Category Manager
At a Glance
- Category
- 🛍️ Retail
- Level
- Senior
- Type
- Full-time
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POSITION OBJECTIVE
- Plan and select the range, type, quality and quantity of merchandise according to customer demand, trends, store policies and set prices and sell through targets in conjunction with the Brand Manager/GM to ensure they are in line with the budget
- Carry out buying activities in-line with the brand buying plans
- Maintain profitable relationships with existing suppliers and monitor the adherence to the contract terms
Key Responsibilities
Business Strategy:
- Drive the seasonal strategies in line with the brand positioning to formulate Gross Margin Plan
- Develop a fine tuned assortment and investment plan
- Create the sourcing development plan and action the critical path to deliver timely
- Negotiate with new suppliers on product pricing, payment terms, cost of freight, provision of training, and the extent of their involvement in advertising and promotions, to decide on placing a purchase order with the supplier for the concerned product
- OTB Planning
– Manage OTB in tandem with the planning counterpart
- Deliver the seasonal business strategy by monitoring and impacting the critical path, range building and product selection
- Prepare and manage the buying calendar
- Formulate seasonal product focus plan with Marketing and VM to drive key product initiatives
- Focus on holding current business and build new categories
- Conducting customer focus groups and competitive shopping
Performance and Operations:
- Analysis and reporting of weekly sales performance at style, range, category and business unit level against range plan. Take in season action to revise production flows and maximize sales
- Manage TNA plans
- Implement the buying calendar for timely seasonal analysis and range build
- Perform regular competitor surveys to identify product gaps, influence lessons learnt and range plans
- Manage range and product hierarchy and create the seasonal phasing plan
- Responsible for the ‘The Look’ for the season. Influence product selection, in-store VM as per guidelines and layout planning
- Keep abreast of market trends and awareness of competitor activities
- Manage the product training of staff to ensure up-to-date knowledge. Prepare regular trends training and deliver to the business units
- Review buying feedback reports and provide recommendations to General Manager as to buying strategy for a respective brand/collection
Requirements
- •Ability to plan and select merchandise range, type, quality, and quantity
- •Experience in carrying out buying activities in-line with brand plans
- •Ability to maintain profitable relationships with existing suppliers
- •Knowledge of Gross Margin Planning
- •Experience in OTB (Open-to-Buy) Planning
- •Ability to conduct customer focus groups and competitive shopping
Responsibilities
- •Drive seasonal strategies to formulate Gross Margin Plans
- •Develop fine-tuned assortment and investment plans
- •Create sourcing development plans and action the critical path
- •Negotiate with new suppliers on pricing, payment terms, and freight costs
- •Manage OTB in tandem with the planning counterpart
- •Prepare and manage the buying calendar
- •Formulate seasonal product focus plans with Marketing and VM
- •Analyze and report weekly sales performance at style, range, and category levels
Related Jobs4 similar jobs
- See if your CV layout works for Apparel Group
- Get every weak line rewritten
- Download a CV written for the Gulf
Free check in 60 seconds. Fixes $5.88 one-time, only if you want them.
Apparel Group is a global fashion and lifestyle retail conglomerate. It operates a large portfolio of leading international brands across the Middle East, Africa, and India.