Category Planner

Germiston, South Africa | Posted on 03/18/2025

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 R12 000 and R20 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 .

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.

• 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 be provided).

• You must have excellent written and verbal communication skills;
• Must have strong analytical skills and be able to use data analysis techniques and how to apply these to business situations;
• You must have excellent interpersonal skills;
• You must have a high capacity to represent the Dot Activ brand as a specialist;
• You must have a high degree of internal client engagement;
• You must have the ability to multitask and work cross‑functionally;
• Y…