Oracle , SAP , MATLAB
Apoorva Sharma
Category Manager
Dubai,DU
Summary
- Retail Buyer with more than 6 years of buying and planning experience. Demonstrated leadership capabilities with direct and indirect employee groups. Employs tact, sound judgment and maintains professional demeanor in communication and relationships with others while striving to deliver best quality in daily work.
- Currently working as Category Manager – Duty Free Lagardere Travel Retail
- Business knowledge on consumer behaviour and buying patterns and the GCC retail market
- Deep understanding of the premium brand retail market
- Proficient at multi-tasking and problem solving, strategic decision making
- Possess excellent interpersonal, communication and organizational skills with abilities in team management and customer relationship management.
Overview
1
1
Language
2
2
Certifications
4
4
years of post-secondary education
7
7
years of professional experience
Work History
Category Manager
Lagardere Travel Retail Middle East
Office 202 , dubai
07.2018 - Current
- Duty Free Lagarde Travel Retail Key Responsibilities:.
- Buying Budget & planning – Determining OTB requirements and formulating buying plan and budget.
- Commercial terms negotiation and closure of yearly contracts with the working partners
- Pitching rentable company space to brands for yearly packages which is vendor income directly to the company P&L.
- New business development, and business strategy and planning.
- Collaborate with brands for online exclusive range creation for the ecommerce platform.
- Shop in Shop concept creation with Brands which add value to the overall category business.
- Product assortment development and management.
- Co-ordination closely with sales operations teams to get market insight for localization and customer sentiments.
- Sharing brand performance and buy projections with brand principles.
- Co-ordination with the visual merchandising team to get brand planograms displayed in the store.
- Research latest fixtures in the market to keep store display current and relevant, and design custom made fixtures and implement and source the same from suppliers.
- Negotiate backend rebates, maintain vendor terms of trade and agreements and promotion support for EOL items.
- Marketing and promotion calendar management.
- Negotiate for promotion funding and specialized staff from the suppliers.
- Brand performance evaluation for enhanced sales and profitability.
- Mentoring and training the assistant category manager, setting goals and objectives which align back to company goals and objectives.
- Traveled internationally 7 times per year to observe newest trends and make proactive buying choices.
- Creating brand, price, supplier and option strategy to tie back to the companies overall strategy, improve brand and SKU rationalization and improve profitability through optimum pricing and supplier management Notable Highlights :.
- Designed the complete Saudi and GCC specific souvenirs range for Lagardere ME which led to 150% growth in the category.
- Toys – Expanded toys business, by sourcing middle east specific toys, Arab dolls, key movie release merchandise, Arabic channel
- Travel Accessories destination creation, unique travel accessories, travel accessories kits, hygiene kits, personal protection kits etc.
- Private label range developments for Duty free specific products.
- Developed mood boards , color pallet , theme boards to identify trending colors themes and concepts and translated them into commercially viable souvenir designs.
- Arranged training for the Sales staff from the Brands & suppliers which led to greater team engagement and higher sales.
- Represented Lagardere in the CES and identified new business opportunities, innovative products, alternative sourcing avenues for improved profitability, strengthened vendor relations with existing brands, identified opportunity areas in current range based of product assortment available in the show.
- Partnered with buyers to develop category-appropriate order frequency for spend under management.
- Visited supplier offices and plants to investigate facilities and capacity and ability to meet quality requirements, specifications and delivery dates.
- Mitigated business risk and improved customer lead times through thoughtful supplier network design.
Assistant Category Manager
Lagardere Travel Retail Middle East
Office 202 , dubai
07.2018 - 12.2018
- Duty Free Lagardere Travel Retail Key Responsibilities:.
- Buying Budget & planning – Determining buying requirements and formulating buying plan and budget.
- Product assortment development and management.
- Co-ordinating with sales operations teams at all times to ensure replenishment components are in line to minimize lost sales opportunities.
- Sharing brand performance and buy projections with brand principles.
- Co-ordinating with the visual merchandising team to get Brand fixtures displayed in the store.
- Research latest fixtures in the market to keep store display current and relevant.
- Negotiate backend rebates, maintain vendor terms of trade and agreements.
- Marketing and promotion calendar management.
- Negotiate for promotion funding and specialized staff from the suppliers.
- Brand performance evaluation for enhanced sales and profitability.
Assistant Buyer-Beauty
Landmark Group
Dubai , UAE
05.2015 - 07.2018
- Developing an adequate vendor base for the company through active scouting and negotiation/renegotiation.
- Buying Budget & planning – Determining buying requirements and formulating buying plan and budget.
- Profit maximization and cost optimization through centralized bulk buying or vendor mix.
- Identify sales opportunities and follow up on existing customers for business development.
- Product assortment development and management.
- Visual Merchandising – To ensure stores meet or exceed the merchandising standards of the company and competitors.
- Inventory management.
- Range presentation to senior management for assortment planning.
- Effectively dealing with fast/slow moving items/ranges and end ranges and take corrective action on timely basis.
- Implementation of financial and credit service agreement with vendor that maximize profit and positively contribute to cash flow.
- Vendor management and negotiation.
- Sales target achievement.
- Sales and price strategy finalization.
- Brand performance evaluation for enhanced sales and profitability.
- Market segmentation and consumer buying behaviour analysis.
- RTV management.
- Competitor and market survey to understand trends and product development Notable Highlights:.
- Brought down department ageing and overstocked inventory by 800K through effective vendor negotiation.
