Category Planner

Wynberg, South Africa | Posted on 03/19/2025

Category planners play a pivotal role in the success of any business that has its roots in the retail industry. In the case of Dot Activ, they help us to transform the in‑store experiences of our customers, drive sales and profit, analyse and profile clusters as well as use this information to recommend a customer‑centric assortment plan to our customers.

With a starting Cost to Company of between R25 000 and R30 000 per month, we’re searching for people who value strategic planning, problem‑solving, customer satisfaction, and working in an innovative environment. Is that you?

The idea behind category management is straightforward: it’s the process used to manage product categories to deliver value to shoppers in a bid to increase both the sales and profit for a retailer. In short, it is the science behind how retailers decide on which products to stock as well as how to organise these products in‑store so as to please their customers.

Our history dates back to 1991 when we launched as a Category Management consultancy. In 1997, we became the first company to establish a formalised and collaborative management process between a retailer and supplier when we signed Pick n Pay as a client. That wasn’t our only first. In 2001, when we relaunched under the name of Dot Activ, we became the first company to create a data‑driven category management system.

The fact that we have since expanded and evolved that system means today, we have more than 2000 retail professionals using our planogram software in over 110 countries.

Role Type:
On Site, Full time
Location:
Kenilworth, Cape Town

Now that you know what you can expect from us, it’s time to unpack what you can expect from this job.

• Creating strategic assortment plans
• Planning and building data‑driven shelf plans
• Conducting floor and space plan analytical reviews
• Developing optimised cluster plans per product category using the cluster optimizer and maintenance tools in the Dot Activ software
• Analysing the cluster plan and profiling each cluster to deliver strategic insights to clients
• Maximising customer and category performance by considering category strategies and plans, product financial performance, shopper psychology and aesthetic appeal
• Supporting, advising and guiding retail customers where required

You’ll have access to Dot Activ’s all‑in‑one category management software to complete all of the above.

What We Expect From You

In our quest to find the right candidate to fill the important position of category planner, we need to ensure that they have the required skills to perform the job. We have broken the required skills into three parts:
Education Skills, Knowledge and Computer Skills; and Soft Skills.

Skills And Requirements

• A Consumer Science or Commerce degree or similar degree at a recognised and accredited university
• A good understanding of English (You must be able to speak, read and write at a business proficiency level)
• While not required, 1 to 2 years of experience in a retail environment is advantageous

A valid driver’s licence and vehicle are a requirement for this role as you may be required to travel on‑site to meet with clients.

A working laptop – It is important that your laptop has Windows as our software is not supported with Mac PCs. Here is an article about the requirements needed to run the Dot Activ software. We do offer a laptop allowance, included in the CTC.

• General retail business experience within a retail environment
• Understand the principles of category management and more specifically clustering and assortment planning (beneficial)
• Understand the process of space planning and how this connects to clustering and assortment planning (beneficial)
• Understand merchandising principles and techniques (beneficial)
• Have the necessary product knowledge and understand product ranges
• Computer literate with special attention to:
  • Intermediate MS Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint)
  • Google G‑Suite/Google Docs for business
• Understand the computer packages and systems currently used by Dot Activ and customers (training will…