Senior Manager Trade Planner

The Manager Trade Planner coordinates the development and execution of the retail trading calendar, promotional activities, and category activation plans to drive sales, margin, and customer engagement. This manager role partners closely with Merchandising, Marketing, Sales Growth, Ecommerce, Supply Chain, Store Operations, and Finance to ensure that trade activities and promotions are commercially effective, operationally feasible, and financially optimized.

Key Responsibilities

1. Trade & Promotional Planning

• Coordinate trade calendar across all channels (Merchandise, Sales growth, Stores, E-commerce).
• Plan and sequence promotions, seasonal events, and campaigns to align with category growth targets and business priorities.
• Ensure all promotions are commercially sound, aligned with margin targets, and have clear objectives.
• Coordinate sign-off process and manage cut-off timeline for promotional activities with relevant stakeholders.
• Track and manage promotional slots to optimize frequency and avoid cannibalization between categories and channels
• Coordinate to ensure promotions and campaigns are complied with current laws and regulations

2. Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Merchandising: Coordinate product availability, pricing, and category strategies are in sync with planned events.
• Marketing: Coordinate promotional themes and execution across customer touchpoints.
• Supply Chain: Coordinate stock flow to meet campaign timing.
• Non-Trade Sourcing: Coordinate gifts flow to meet campaign timing
• Store Operations & E-commerce: Communicate execution plans and ensure smooth implementation.
• Finance: Liaise on promotional claim-back processes with suppliers, ensuring accurate tracking, reconciliation, and timely collection
• Legal and tax: Liaise to ensure compliance with current laws and regulations

3. Processes and Systems

• Coordinate to ensure accurate trading data and promotional setup in company-wise integrated systems.
• Implement robust approval and compliance processes for promotions and campaigns
• Drive continuous improvement in planning, reporting, and analytical tools.

4. Promotion Analysis

• Perform post-promotion analysis to measure effectiveness in terms of sales uplift, margin impact, and ROI.
• Identify learnings and improvement opportunities for future campaigns.
• Ensure insights are communicated to Marketing, Merchandising, and Finance for decision-making.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

• Sell-through performance of promoted products.
• Timeliness and quality of campaign execution.
• Sales uplift and margin improvement from trade activities.
• Accuracy of promotional forecasts and ROI tracking.
• Rate of successful supplier claim-back collections.

1. Qualifications & Skills

Essential

• 6+ years’ experience in retail trade planning, finance controlling, finance business partnering, merchandising, or category management, with at least 2 years in a managerial capacity.
• Strong commercial and financial acumen.
• Proven track record in delivering measurable promotional effectiveness.
• Proficient in Excel, BI tools (Power BI, Tableau), and ERP/POS systems.
• Exceptional communication, negotiation, and stakeholder management skills.

Desirable

• Experience in omni-channel retail.
• Familiarity with retail promotional mechanics and pricing strategies.
• Knowledge of local retail seasonality and key trading events.

2. Core Competencies

• Strategic Commercial Mindset – sees the big picture and drives profitability.
• Analytical Leadership – turns data into actionable strategies.
• Cross-Functional Influence – aligns multiple teams towards common goals.
• Execution Excellence – delivers results on time and to standard.
• Negotiation & Financial Savvy – maximizes commercial returns including supplier funding.