Reporting to the Group Category Manager, you will be responsible for your assigned categories performances across Copia formats to offer the best in-store experience to shoppers. Primary objectives are to obtain the best conditions from the suppliers that have been assigned by the Group Category Manager, you will also be responsible in ensuring the execution of actions to maximize the business and customers’ benefits.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Category

• Analyze category performances in term of sales, growth, margin, and inventory by format as per schedule per format
• Measure the category performance per format against budget
• Propose corrective action plans in terms of items, brands, suppliers, displays and promotions
• Gather item and range evolution proposals from suppliers and submit the selected ones matching the range strategies to the Format team
• Conduct market surveys as per schedule
• Perform Range performance reviews per format as per schedule to identify items (new and existing), brands (new and existing), and suppliers (new and existing) evolution.
• Ensure that Item master is updated with the latest information

Supplier

• Analyze suppliers performances in terms of sales, growth, margin, service level, availability, and inventory by format as per schedule per format
• Measure the suppliers performances per format against yearly objectives and commitments
• Propose corrective action plans
• Gather the best assortment evolution proposals from suppliers to answer Format Teams objectives
• Ensure that new item listing and items delisting rules are duly applied by teams
• Ensure suppliers’ yearly objectives for trading terms are defined for assigned suppliers
• Manage the planning of the yearly trading terms negotiations and the follow up of  their results
• Manage the planning and implementation of regular supplier meetings and performance reviews and guarantee the results
• Ensure that COPIA obtains the purchasing conditions.
  • Purchase price
  • Payment terms
  • Rebates and discounts
• Source items as per Format team direction
• Engage suppliers to give COPIA new items and exclusive items
• Guarantee efficient and timely response to stores availability issues
• Timely share information on the Suppliers’ Portal following Merchandise Manager’s instructions

Promotions

• Engage suppliers to collect promotion items objectives as well as receive propositions, innovations and exclusivity per format and for all formats
• Ensure COPIA receives the best promotion propositions
• Ensure that Suppliers’ promotion plans are aligned to support each format’s promotion plans.
• Monitor Promotion performance reviews on past promotion and propose improvements to Format team for selection
• Timely communicate suppliers’ propositions to Format teams

Inventory

• Define and implement Purchase Plans with assigned Suppliers for all item types
• Ensure that inventories are within parameters in order to guarantee availability and achieve company’s stock days objectives
• Ensure that ordering and delivery schedules of assigned suppliers are timely maintained
• Ensure that Service Level is timely monitored and suppliers engage with corrective actions accordingly
• Suggest stock decrease action plans when a category’s stock days go over the accepted limit

Pricing

• Obtain optimal buying conditions from assigned suppliers for sensitive items per format
• Do not accept suppliers’ price increase without validation
• Ensure that required local assortment is timely sourced for new depot opening
• Ensure that store opening promotions are timely finalized for new depot opening
• Ensure that special conditions for depot opening are finalized with suppliers
• Ensures that products reached depot timely

Team development

• Facilitate category and supplier action plan meetings
• Provide support to team members when needed

Key Performance Indicators

Category performance for assigned categories and suppliers

• Sales (volume & value), sales growth, sales contribution
• Assortment effectiveness
• Front Margin, growth, rate, contribution
• Back margin
• Net margin
• Inventory days, value, aging, turnover
• Promotion sales value, promotion contribution, growth, margin, margin rate

Supplier performance for assigned suppliers

• Sales (volume & value), sales growth, sales contribution
• Share of assortment
• Range effectiveness
• Brands effectiveness
• Front Margin, growth, rate, contribution
• Back Margin
• Net margin Inventory days, value, aging, turnover
• Promotion sales value, promotion contribution, growth, umber of promotion, number of events, margin, margin rate,
• Service level

Qualifications

• Bachelor in Management, Retail, Marketing
• 2-4 year of Buying/Merchandising experience
• Experience working with a team
• Experience with corresponding categories is a plus
• Experience in managing business relationship with several customers or suppliers
• A team player
• Ability to work autonomously
• Communication skills
• Comfortable with numbers
• Ability to plan and prioritize
• Knowledge of market trends
• Adaptable & good analytic skills
• Comfortable with IT systems

Additional Information

You are also:

• Customer-centric – You put the customer first in everything you do. You are obsessed with fostering a positive customer experience.
• Prompt and decisive – You have a sense of urgency. You act promptly and with intention to make things happen efficiently and effectively. You do what needs to be done immediately, without being asked and in the most thorough way possible to achieve results.
• A team player – You proactively contribute to the team with the aim of adding value. You make positive contributions to team discussions that help the team move forward in achieving their goal
• Result oriented – You deliver results boldly. You recognize what results are important and you take the necessary steps to achieve them.
• Positive and fun – You learn from everything you do. You also give and take constructive feedback.