Overview:
Senior Planning Analyst
The Senior Analyst will be part of Planning & Allocation Team where you will leverage your skills and business acumen to achieve the organization and team goals.
About Catalyst Brands:
Catalyst Brands is a leading U.S.-based retail organization formed in 2025 through the merger of JCPenney and SPARC Group, combining multiple iconic fashion brands under one umbrella. The company manages a diversified portfolio of well-known brands including Aéropostale, Brooks Brothers, Nautica, Lucky Brand, and JCPenney. Headquartered in Plano, Texas, Catalyst Brands focuses on delivering modern retail experiences while leveraging the heritage of established global brands. With a workforce of over tens of thousands and multi-billion-dollar revenue, the organization operates at a large scale across retail, e-commerce, and supply chain domains. The company emphasizes innovation, digital transformation, and customer-centric strategies to enhance brand value and consumer engagement. Catalyst Brands is expanding its global presence, including a growing capability centre in India that supports technology, digital operations, and analytics. It aims to drive operational excellence and business growth by integrating technology, data-driven insights, and efficient retail practices.
The Senior Planning Analyst will be part of Wholesale Planning Team where you will leverage your skills and business acumen to achieve the organization and team goals.
Inventory & Demand Planning
Analyze inbound and outbound inventory flows to ensure optimal inventory positioning, availability, and turn performance.- Support end-to-end inventory management processes, identifying opportunities to improve productivity, reduce excess, and mitigate risk.
- Develop assortment and SKU-level productivity analyses leveraging historical trends, current performance, and forward-looking business signals.
- Monitor and proactively assess inventory risks and opportunities, recommending corrective actions to improve flow, replenishment, and in-stock levels.
- Contribute to demand planning accuracy and alignment, ensuring inventory plans are grounded in data and business context.
Merchandise / Assortment Planning
Create and maintain merchandise planning tools, templates, and frameworks (e.g., buy files, line plans, projection models) to support structured and consistent planning processes.- Partner closely with planning, merchandising, sales, and production teams to reconcile wholesale orders against projections and purchase commitments.
- Resolve discrepancies across styles, quantities, pricing, delivery schedules, and product attributes, ensuring accuracy, alignment, and data integrity.
- Support end-to-end order validation and execution processes, ensuring commitments are accurately reflected and fulfilled.
- Enable cross-functional alignment by serving as a key interface between planning and execution teams, driving clarity and accountability.
Business Analytics & Reporting
- Design, build, and maintain weekly, monthly, and seasonal performance reporting to enable timely business visibility and decision-making.
- Develop and enhance automated dashboards, ad-hoc analyses, and planning tools that support dynamic business requirements and reduce manual effort.
- Deliver executive-level insights and actionable recommendations focused on sales growth, inventory productivity, and margin optimization.
- Conduct hindsight and post-season analyses to identify performance drivers and improve forecasting accuracy and future planning outcomes.
- Support and enhance open-to-buy planning processes, ensuring optimized allocation of inventory, receipts, sales, and profitability.
- Champion a data-driven decision-making culture, driving continuous improvement across reporting and analytics capabilities.
- Partner with cross-functional teams to support strategic initiatives, process enhancements, and system improvements.
- Translate complex data into clear business narratives, communicating performance, risks, opportunities, and recommendations to stakeholders at all levels.
Core Competencies & Skillsets:
4 to 6 years of experience in retail environment, preferably in Pricing, Planning, or Allocation.- Critical thinking, Problem Solving, Decision-making and an Understanding of retail KPIs.
- Business planning and financial analysis, Pricing Planning, Buying, Merchandising, Inventory Control and Supply Chain knowledge
- Proficiency in SAS or other Pricing operating system
- Experience with MicroStrategy Planning & Reporting tools a plus
- Proficiency in advanced excel.
- Strong understanding of planning concepts, forecasting methodologies, inventory management, and retail/wholesale financial metrics. Enjoy a rewarding career at JCPenney India, where we offer a competitive benefits package, a vibrant work environment, and the opportunity to make a difference at one of America's most iconic retailers.
Pay Range: INR ₹0.00 - INR ₹0.00 /Yr.
