Sarfraz Akhter
Dubai,UAE
Summary
Seasoned buyer with 12 years of experience in retail buying and merchandising. Managed varied categories across different levels. Have worked in both " brick-and-mortar " & "E-commerce" business set up.
Data driven, goal oriented, pragmatic and a natural communicator.
Overview
10
10
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification
Work History
Senior Buyer
Mumzworld
Dubai, UAE
05.2022 - Current
- Develop, maintain and communicate to team members as well as Category Manager & CEO a clear and well-articulated buying plan supported by sales, promotion and branding/supplier strategy.
- Drive and manage the assortment development and review, providing analysis to support decision-making whilst owning product selection oversight.
- Detailed in depth buying/marketing planning for launching big campaigns like BTS & Black Friday.
- Maintain awareness of yearly & seasonal business revenue shapes and manage inventory planning for uptake in sales keeping in mind and potential loss in margin due to promotional activity.
- Manage brands & categories matrix to help identify duplication as well as filling potential gaps in our assortments.
- Plan launch of key campaigns together with the Category Manager.
- Manage monthly department level open-to-buy (OTB) whilst ensuring alignment to business plans
- Manage inventory levels through ordering enough product while ensuring best performers are adequately stocked and poor performers are cleared.
- Work closely with marketing, catalogue, data team & supply chain.
- Actively negotiate with suppliers on pricing, MOQ's, payment & delivery terms.
- Attend events, fairs and exhibitions to remain up to date with the market's trends.
Dubai UAE
03.2017 - 04.2022
- Planning, managing, selecting & purchasing of impulsive product lines, Toys, New-Born hard goods, Luggage, Back to School (Seasonal)
- Preparing seasonal range plan and aligning them with given OTB
- Influence & challenge OTB creation, managing how to spend OTB
- Demonstrate creative drive & talent in planning, selecting & buying product
- Analyze & interpret sales figures to make good business decisions
- Take responsibility for gross margin, stock turn & sell thru
- Actively participate for E-Commerce buys, product selection, & quantifying orders
- Manage the sale markdown strategy & stock liquidation
- Present the range to management for signing off
- Work closely with marketing, VM & store teams, supply chain & e-commerce
- Actively negotiate with suppliers on pricing, MOQ's, payment & delivery terms
- Frequently travelling to places like Hong Kong, China for supplier & product scouting, visiting factories, attending trade fairs etc
- Constant research on new products and develop the same with our existing suppliers.
Category Manager
Dubai
06.2013 - 02.2017
- Managed Electronics, Home Appliances & General merchandise categories for a chain of hypermarkets & supermarket based in UAE & KSA
- Negotiating & closing annual contract terms or BDA with key suppliers
- Successfully developed private label in kitchenware at Fatima Group
- Doing comprehensive performance review of the suppliers on a regular basis with the purpose of achieving annual targets & beyond
- Preparing weekly/ seasonal promotional calendar's & building reports
- Clearance of ageing stocks through promotional offers/RTV's etc
- Timely replenishment
- Track order status, update sales and inventory teams, and follow up with suppliers to avoid delays.
Education
MBA -
WBUT
2008
BBA - undefined
WBUT
2006
Skills
- MRP planning
- Price negotiations
- Supply chain management
- Strategic sourcing
- Supplier development
Accomplishments
- Increased the revenue for private label in Mumzworld by 82% OLY LFL products.
- Filled the gaps within categories which resulted in exponential growth on revenue.
- Helped improved stock turn from 2.2 to 2.8 annually through better merchandise planning.
- Successfully managed multiple categories for 200+ REDTAG stores across GCC with an average TOPLINE LFL growth of nearly 10% for 4 consecutive years spent at REDTAG.
- Improved the bought in margin (BIM) by 7% for the department
- Successfully executed several projects within REDTAG which are yielding millions of businesses annually.
Certification
- Supply Chai Basics for Everyone, Linkedin 2021
- Train the Trainer Award 2015
Interests
HOBBIES
, Travelling
Sports
Music
Reading Books
Languages
English
Fluent
Hindi
Native
Bengali
Intermediate
Timeline
Senior Buyer
Mumzworld
05.2022 - Current
Dubai UAE
03.2017 - 04.2022
Category Manager
06.2013 - 02.2017
MBA -
WBUT
BBA - undefined
WBUT
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