MRD Recruitment is delighted to be recruiting a Category Manager/ Commercial Manager on behalf of our Retail and E-Commerce client. My client is a market leader within their respective field. Their Head Office is based in Scotland, and the Category Manager/ Commercial Manager will be home-based, with the requirement of visiting their stores in central belt Scotland.
My client is an omnichannel business, who have experienced impressive growth in the last 5 years. They have been building relationships and partnering with customers, suppliers, dealers and employees for over 60 years.
The successful, home-based, Category Manager/ Commercial Manager, will be responsible for planning, sourcing, selecting and negotiating a commercial and competitively priced product range across all channels, whilst maximising sales and margin for the wider business.
Key Responsibilities and Accountabilities:
- P&L ownership of the budget for your category with a focus on net profitability
- Understand total business strategy & their category’s role within it. Ownership of annual trade/category plan process.
- Review of short/medium term trading outlook (6 months+), mitigation plans to hand and engagement with the wider business on developing trends
- Full involvement in origination, trialling, and development of ‘3-year-plan’ ideas
- Have a long-term supplier strategy in place covering annual deals, payment terms, cost prices, marketing spend, and conduct regular grow/hold/decline reviews
- Manage your own category pricing and full ownership for supplier income delivery & responsibility for reporting performance across the business.
- You’ll add value by negotiating cost price movements, establishing cost models to ensure maximum value for money.
- You’ll plan for capacity and capability with the suppliers through co-ordination with internal teams and replenishment, to effectively meet forward demand over multiple time periods and seasonal promotions.
- Building the critical path for each season, identifying key product launches, supplier lead times and sign off timeframes
- Analyse depth of buy, range width and offer and analyse option count and product mix by season and range
- You’ll co-ordinate medium- and long-term planning to ensure that supplier capability meets forecasted demand profiles
- You’ll manage supplier performance and support the day-to-day activity ensuring material availability along with daily issue resolution
- Review trading performance, identifying areas of concern / opportunity and taking appropriate action in line with the category role.
- Deliver category pricing and range reviews to optimise category performance
- Define the supply base strategy and management of supplier relationships, to maximise return
- Lead the negotiation of key supplier trading agreements and oversee accurate input into the rebate management system
- Introduce & set up new suppliers to the business to help elevate the brands quality and price points
- Challenge trading mentalities and performance of the business regularly
- Review bottom line margin, generated revenue and the returns rate with the wider team and key stakeholders
- Review all platforms of trading across social media and the e-commerce website to drive correct strategies to drive more consumer visits and basket spend when on site
Knowledge, Skills & Experiences
- Proven Track record as a Buying Manager/Category Manager in a similar retail/e-commerce environment
- A proven negotiator
- Proven experience of delivering category strategies in a complex, competitive market
- A strong customer centricity with a track record of putting the customer first
- Ability to work at pace, in a fast and flexible environment with drive, energy and enthusiasm
- Significant commercial understanding with an excellent analytical, problem-solving and decision-making background
- Experience of building relationships at all levels to drive commercial benefits
- Experience of implementing and driving unified strategies in a complex business environment
- Strong business and commercial skills set with the ability to translate market trends into competitive procurement advantage.
- Strong contractual, financial and strategic sourcing knowledge, with an ability to manage ambiguity with ease.
- Ability to drive out cost and contribute to increased revenue generation within the business
