Category Manager

Kisah Apparels Private Limited is a fast fashion mens ethnic-wear brand known for its innovative products, edgy designs, and premium-quality appealing to young consumers who look for affordable high fashion. Since its inception, Kisah has been growing 50% YoY and has demonstrated market leadership in fashion ecommerce.

Role Purpose

The Category Manager owns end-to-end growth of assigned category/categories at Kisah.

This role is responsible for demand forecasting, pricing, new launches, and seasonal planning , backed by a deep understanding of customers, regions, and buying behaviour .

The Category Manager is the business owner of the category P&L , working closely with BI, supply planning, design, marketing, and operations to drive sustainable, profitable growth.

Key Responsibilities

1. Category Growth & P&L Ownership

• Own GMV, net revenue, margins, sell-through, and inventory turns for the category
• Drive profitable growth across D2C, marketplaces, retail, and quick commerce
• Identify growth levers by channel, region, price band, and product type

2. Demand Forecasting & Supply Alignment

• Own SKU-level and style-level demand forecasts
• Work with BI to translate historical sales, seasonality, and trends into forecasts
• Partner with supply planning to:
• Avoid stock-outs on winners
• Control excess inventory on slow movers
• Continuously improve forecast accuracy through learning loops

3. Pricing, Discounting & Margin Strategy

• Define pricing architecture by:
• Channel
• Region
• Occasion & season
• Plan discounting strategy across full price, events, clearance, and end-of-season
• Balance growth vs margin while maintaining brand positioning

4. New Launch & Range Planning

• Plan season-wise launch calendars in collaboration with design and supply
• Define:
• Number of styles
• Depth per style
• Size and color mix
• Track new launch performance and activate early reorders or corrections

5. Customer & Market Understanding (Core Differentiator)

• Develop a deep understanding of the category customer :
• Who they are
• Why they buy from Kisah
• Price sensitivity
• Regional preferences
• Occasion-led demand
• Analyze returns, cancellations, and customer feedback to identify product gaps
• Translate customer insights into actionable product and pricing decisions

6. Seasonal & Campaign Planning

• Own category-level planning for:
• Key festivals
• Micro-events (Eid, Rakhi, Onam, wedding season, etc.)
• Clearance & liquidation events
• Work with growth, marketing, and merchandising teams to ensure:
• Right assortment
• Right pricing
• Right inventory availability

7. Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Work closely with:
• BI for data enablement and forecasting
• Design for product inputs and range correction
• Supply Chain for production planning and replenishment
• Growth & Merchandising for visibility and conversion
• Act as the single point of accountability for category performance

Key Metrics (What Success Looks Like)

• Category GMV growth
• Sell-through %
• Inventory turns & aging
• Forecast accuracy (MAPE)
• Gross margin %
• Return & cancellation rates
• New launch success rate

Skills & Competencies

Must-Have

• Extremely analytical & data-driven
• Strong business and logical thinking
• Comfortable working with large datasets and dashboards
• Excellent Excel / Google Sheets skills
• Ability to connect numbers with customer behaviour

Good-to-Have

• Experience in fashion / lifestyle / ecommerce categories
• Understanding of demand planning & inventory economics
• Exposure to BI tools (Power BI / Tableau / Looker)