Muhammad Aqdas Muzaffar
Dubai
Summary
A competent Strategic Category Management professional with experience of leading various category development facets in the FMCG sector. A data-driven marketer with expertise in converting retail audit & shopper insights data to actionable insights, helping unlock category growth. I am passionate about commercial excellence & elevating brand presence in-store. I was also recognized as Campaign Middle East Brand Faces to Watch 2022 based on professional accomplishments.
Overview
9
9
years of professional experience
5
5
years of post-secondary education
1
1
Certification
4
4
Languages
Work History
National Category Lead - Cheese
Arla Foods
01.2022 - Current
- My role is focused on driving shopper and customer-centric strategies that maximize market share, revenue growth, and profitability for the Puck, Kraft, and The Three Cows brands in the UAE market
- Spearheaded strategic planning and winning retailer category strategies, managing P&L for AED 200M+ annual revenue portfolio
- Conducted comprehensive category and shopper analysis across 3 brands & 12 segments, utilizing Nielsen, Retailer EPOS, Dunnhumby and Kantar Shopper Panel Data
- Developed pricing & promotional strategies for 160+ SKUs, maximizing absolute profit across categories
- Enhanced category premiumization by launching 5 NPDs across different sub-categories, resulting in an avg
- 10% increase in price/kg
- Achieved an 8% increase in overall category revenue YOY through strategic planning and execution
- Directed a strong Back to School In-store Campaign based on Justice League Superheroes theme (Warner Bros
- Partnership), resulting in a strong 5pts gain in market share
- Collaborated successfully with regional marketing to establish a strong partnership with Filli based on local market needs, helping unlock penetration growth with strategically important South Asian population
- Launched the Puck Reusable Jar campaign, promoting sustainability by encouraging shoppers to reuse glass jars in creative ways, boosting eco-conscious engagement
- Developed Commercial Category & Go-To-Market Strategy, driving Cheese category growth through 3 Arla brands
- Led direct report in category management for overall 2 years
Category, Customer & Shopper Marketing Manager
Arla Foods
10.2020 - 01.2022
- The purpose of my role was to maximize growth of the Spreadable cheese category while enhancing the trade marketing activities of the Puck portfolio in line with its financial objectives
- Leveraged relevant insights to orchestrated localized category strategies for enhanced shopper engagement, driving a 12% sales uplift
- Achieved a 7-point market share gain for Puck & Kraft in the Jars segment, cementing leadership
- Led impactful customer-specific Category Management initiatives, boosting category sales by 15%
- Managed trade spends with 100% compliance, optimizing spend efficiency by 20%
- Closely collaborated with & provided input to brand marketing and demand planning teams on future growth pillars, innovation pipeline and business case development
Category Intelligence Manager & Perfect Store Lead
Arla Foods
06.2019 - 10.2020
- The purpose of my role was to improve the structure of category insights reports for the Category, Customer & Shopper Marketing Teams, as well as being the Perfect Store Lead
- Directed the launch of “Perfect Store” Tool in Arla UAE and provided strong sales fundamentals guidelines, resulting in multifold Perfect Stores, adding 7% growth in converted stores
- Accomplished achievement of 40 Perfect Stores in Arla UAE in 2020 up from 1 store in 2019, adding AED 11 million revenue
- Led the insights & analytics delivery for Cat Man projects related to Cheese and Chilled Cooking with key retailers, utilizing Range Rationalization & optimized planograms
- Created a Market Monitor Tool fit for use; incorporating Retail Audit (Nielsen+EPOS), Internal Sales Data & Kantar Shopper Panel Data, showing ongoing performance and trends for Arla, used to kickstart all leadership meetings
Category Manager- Arla Leadership Graduate Program
Arla Foods
06.2018 - 06.2019
- The programme consisted of two 9-12 month rotations where I was challenged with new project assignments enabling me to build unique leadership & functional competencies
- Led Kraft Cheese business integration into Arla Foods post acquisition; conducted Channel, Customer & Shopper deep dives along with the Kraft Perfect Store Playbooks with relevant MSL & Planograms
- Activated the Puck natural cheese portfolio through proper utilization of the 4P’s, resulting in a 5% market share gain
- Developed a growth plan for cheese category with Lulu-UAE and spotted opportunities for various key segments in the right pockets based on shopper data analysis and profiling of outlets
Distributor Project Manager - Arla Leadership Graduate Program
Arla Foods
09.2017 - 05.2018
- Led development of Distributor Sales Milk Powder Strategy with a structured approach towards potential NPDs & opportunity areas in terms of SKU rationalization
- Spearheaded the Puck Cream Cheese Tubs & Arla Organic Milk launch in Bahrain and Jordan, while ensuring right in-store fundamentals
Key Account Executive
Transmed (P&G Distributor)
10.2016 - 08.2017
- My role’s purpose was to maximize the sales of household & personal care portfolio of P&G in Ajman region
- Directed 10 sales reps & merchandisers to conduct in-store executions and carry out sales activities with all relevant accounts
- Grew P&G’s business and the customers’ sales by developing strategic sales concepts & executing in-store fundamentals + secondary visibility initiatives, resulting in over delivery on avg
- Of 20%
Brand Management Executive (Temp. Contract)
Henkel
08.2016 - 10.2016
- My role’s purpose was to provide actionable recommendations to grow the liquid detergents category in the GCC markets
Education
Master’s Degree - Management
Durham University
09.2015 - 08.2016
Bachelor’s Degree - Finance
American University of Sharjah
09.2011 - 06.2015
Skills
Pricing strategy
Sales analysis
Trade marketing
Data analytics
Performance tracking
Category growth
Promotional planning
Financial acumen
Competitive intelligence
Certification
Disruptive Strategy, Harvard Business School, 03/22, 05/22
Experience Years
8
Raised In
UAE
Training
- Ecommerce: A Journey to Success, Circus Street, 01/22, 03/22
- Shopper Centric Category Management, Nielsen, 09/21, 09/21, Dubai, UAE
Category
COMMERCIAL LEAD
Timeline
National Category Lead - Cheese
Arla Foods
01.2022 - Current
Category, Customer & Shopper Marketing Manager
Arla Foods
10.2020 - 01.2022
Category Intelligence Manager & Perfect Store Lead
Arla Foods
06.2019 - 10.2020
Category Manager- Arla Leadership Graduate Program
Arla Foods
06.2018 - 06.2019
Distributor Project Manager - Arla Leadership Graduate Program
Arla Foods
09.2017 - 05.2018
Key Account Executive
Transmed (P&G Distributor)
10.2016 - 08.2017
Brand Management Executive (Temp. Contract)
Henkel
08.2016 - 10.2016
Master’s Degree - Management
Durham University
09.2015 - 08.2016
Bachelor’s Degree - Finance
American University of Sharjah
09.2011 - 06.2015