Vacancy NameCategory Trade Planner (6 Month FTC) Vacancy NoVN923 Job TypeFixed Term LocationHatfield Job Details
Category Trade Planner (6 Month FTC)
Contract type: 6 month FTC
Location: Hatfield Hybrid working - 3 days in the office
Working hours per week: 40 hours
Level: Entry level
Application closing date: Thursday 31st July 2025
About us
Our mission is to deliver joy in every shop, through unbeatable choice, unrivalled service and reassuringly good value.
We’re Ocado Retail, a market-leading, joint venture between Ocado Group and M&S and the world’s largest dedicated online supermarket. Not only is Ocado.com the only place to shop a full range of M&S food online, it’s also the home to the widest online supermarket range in the UK and champion of small, independent brands. We’re also the brains behind, our same-day grocery delivery service.
About the team and the role
As a Category Trade Planner within our dynamic Produce Team, you will be instrumental in shaping and executing our commercial strategy. You'll be responsible for developing and delivering robust trading plans that optimise sales, profitability, and stock management across our produce range. This role demands a proactive individual with strong analytical skills, commercial acumen, and a passion for the fast-paced world of retail. You will collaborate closely with Buying, Supply Chain, and Marketing teams to ensure seamless execution of promotional activities, range reviews, and seasonal events. Drawing insights from market trends, competitor activity and customer behaviour, you will contribute directly to the success of our Produce business
What you’ll do
1. Develop and execute holistic trade plans: Create and implement trade plans aligned with customer and product insights to deliver an unbeatable proposition for customers, focusing on value, quality, and availability. This includes developing a 12-month rolling trading calendar.
2. Promotional planning and performance analysis: Review and continuously improve the promotional offering, optimizing all feature space to drive sales and enhance customer perception. Prioritize propositions, promotions, and offers based on customer needs and calendar themes
3. Collaborating with cross-functional teams: Own the relationship and communication with trade marketing and merchandising. Work collaboratively across trading to deliver customer centric deals, leveraging expertise from pricing, promotions, and insights colleagues
4. Competitor Analysis: Be an expert on competitors' promotions and events across all channels. Anticipate competitor activity to proactively build plans to ensure Ocado stays one step ahead
Who you are
5. Have proven experience in a trading, merchandising, or commercial planning role within a retail environment, ideally within the grocery sector.
6. Demonstrate the ability to juggle multiple deadlines and tasks.
7. Experience working with fresh food is highly advantageous.
8. Demonstrate familiarity with retail data analysis and reporting tools.
9. Understand the UK grocery market and competitor landscape.
10. Possess strong organisational and time management skills with a proven ability to prioritise tasks and meet deadlines in a fast-paced environment.
11. Contribute to the development and execution of promotional plans, coordinating activities across channels to ensure effective implementation and achievement of targets.
12. Understand basic stock management principles (inventory levels, lead times, forecasting) and have practical experience with ordering and receiving processes, recognising their impact on sales and waste.
At Ocado Retail we’re passionate about building careers and skills by giving people access to new and diverse opportunities. If you don’t tick all the boxes above but have a curious mindset, a passion for learning and adaptable skills to bring to the role, we still want to hear from you!
What’s in it for you
By joining Ocado Retail you’ll have the chance to experience life at the world’s largest online retailer, work with an amazing bunch of people who challenge what’s possible each day and grow your skills and career in online retail.
If that’s not enough to tempt you, you’ll also get access to loads of great benefits to sweeten the deal. Here’s a taste of what we offer:
Health & Wellbeing: Private medical insurance with option to add your family, Digital GP appointments, market leading family policies, mental health support, discounted gym memberships, dental insurance and more.
Spend & Save: Annual bonus scheme split between personal and business objectives, recognition with reward platform, up to 7% matched pension contributions, 15% Ocado discount, 20% M&S discount, free breakfast everyday in the office, electric vehicle leasing scheme and free shuttle bus from Hatfield station to the office.
Never miss the moments that matter: Hybrid working, 26 days holiday plus 8 flexible bank holidays, options to buy extra holiday, 2 weeks work from anywhere and lifestyle break opportunities.
Our Hiring Process
Lucky for us, we get loads of great applications and we really appreciate that so many people put the time and effort in to apply. To recognise that, we treat all applications respectfully and fairly. So, if yours stands out, you’ll follow our standard hiring process - one of our Talent Partners will talk you through this in an initial call.
Everyone’s welcome
We’re an equal opportunities employer. That means that we make sure all potential colleagues are treated fairly and equally. If you require reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process, please let us know on the application form.
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