Category Manager - Confectionery

Job Summary

You will be responsible for driving sales and profitability with a commercial approach in areas such as buying and merchandising, forecast and replenishment, vendor & brand management, pricing, promotions and marketing relevant to travellers of diverse nationalities in Hamad International Airport. You should foster strategic brand partnerships to deliver continuous growth and innovation of the category.

Key Accountabilities

• Lead, motivate and direct a team of buyers to deliver business results across all metrics.
• Contribute to the profitability by increasing the volume of products that are sold and improving the speed of inventory turnover within the category.
• Assist or take charge of the ordering, pricing, and in-store organization of products in order to achieve category goals.
• Maintain good relationship with suppliers that are mutually beneficial, as well as create an engaging relationship with customers that are interactive and productive.
• Responsible for negotiating pricing, delivery and payment terms with vendors to ensure profit margin of the products are maximized.
• Responsible for setting competitive pricing and adjusting the pricing to increase sales and clear out stagnant items from inventory.
• Expand successful product lines and implement successful exit strategies for unsuccessful unpopular merchandise.
• Successful marketing of the product or product line by using the right formula which includes pricing and availability, balanced with consumer demand.
• Managing inventory to maximize the profitability of the inventory flow.
• Working in partnership with retail and marketing department to ensure effective marketing of products
• Review performance and financials, weekly/monthly in conjunction with the Management.
• Maintain promotional vision to meet delivery and profitability.
• Conduct post promotional analysis to track sales and profit results at end of each promotional timeframe.
• Communicate all pertinent information, including merchandising plans, ad plans, and kprice changes, to key stakeholders.

About You

To be successful in this role you will hold a Bachelor’s Degree in Business/Purchasing or equivalent. You should have minimum 8 years’ experience in managing high performance procurement in travel retail industry, preferably in a strategic setting in a large size organization. You must have experience in food and confectionery category management including buying and merchandising. You must have proven track record in the ability to manage sales, margin and stock. Direct hands-on experience in SAP, Oracle/Navision or other similar programs is highly preferred.

You must have strong analytical skills and negotiation skills along with excellent written and spoken communication skills. You should have specialist knowledge of sourcing, buying, product development and stock management principles and best practices. Customer and product – knowledge of processes and practices to research, understand and evaluate customer needs, market trends and analysis. Knowledge in Retail industry is preferred and in Travel Retail is a distinct advantage.

Note: you will be required to attach the following

• Resume / CV
• Copy of Passport
• Copy of Highest Educational Certificate