data, competitive analysis, and market trends.
- Manage product lifecycle for all SKUs: new launches, continuity items, and end-of-life.
- Sales Forecasting & Demand Planning
- Build SKU-level sales forecasts using historical performance, seasonality, and campaign cadence.
- Partner with Supply Chain to ensure accurate stock projections and procurement planning.
- Monitor sales performance daily/weekly to adjust forecasts and prevent overstock or stock-outs.
- Drive achievement of category sales targets through strategic recommendations.
- Product Assortment & Range Management
- Determine which products to list, delist, expand, or re-position within catalogues.
- Build category ranges that balance consumer needs, profitability, and distributor preferences.
- Conduct periodic range reviews to optimise SKU productivity and rationalise underperforming items.
- Pricing, Promotions & Campaign Planning
- Develop price strategies that balance competitiveness, margin, and consumer value.
- Create promotional calendars and promotional strategies for monthly campaigns, Black Friday, seasonal events, and catalogue offers.
- Collaborate with Sales Teams to drive distributor participation in promotions and drive market penetration.
- Evaluate promo ROI, uplift, and category impact to inform future campaigns.
- Sales Enablement & Distributor Support
- Work closely with the Field Sales Team to support distributor training and product education.
- Provide product benefits, features, usage stories, and selling points for salesforce communication.
- Develop sales toolkits, product knowledge sheets, and internal training briefs.
- Partner with Sales & Training division to activate hero products and campaign launches.
- Marketing & Campaign Execution
- Collaborate with the creative team to brief catalogue content, digital assets, social media messaging, and product storytelling.
- Ensure accurate product details, images, pricing, and claims in all marketing materials.
- Support high-impact product launches, teasers, and category campaigns (e.g., Black Friday, limited editions).
- Analyse campaign performance to refine future strategies.
- Supplier & Internal Stakeholder Management
- Liaise with global and local suppliers on product availability, costings, and quality feedback.
- Build strong relationships with cross-functional teams: Sales, Supply Chain, and Finance.
- Performance Tracking, Insights & Reporting
- Track category KPIs: sales, margin, stock cover, contribution %, sell-through, and forecast accuracy.
- Identify risks and opportunities across the category and recommend actionable interventions.
- Prepare weekly and monthly category performance reports for leadership.
- Use data insights to influence strategic decision-making and improve profitability.
- Required Skills & Competencies
- Strong analytical and numerical skills.
- Commercial and sales mindset with understanding of margins and profitability.
- Excellent planning, forecasting, and organisational skills.
- Ability to translate data insights into actionable plans.
- Strong presentation and communication skills, especially for distributor or sales meetings.
- Cross-functional collaboration and stakeholder management abilities.
- High proficiency in Excel, Google Sheets, and data tools.
- Creative thinking for product storytelling and promotional planning.
- Ability to work under pressure in a fast-paced campaign-driven environment.
- Qualifications & Experience
- Bachelor's degree in Business, Marketing, Commerce, Supply Chain, or related field.
- 2-5 years' experience in category planning, merchandising, buying, or commercial planning.
- Experience in FMCG, direct selling, retail, E-commerce, or consumer goods is highly advantageous.
- Proven track record in sales forecasting, promotional planning, and SKU management.
- Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
- Category sales target achievement.
- Forecast accuracy (volume & value).
- Margin delivery and profitability.
- Sell-through performance & stock cover health.
- Campaign ROI and percentage uplift.
- On-time delivery of category plans and promotional execution.
- Distributor engagement and sales enablement effectiveness.
- Supplier performance and cost optimisation.
- Personal Attributes
- Highly driven, proactive, productive, and solution-oriented.
- Detail-oriented with strong follow-through.
- Creative yet commercially focused.
- Passionate about product innovation and consumer behaviour.
- Strong problem-solving attitude with resilience.
Please Note: Should you not receive feedback within 2 months, please consider your application as unsuccessful.
Desired Skills:
- Category Planner
- drive sales growth
- market penetration
- developing and executing and managing category strategies
- Merchandising
- sales planning
- demand forecasting
- promotional execution
- products are optimally ranged and competitively priced and well stocked and effectively marketed
- category strategy and planning
- sales forecasting
- demand planning
- product assortment
- range management
- Pricing
- Promotions
- campaign planning
- sales enablement
- distributor support
- marketing execution
- campaign execution
- performance tracking
- insights
- Reporting
- Bachelors degree
- 2 to 5 years relevant experience in category planning and merchandising and buying and commercial planning
- experience in FMCG and direct selling or retail or e commerce or consumer goods
- proven track record in sales forecasting and promotional planning and SKU mangement
- Manage and exceed KPIs
- creative thinking for product storytelling and promotional planning
- high proficiency in excel and google sheets and data tools
- cross functional collaboration
- stakeholder management abilities
- experience working in a fast paced campaign driven environment
- strong presentation and communication and interpersonal skills
- translate data insights into actionable plans
- excellent planning and forecasting and organisational skills
- commercial and sales mindset with understanding of margins and profitability
- srong analytical and numerical skills
- category sales target
- forecast accuracy in volume and value
- margin delivery and profitability
- sell through performance
- stock cover health
- campaign ROI
- percentage uplift
- on time delivery of category plans
- distributor engagement and sales enablement
- supplier performance
- promotional execution and delivery
- cost optimisation
Desired Work Experience:
Desired Qualification Level:
