Category Management Planner - APAC

Who We Are Avolta is the world’s leading and largest Travel Experience (Retail, Convenience, F&B) company ( ) with >5,500 outlets, >1,200 locations, >77,000 employees in more than 70 countries and annual revenue of Swiss Francs CHF 13.9 Billion in 2025 and operate predominantly at airports as well as other travel channels, including motorways, railways, cruises, border shops and downtown. We are on a journey towards our Destination 2027 strategy, creating a travel experience revolution by putting the traveler at our core. Based on four strong pillars of delivering the Travel Experience Revolution, diversifying our Geographical Presence, further fostering a Culture of Continual Improvement, and Sustainability, our strategy is ultimately powered by our people. In Asia Pacific (APAC), we are present in more than 10 countries, including China, Hong Kong, Macau, Japan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Australia, India, Sri Lanka and Maldives. Purpose of the Role The Category Management Planner - Liquor, APAC will support the Category Manager - Liquor, APAC in translating global liquor category strategy into effective regional and country-level execution. The role provides planning, analytical, coordination and commercial support across assortment, pricing, promotions, vendor documentation, performance reporting, inventory actions and market intelligence for duty free and duty paid channels across APAC. This is a hands-on planning role designed to strengthen execution discipline, improve category visibility, support timely decision-making and enable effective coordination between Global Category Management, APAC Commercial, country commercial teams, operations, supply chain, shop development and supplier partners. Key Responsibilities 1. Commercial Planning and Category Support Support the Category Manager in preparing and maintaining APAC liquor commercial plans by country and channel. Coordinate inputs from countries on sales plans, category opportunities, local market dynamics and implementation requirements. Track progress against agreed category actions, timelines and commercial priorities. Assist in preparing business review materials, category updates and decision packs for regional and global stakeholders. 2. Assortment, Listings and Delisting Management Support assortment extension, novelty implementation and delisting planning in line with global liquor strategy and APAC market needs. Maintain visibility of assortment performance by vendor, brand, SKU, market and channel, including sales, margin, stock and productivity indicators. Coordinate with countries on listing requirements, item creation, documentation, pricing input and implementation timelines. Support stock exit and low-performance depletion action plans together with country teams, operations and supply chain. 3. Promotions, Pricing and A&P Coordination Support promotion planning, mechanics upload, forecasting inputs and post-promotion performance tracking. Coordinate required information for pricing policy reviews and validation with countries and Global Category Management. Track passenger profiles, market pricing, competitive activity and promotional performance where data is available. Monitor local A&P inputs and support accurate tracking of supplier funding, promotional commitments and campaign documentation. 4. Performance Reporting and Data Analysis Prepare weekly and monthly sales, margin and category performance reports for the Category Manager and relevant stakeholders. Analyse trends, forecast inputs, SKU productivity, promotional effectiveness, margin movements and inventory risks. Develop concise insights and recommendations to support category reviews and business decisions. Maintain dashboards, trackers and reporting templates to strengthen visibility and consistency across markets. 5. Planning, Inventory and Supply Chain Coordination Support Open to Buy and demand planning coordination by consolidating country sales plan inputs and follow-up actions. Work with supply chain and country teams to monitor availability, stock risks, slow-moving inventory and supply constraints. Coordinate follow-up on purchase orders, supply timelines and inventory actions where required. Help reduce duplication and improve information flow across category, country, supply chain and operations teams. 6. Supplier, Brand and Cross-Functional Coordination Support supplier and brand partner coordination on documentation, listings, promotion details, launch information and activation materials. Work with shop development, visual merchandising and operations teams on category implementation requirements for new stores, refurbishments and campaign execution. Coordinate staff and visual merchandising training materials where required, in partnership with operational teams and suppliers. Maintain clear trackers of vendor commitments, documentation status, implementation milestones and outstanding actions. 7. Market Intelligence and Continuous Improvement Assist in gathering market, consumer, product and competitor intelligence relevant to liquor, spirits, wine, champagne and regional brands. Identify reporting gaps, process inefficiencies and opportunities to improve category planning discipline. Support the Category Manager in building practical ways of working across countries while maintaining agility in a fast-moving APAC environment. What We Are Looking For Bachelor degree in Business, Marketing, Commerce, Analytics, Supply Chain, Finance or a related discipline. 2 to 5 years of experience in category management, merchandising, buying, commercial planning, sales planning, trade marketing, retail analytics or supply chain planning; entry-level candidates with strong analytical capability may be considered. Experience in travel retail, duty free, liquor, spirits, wine, premium retail, FMCG or retail operations is strongly preferred. Strong analytical capability with confidence handling sales, margin, pricing, inventory and SKU-level data. Advanced Excel capability; experience with Power BI, ERP, merchandise planning, reporting or forecasting tools is advantageous. Strong attention to detail, follow-through and ability to manage multiple workstreams across countries and stakeholders. Good commercial judgement and curiosity about liquor, travel retail, shopper behaviour and APAC market dynamics. Strong communicator who can prepare clear summaries, trackers and reports for diverse stakeholders. Reliable, proactive and comfortable working in a fast-moving, matrixed environment with some ambiguity. Fluency in English is required; Mandarin or other APAC languages would be advantageous given regional stakeholder and market exposure. Due to certain email system settings, some of our messages may occasionally land in your junk or spam folder. To ensure you don’t miss any important updates regarding your application, please check these folders regularly and mark our emails as ‘Not Spam’ if needed. We look forward to connecting with you soon!