- Range design and development for the private label category in the Bath & Body department which led to 15% incremental sales.
- Streamlined and organized the vendor agreement process and negotiated and documented Terms of trade agreements for all existing vendors.
- Streamlined the ordering process to ensure optimum stock holding at any point of time and avoid overstock scenario.
- Optimized department supply chain process which led to a department shrinkage reduction of 20%.
- Launched new and relevant brands in line with company strategies to effectively meet sales and profit goals.
- Realigned the brand plotting to ensure better sales, effective and optimum utilization of store space.
- Identified discontinued ranges and created liquidation plan to clear 200k worth of inventory.
- Negotiated vendor promotion funding to maximize sales and profitability.
- Restructured the BA training program in collaboration with the training team to provide BA’s with the necessary product knowledge and skill sets to maximize sales.
- Negotiated Online exclusive promotion support from vendors to support and strengthen the companies multichannel strategy 05’15-01’16 Buyer – Perfumes & Fragrances Multiplex International Key Responsibilities:.
- Research sources in order to develop new business connections.
- Identify sales opportunities and follow up on existing customers for business development.
- Product assortment development and management.
- Visual Merchandising.
- Inventory management.
- Vendor management and negotiation.
- Sales target achievement.
- Sales and price strategy finalization.
- Brand performance evaluation for enhanced sales and profitability.
- Market segmentation and consumer buying behaviour analysis.
- RTV management Notable Highlights:.
- Maintaining and planning appropriate Stock Covers by negotiating with Suppliers for Purchase Orders, Payment Terms, Product Cost, Order Quantities, Delivery Dates, Sample Availability, and Quality Issues.
- To develop an order for 400 SKU’s, with a retail sales of AED 600000 in 21 store location in UAE.
- Coordinate with Warehouse to ensure on timely delivery of products.
- Guiding and verifying stock allocation done by Perfume Coordinator.
- Planning with coordinator regarding consolidations and changing product mix to achieve better sale and also reduce OTB Value.
- Deciding and commuting commissions for sales team in order to motivate the team and get better sales result.
- Successful at handling big orders in short span of time which helped company to attain good profits of AED 200000 in 7 days.
- Planning fragrance events for stores during off seasons to achieve targets and ensure all stock and collateral arrived in store at the correct time.
- Assisted and negotiated with suppliers regarding R.G.A (Returned Goods Agreement) and R.T.V.
- (Return to Vendors) reducing 30 % of total aging inventories.
- Successfully supported the Store Supervisor in Visual Merchandising to create the best layout and merchandising for Exquisite Beauty Stores focusing on commerciality.
- Created a Price Elasticity tool for deriving the optimal promo price point for items going on price cuts.
- Transitioned and mapped out the Ageing Inventory Management process which led to reduction in ageing and reduced supply chain costs.
- Prepared and presented Fragrance Training and Product Knowledge "seminars' to Sales Promoters internally, to demonstrate the link between fine fragrance trends and market products - past, present and future and to develop better selling techniques.
- Managing the team around 50 sales promoters for achievement of target by giving them support on customer handling, Discount related issues, giving them right directions to achieve their daily set target.
- Monthly reporting to Retail Head on store visits discussing changes for improved performance.
- Maintained key item stock levels and wrote or expedited purchase orders.
- Analyzed inventory usage and assessed trends to provide maximum coverage for each time period.
- Oversaw and streamlined daily operations of purchasing department to maximize productivity and revenue.
- Processed, reviewed and tracked replenishment orders using Oracle.
Buyer-Beauty
Multiplex International
Dubai , UAE
05.2013 - 09.2014
- Collaborate with buyer to finalize on product assortment.
- Vendor management with guidance from buyer.
- Brand performance evaluation for enhanced sales and profitability.
- Sales strategy formulation
- Oversaw and streamlined daily operations of purchasing department to maximize productivity and revenue.
- Analyzed inventory usage and assessed trends to provide maximum coverage for each time period.
- Maintained key item stock levels and wrote purchase orders.
- Guaranteed timely delivery of merchandise through consistent communication with distribution centers and vendors.
- Analyzed sales data and conducted competitor research to efficiently order merchandise according to sales trends.
- Researched and evaluated market trends through online sources, customer feedback and competitor shopping.
- Implemented consolidations and markdowns to promote higher gross margins.
- Negotiated prices, discount terms and transportation arrangements for merchandise.
- Collaborated with buyers for special events and seasonal promotions to maintain adequate product stock and drive sales.
Education
Bachelor of Engineering Technology - Electronics & Telecommunication Engineering
SGSITS
Indore 06.2008 - 07.2012
Skills
Business developmentundefined
Accomplishments
- 2020 Introduction to Financial Accounting from Wharton University of Pennsylvania
- 2020 Product Management Fundamentals from Maryland University
- IT SKILLS: Proficient in MS Office , Oracle, SAP
- Designing Software- PLM , MATLAB
Software
Certification
Financial Accounting
Interests
Zumba , Swimming , Martial Arts
Timeline
Financial Accounting
09-2020
Category Manager
Lagardere Travel Retail Middle East
07.2018 - Current
Assistant Category Manager
Lagardere Travel Retail Middle East
07.2018 - 12.2018
Assistant Buyer-Beauty
Landmark Group
05.2015 - 07.2018
Buyer-Beauty
Multiplex International
05.2013 - 09.2014
Bachelor of Engineering Technology - Electronics & Telecommunication Engineering
SGSITS
06.2008 - 07.2012
Product Management Fundamentals
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