Sr. Brand Manager
Aura Fashion (ALkhayat Group)
Total years of experience :23 years, 1 Months
Aura Retail is a high-growth company focused on developing international fashion and lifestyle brands. As the Senior Brand Manager, I recruit, mentor, and lead a team of 45 managers, sales associates, and visual merchandisers in six stores. Drawing upon my years of expertise and in-depth market knowledge, I create and execute our brand strategy to build awareness and generate new business. I am also heavily involved in creating the annual marketing calendar, working closely with the marketing team and reviewing social media activity and results. I prepare the annual sales forecast and purchasing budgets, which I monitor on a daily basis to ensure we remain on track. Additionally, I monitor stock levels, evaluate brand and product performance, and work with the visual merchandising team on seasonal and special displays. My responsibilities also include interfacing with the logistics and warehouse teams to manage shipments, as well as ensuring timely payment to suppliers.
My key accomplishments include:
⇨ Spearheaded launch and mange new European and American fashion brands in Qatar and GCC that generate ~$7M annually (45% of total company revenue.
⇨ Analysed market research, identify opportunities for growth, and plan to develop 11 new stores throughout the region in two years.
⇨ Successfully recruited ~60 employees, including conducting recruiting trips in the Philippines, Ukraine, and Egypt.
⇨ Established new processes and procedures for retail department operations.
A Brand Manager, I recruited, hired, trained, and led a 16-member team and four stores, including sales staff, visual merchandisers, and shop managers. I was fully responsible for preparing sales budgets, managing inventory and purchasing, developing the annual marketing calendars, and coordinating incoming shipments with logistics and warehouse teams. Through careful tracking and analysis, I ensured our plans remained on track to meet our sales and revenue goals.
My key accomplishment:
⇨ Instrumental in developing new brand in the UAE market, including establishing the franchise agreement with supplier and new store location agreements.
I managed 82 employees at 19 retail store locations whilst ensuring alignment of our brand strategy and overall business goals. My responsibilities encompassed all aspects of day-to-day operations and strategic planning to establish a strong market position, including visual merchandising, marketing calendar creation, sales and promotional planning, and results monitoring.
My key accomplishments include:
⇨ Achieved 43% like-for-like sales growth.
⇨ Played key role in recruiting new brands to the market and finalizing franchise agreements.
⇨ Entrusted with responsibility for appointing and training entire retail operations team, including selecting and mentoring high-potential candidates to fill critical roles.
⇨ Orchestrated launch and managed seven European fashion brands whilst expanding market footprint by opening new locations in Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria.
I was promoted after only six months to launch the new Promod brand and open several local stores. I was initially recruited as Shop Manager tasked with opening Mango flagship store in Damascus.
My key accomplishment:
⇨ Successfully managed launch o first two international fashion brands (Mango and Promod) and developed new retail stores to capture market share.
I was recruited as sales associate for Massimo Dutti brand, assigned to all new store openings, and earned promotions through all store positions to my final role as Manager in Training (MIT).