Ehab Karas, City Manager

Ehab Karas

City Manager

Groupon Middle East

Location
United Arab Emirates - Dubai
Education
Bachelor's degree, Marketing, majoring in Administration
Experience
14 years, 2 Months

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Work Experience

Total years of experience :14 years, 2 Months

City Manager at Groupon Middle East
  • United Arab Emirates - Dubai
  • My current job since October 2012

Designation Chronology:
• Oct 2012 - Present: City Manager
• Jul 2011 - Sept 2012: Senior Product Manager
• Jun 2011 - Jul 2011: Account Manager

Joined the organization as Account Manager and moved up the corporate ladder as Senior Product Manager and subsequently as City Manager.

Distinctive Accomplishments -City Manager-:
• Focused on wider business goals whilst achieving functional objectives and leading the sales process from opportunity identification to closure for Groupon Goods, Groupon’s online retail arm.
• Significantly contributed in overachieving target by average of 150% over 2 years as a Sales Account Manager.
• Recorded success for highest sales achievement within 9 hours, generating over AED 500, 000 in revenues.
Key Responsibilities -City Manager:
• Responsible for increasing market penetration, identifying new opportunities and enhancing the customer experience, aiming at improving sales, revenue and profitability.
• Devising compelling short / long-term strategies for category business plans, orchestrating sales initiatives to match prevailing trends/customer requirements/product specifics, and changing demands.
• Consulting business owners on strategic tactics to increase profits, gain new customers and raise visibility through customized marketing campaigns.
• Uncovering business requirements, performing financial analysis, forecasting demand and monitoring performance against team KPIs to provide insight based on in-depth analysis of commercial and competitive information.
• Understanding the business drivers and developing business cases to formulate and execute sales strategies and customization to local market.
• Motivating staff and leading the team to achieve sales targets. Working collaboratively with internal teams such as Merchandising, Marketing, Business Intelligence and Logistics to ensure every deal goes live.
• Maintaining close, positive and profitable relationships with vendors and 3rd parties to ensure smooth operations and optimized sourcing.

Senior Product Manager at Groupon Middle East
  • United Arab Emirates - Dubai
  • July 2011 to September 2012

Distinctive Accomplishments - Senior Product Manager:
• Drove sales growth through aggressive product listing and integration of businesses and sellers into the website, to create an unparalleled shopping experience for customers and help maximize revenue opportunities.
• Realized benefits of a truly integrated product offering by streamlining the product introduction cycle in liaison with Sales, Account Management, Partner Relationship Management and After Sales.
• Vital to the strategic growth and continued acceleration of Groupon’s product business by growing new seller segment and translating customer needs into business/product requirements.

Key Responsibilities - Senior Product Manager:
• Served as a product champion and devised business/functional capabilities that deliver against both core customer proposition and company strategic and financial goals.
• Lead the evolution and execution of product vision through acquired knowledge of product categories, markets and growth opportunities.
• Developed a strategic approach to marketing: lead generation, product commercialization, business development, client acquisition and retention, and channel marketing.
• Lead the product discovery process by studying requirements, analyzing market trends, examining financial implications and setting internal priorities. Provided sophisticated research and analysis on market trends, customer behaviors and competitive moves to help drive product roadmaps.
• Strove to provide the best possible customer experience by offering a wide variety of quality products and collaborating with supply-side counterpart to develop focused plans based on feedback from customers.
• Accelerated the performance of Groupon products by executing an ongoing set of initiatives in partnership with leading industry sellers/stockiest and offered them great merchandising visibility to ensure desired top-line results.

Account Manager at Groupon Middle East
  • United Arab Emirates - Dubai
  • June 2011 to July 2011

Key Responsibilities:
• Conceived and spearheaded the strategic blueprint for the business; explored newer methods to develop the brand, promote new products and interact with merchants.
• Stayed one step ahead on industry trends and inspired innovation through shared expectations, actionable KPIs and data for sustained business for Groupon.
• Handled drive forward initiatives that directly affect the success of the business; deployed robust plans to achieve sales targets for Groupon’s products.
• Arranged for strategic tie-up/alliances to give competitive edge, closed lucrative deals with vendors in terms of sale, price point, volume and margin and assured optimized inventory in Groupon warehouse as well as timely product delivery.
• Contributed to decisions about sales enhancements through market surveys and competitor analysis. Addressed all customer challenges, and provided superior service delivery.

Territory Sales Supervisor at Philip Morris International
  • United Arab Emirates - Dubai
  • February 2010 to April 2011

Key Responsibilities:
• Developed territory wide strategies, established distribution plans, and time schedules for events.
• Supported the development of the sales team; assisted in hiring, coaching, scheduling, evaluating, counseling, disciplining and motivating sales promoters.
• Analyzed competitor activities in the region and assessed opportunities for business development. Networked extensively with businesses in the territory and kept up to date with industry news to identify new opportunities.
• Regularly offered suggestions and participated in process improvement and protection of company assets.

Education

Bachelor's degree, Marketing, majoring in Administration
  • at Skyline University College
  • November 2011
Bachelor's degree, Marketing Management
  • at American University in Dubai
  • October 2007

Specialties & Skills

Management
Team Leadership
Teamwork
Salesforce.com
Digital Marketing Strategy
MS Office Package/ Salesforce
Web & E-Commerce
Operations & Distribution
Online Retail Sales
Market Growth Strategies
Analytical Skills, Critical Thinking, Group Dynamics & Synergy
Partnership development
Merchandise Planning
Strategic Sales Planning
Business Strategy, Creation & Implementation
Buying & Sourcing
Organizational Leadership & Development
P&L Management
Communication & Interpersonal

Languages

Arabic
Native Speaker
English
Expert
French
Beginner

Hobbies

  • Fitness
  • Traveling