Shafqat Nabi, Senior Brand Manager

Shafqat Nabi

Senior Brand Manager

Darwish Holding

Location
Qatar
Education
Higher diploma, Brand Management & Merchandising
Experience
23 years, 9 months

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Work Experience

Total years of experience :23 years, 9 months

Senior Brand Manager at Darwish Holding
  • Qatar - Doha
  • My current job since August 2015

51 East is a premium department chain and principal destination for connoisseurs of sophisticated styles. It offers most coveted and elegant global and regional brands, in a fusion of incomparable luxury, personalised hospitality and impeccable service.

Job Purpose: Develop, drive and execute strategic plans and organisational structures, processes and capabilities by involving all business functions in developing annual strategic business plan, execution and provide feedback based on measurable results. Provide leadership and vision to mens department and maximise sales and profitability to meet the objectives of the company.

Job Profile:
 Brand portfolio: Lanvin, Cerruti 1881, Fred Perry, Calvin Klein, Brioni, Kiton, Guess, Lacoste, Bally, Moreschi, Roberto Cavali, Moschino, etc.
 Prepare and execute business strategic growth plans and management of brand equity and concept consistency.
 Formulating and executing buying strategy and budgets to deliver sales, margin and terminal stock plans.
 Business and market development, product positioning, brand management with key focus on bottom line profitability and ensuring optimal utilisation of resources.
 Design and execute strategic marketing, promotional (ATL, BTL and TTL) and retail activities for the business, stimulating creativity, media planning and buying ensuring strategic direction.
 Detailed merchandise range planning and buying and maintaining of optimum stock level. Analysis of performance and key decisions about POV, movements and markdowns.
 Gather, analyse and distil data on consumers and competitors into intelligence that informs/enables new business development. This includes introduction of new brands to ensure viability, continuity and growth of the business.
 Vendor management for sourcing of merchandise, including negotiations of cost/margin.
 Focus on sales need and manage training & development of sales staffs to effectively and efficiently implement the sell-in mentality.

Brand Manager (Nautica, Lee Jeans and Florsheim) at Liwa Trading Enterprises
  • United Arab Emirates
  • March 2006 to June 2015

Job Purpose: Develop, drive and execute strategic plans and organisational structures, processes and capabilities by involving all business functions in developing annual strategic business plan, execution and provide feedback based on measurable results. Provide leadership and vision to brands and maximise sales and profitability to meet the objectives of the company and brand principal.

Job Profile:
 Brand portfolio:
o Nautica: Leading gobal lifestyle brand for Menswear, womenswear, kidswear and accessories. It is part VF Corporation, an $11bn apparel and footwear powerhouse. Liwa operates more than 25 exclusive stores across 6 GCC countries.
o ck Calvin Klein & Calvin Klein Jeans: Clothing, shoes, underwear, fragrance, timewear, etc with 3 stores in the UAE.
o Florsheim: Shoes, belts and other accessories for men, women & kids with 4 stores in UAE, Bahrain & Qatar.
 Prepare and execute business strategic growth plans and management of brand equity and concept consistency.
 Establishing financial planning for signoffs, then directing spend and income within the established P&L statements.
 Formulating and executing buying strategy and budgets to deliver sales, margin and terminal stock plans.
 Business and market development, product positioning, brand management with key focus on bottom line profitability and ensuring optimal utilisation of resources.
 Design and execute strategic marketing, promotional (ATL, BTL and TTL) and retail activities for the business, stimulating creativity, media planning and buying ensuring strategic direction.
 Detailed merchandise range planning and buying and maintaining of optimum stock level. Analysis of performance and key decisions about POV, movements and markdowns.
 Gather, analyse and distil data on consumers and competitors into intelligence that informs/enables new business development.
 Handling of ongoing, short range and long range projects to ensure viability, continuity and growth of the business.
 Focus on sales need and manage training & development of sales staffs to effectively and efficiently implement the sell-in mentality.
 Management Representative for Quality Management System (ISO 9001:2008) for different processes for Liwa Trading.

Job Accomplishments:
 Significant growth in business in terms of revenue (including LFL sales), profitability (and margin), inventory management (including increasing stock turnaround by reducing aged-inventory) and other deliverables in various years.
 Successful in significant increase in PSFPD for all shops.
 Renegotiated better margins with brand principals and other products licensees, resulting in increased profitability.
 Profitable design and execution of various marketing and cross-promotional initiatives for all brands in Liwa portfolio.
 Established a system of brand-related reporting from shop floor.
 At a critical point during global recession, achieved a significant reduction in expense without compromising on quality.
 Initiated weekly news letter circulated to the staff, with inputs on fashion trends, styling & display techniques.
 Successfully organised various fashion shows at prominent shopping centres.
 Creation of brand training manual for customer service and product knowledge.
 Devised various sales-linked promo for Sales Staffs resulting in increased sales and profitability.
 Build operating infrastructure and launch of new brands (Lee & Throttleman)
 Initiated change to improve business and its processes: Warehouse sale and improved working hours in warehouses.
 Repositioned brands through large scale marketing, PR and improvement in look of the shops.
 Other projects for Liwa: (i) New Brand Introductions Document (ii) Markdown Policies and Procedures.

