Category Manager

JOB DESCRIPTION

Category Manager Omnichannel Merchandising & Sales

Furniture & Home Dcor | Online & Offline Markets

Department: Merchandising / Category & Channel Management

Reports To: Head of Merchandising / Business Head

Location: Bengaluru, with travel to markets, vendor hubs & stores

Experience:8–15 years (Furniture / Home Dcor / Home Furnishing preferred)

Employment Type: Full-time

Level: Manager / Senior Manager (based on experience)

About the Role

We are building an omnichannel furniture and home dcor brand — present across company-owned stores, our own website/app, and marketplaces such as Amazon and Flipkart. We're looking for aAssociate Category Director who can own a product category end-to-end: sourcing and developing the right assortment, pricing it competitively, and driving its sales performance across both online and offline channels. This is a hybrid merchandising-plus-sales mandate — you will be equally comfortable negotiating with a vendor on the shop floor and reading a marketplace sales dashboard.

Key Responsibilities

Category Strategy & Merchandising

• Own end-to-end category management for furniture / home dcor SKUs — assortment planning, product development, pricing architecture and lifecycle management.
• Identify, evaluate and onboard vendors/manufacturers; run sampling, prototyping, costing and commercial negotiations through to sign-off.
• Conduct market benchmarking, competitor tracking and consumer insight analysis to keep the assortment current with design and price trends.
• Plan and execute seasonal launches, promotions and offers in line with category and revenue targets.

Offline / Retail Market

• Drive category sales and stock productivity across company-owned stores, EBOs and modern trade (LFR) channels.
• Partner with store operations and regional sales teams on visual merchandising, store-level assortment mix and stock allocation.
• Track store-wise sell-through, footfall conversion and competitor activity in physical markets; recommend corrective actions.

Online / D2C & Marketplaces

• Manage the category's presence and performance on the brand website/app and marketplaces (Amazon, Flipkart, Pepperfry, etc.), including listings, content and pricing parity.
• Work with the digital/e-commerce team on catalogue quality, keyword/search performance, ratings & reviews and online promotions (deal days, ad spends, coupons).
• Monitor online sales, conversion, return/RTO rates and pricing across platforms; ensure MRP and margin discipline between channels.

Planning, Inventory & Cross-functional

• Own demand planning, open-to-buy (OTB) and inventory health across channels — balancing availability against ageing/dead stock.
• Track category P&L: sales, margins, marketing spend and profitability against budget.
• Collaborate closely with supply chain, warehousing, design/product development, marketing, finance and legal to ensure smooth end-to-end execution.

What We're Looking For

• 8–15 years of experience in category management, merchandising, buying or channel sales — ideally in furniture, home dcor, home furnishing, mattresses or a related lifestyle/retail category.
• Demonstrated exposure to both offline retail (own stores/dealer network/modern trade) and online channels (marketplaces and/or D2C website).
• Strong track record in vendor sourcing, negotiation and supplier relationship management.
• Comfortable with numbers — OTB, inventory planning, category P&L, pricing and margin analysis.
• Bachelor's degree required; MBA in Marketing/Operations or equivalent is a strong plus.
• Prior experience at brands such as Home Centre, Pepperfry, Urban Ladder, Godrej Interio, @home, IKEA, Nilkamal or similar is highly valued.

Key Competencies

• Commercial and analytical mindset — equally at ease negotiating a vendor contract and reading a channel P&L.
• Strong cross-functional collaboration and stakeholder management across sales, supply chain, marketing and design.
• Comfort operating in a fast-paced, evolving omnichannel environment with shifting priorities.
• Willingness to travel for vendor visits, store reviews and market benchmarking.

Note: Bracketed fields (department head, city, compensation, etc.) are placeholders — update with your company's specifics before publishing.