Asst. Manager at Giordano Fashions LLC
  • United Arab Emirates
  • December 2004 to March 2006

 Heading retail operations of Giordano Junior for the UAE.
 Formulating retail policies in consultation with top management.
 Management of brand equity and concept consistency.
 Day-today administration, target fixing, analysis of performance and necessary actions.
 Prepare and execute strategic marketing and promotional activities.
 Detailed merchandise range planning and maintaining of optimum stock level. Analysis of performance and key decisions about POV, movements and markdowns.
 Analysis of key performance indicators (like PSFPD) and taking corrective actions.
 Recruit and manage training and development of sales staffs to effectively and efficiently implement the sell-in mentality.
 Integration of product with consumer marketing and provide direction for retail marketing strategies.
 Handling of ongoing, short range and long range projects to ensure viability, continuity and growth of the business. Identification of sites, negotiations with property owners, appointment of contractors, layout planning, interactions with consultants and contractors, along with the project team ensuring adherence to work schedule.

Asst. Category Manager at Pantaloon Retail India Ltd (Future Group)
  • India
  • October 2003 to December 2004

 Responsible for the business of licensee brands in kids (clothes and accessories).
 Develop, review and deliver AOP and OTB for the segment.
 Strategise and implement range plan and products, including development of the right proposition and POV on products, in line with the strategic intent.
 Tracking trends in international and domestic market and interpretation of the same into economically viable options for retail.
 Vendor management for sourcing of merchandise, including negotiations of cost/margin.
 Analyse sales and forecast and execute necessary adjustments in buy-plan and execute necessary promotions, special events, markdown, etc.
 Identify key product stories/brand initiatives for marketing and PR and develop right communications with the agency and VM team.

Merchandiser & Buyer at Lifestyle International
  • India
  • October 2001 to May 2003

 Responsible for the total business of Baby Shop concept, reporting to Business Manager.
 Merchandise planning (including category-wise and supplier-wise budget forecast and floor planning), buying and control, including maintaining optimum stock-levels (using merchandise grid for all retail points), markdowns and visual displays.
 Prepare and control assortment plans for pre-order, repeats and flash by category/brands.
 Analyse sales and forecast necessary adjustments in buy-plan.
 Vendor development, including negotiations of cost/margin.
 Tracking trends in international and domestic market and interpretation of the same into economically viable option for retail.

Regional Sales Manager at Weekender (Personality Ltd.)
  • India
  • June 2000 to October 2001

 Heading Weekender's retail operations in western Indian (11 exclusive shops across Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad and Goa).
 Responsibilities include day-to-day administration (including expense control), target fixing, cross-promo, shop auditing, stock take and reconciliation, ensuring adherence to customer care norms, incentive planning, recruitment and training of shop managers and staffs, maintaining optimum stock level in shops, planning of merchandise and analysis of performance, expansion of business, etc.
 Additional responsibility of driving profitable product mix delivery for Weekender Kids and Young Weekender across India. Category planning, gap analysis, allocation, analysis of style performance and appropriate actions to maximise sell-through.
 Manage stock distributions to retail points optimising customer demand, available selling space and seasonal selling opportunities (grading and banding).
 Lead the integration of product with consumer marketing and provide directions for retail marketing strategies.

Education

Higher diploma, Brand Management & Merchandising
  • at London College of Fashion
  • June 2006
Master's degree, Marketing & Merchandising Management
  • at National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT)
  • June 2000

The objective of the two year Master Programme in Fashion Management (erstwhile AMM) that started in 1987 is to develop managerial skills in the field of fashion marketing, merchandising and retailing best suited to the requirements of the garment export and fashion retail sectors. Students are exposed to creative merchandising/marketing, innovative fashion management practices, fashion forecasting and trends and business practices through field visits and industry internships.

Bachelor's degree, Statistics
  • at Science College
  • August 1995
High school or equivalent, Physics, Chemistry, Maths
  • at Science College
  • August 1991

Specialties & Skills

Profit Centre Management
Strategic & Tactical Planning
Brand Management
Leadership Capabilities
Brand Consistency
Brand Management, Merchandising, Marketing, Business Development, Fashion Retailing
Advance Excel (working on MS Excel 2010)
Advance MS Office

Languages

English
Expert
Arabic
Beginner
Spanish
Beginner
Hindi
Expert
French
Beginner
Urdu
Intermediate

Memberships

Gerson Lehrman Group
  • Consultancy
  • April 2007

Training and Certifications

Course in Retail Merchandising and Planning (Training)
Training Institute:
Planning Factory, UK
Date Attended:
July 2006

Hobbies

  • Adventure Sports, Yoga, Quiz, travelling, etc.
     Featured in various fashion, retail and lifestyle magazines and other media of repute. Leadership roles in event management in school, colleges and places of work.  Involved as Guest Speaker/ Compere for Retail seminars and workshops organised by B-schools.