Category Manager
Sun And Sand Sports
Total years of experience :22 years, 4 Months
In my current role I am responsible for managing the portfolio of brands throughout the UAE and GCC within my given silo, with the focus being on developing a comprehensive brand representation and attracting a wider audience. I must ensure that I am able to deliver the expected GP through my annual strategic plan, forecasting processes, scenario planning, sell thru tracking, consumer mapping, product segmentation and weekly, monthly, and quarterly reviews. Working closely with my team I am able to plan, direct and manage all assortment planning and buying processes, deadlines and sales presentations. As marketing, shop refits, social media campaigns and ecommerce are quickly becoming a major part of my role I am continually working closely with all departments to maximize campaigns and change the future of SSS retail for outdoor. As a category manager I also need to work closely with the operations team, finance and logistics so that all KPI’s are delivered, if not exceeded.
I was approached by The Outdoor Shop and offered the opportunity to head up the buying department. Having worked in sales for 10 years and always enthusiastic about career development, I accepted this challenge to enter a new sector of retail. Since 1981, The Outdoor Shop has been considered one of the most technically well respected stores in the UK and this reputation motivated my move into this new role.
As Buying Director my responsibilities have included forward orders and in-season buying for over 40 brands in all aspects/departments of the business including - Apparel, Footwear, Equipment, Accessories and Hardware.
I have further developed my analytical and excel skills, which has enhanced my understanding of budgets, negotiation, sell through, margins and profit together with my commercial understanding of complementary ranges that match our customer base. I was then able to develop new opportunities in a competitive and niche market.
Since joining The Outdoor Shop I have successfully introduced new brands all of which have achieved 100% sell through with unprecedented margins. The pricing policy that I introduced resulted in an additional 6% profit margin increase across all brands stocked.
I also developed a corporate contract element to this business in order to bring in additional business and secure long term relationships. We began to target corporations such as the military, schools, outdoor pursuits/ education centres, corporate days and D of E to successfully build this portfolio.
With a lack of mentoring and recognition I found having an appraisal system with 'SMART objectives ' extremely effective and motivational. This initiative of mine was welcomed by all the staff members and the store encountered increased sales and foot fall as a result.
I have introduced new marketing campaigns and provided creative and practical instruction in the format of a new website. Staff mentoring, producing training manuals and technical training also played a large part in my day-to-day activities.
Unfortunately I did have to leave this role due to my relocation to Abu Dhabi.
In this role I increased annual turnover season on season and exceeded all targets set. In 2013 I increased growth in my territory by £2m and managed an area valued at £5m which contributed significantly to the UK sales team achieving ‘Best Performing Sales Team in Europe’ on four separate occasions.
Throughout my time at The North Face I was closely involved in presentations to the largest accounts in Europe. This included selecting and presenting suitable collections based on technicality, commercialism and customer segmentation. I was also responsible for building collections and presenting back to the UK sales team prior to each sales campaign.
All presentations and subsequent follow up work required the extensive use of excel for report writing, pivot tables,
PowerPoint presentations, trade show exhibiting, product research, market research, design feedback, staff training, forecasting, assortment planning, merchandising and range building.
I also worked closely with the product team to develop new lines using my product knowledge, background in textiles and understanding of the end user.
Despite already being an employee with The Vanity Fair Corporation I had always wanted to work for The North Face as it is one of the biggest and most prestigious outdoor brands in the world.
When the position came up, and having had proven myself at Vans I was given the position of country manager for Ireland. My task was to grown The North Face within this economy.
In my first year I achieved the European award for ‘Rookie of the Year’ as a result of pushing up turnover by £1.2m and significantly increasing the account base in a struggling Irish economy.
A similar position, offering more responsibility and involving larger accounts, became available in the UK and, at the request of The North Face, I accepted the move back to England. I also became a mentor for new employees and produced several training manuals to help the initial process of joining The North Face.
My role was to further develop the Vans brand within the Vanity Fair Company in respect of Footwear, Apparel, Pro-Tec and Ski. I increased the distribution channels by 20% in my first year, and developed a new distribution category of kids footwear and clothing in my second year.
Seasonal turnover was increased by a min of 10% every quarter without jeopardising the current customer base relationships.
In this role it was more essential than ever to focus heavily on the visual merchandising aspects of the brand and each store, and maximising in-store concessions in retail environments in order to maintain and progress the brand.
As National Account Manager I worked with leading high street retailers (House of Fraser, USC, BANK, OSC), mail order companies (Littlewoods, Empire and Grattans) and independents throughout the UK. I built profitable relationships with all key accounts to achieve brand and optimum seasonal impact whilst increasing annual turnover.
I worked closely with key account suppliers and buyers and successfully expanded the national client base. My expertise and understanding of key fashion trends was paramount in making informed product presentations and suggestions to a designated account portfolio.
My endeavours as a pivotal team member made a significant contribution to Rawhide Accessories’. Resulting in being listed in the Financial Times ‘Top 100 Fastest Growing Companies’.
While taking a gap year to travel this short experience at the Sydney Stock Exchange was fascinating and extremely rewarding.
During this time I also spent time working in American for a few weeks delivering rental vehicles.
This was my fist role after graduating and I was primarily employed to launch a new designer label. This position allowed me to develop my commercial awareness and the skills to understand the comprehensive requirements of account management. This led to my involvement in the design process and the creation of one-off pieces ready to retail.
Through my implementation of the launch strategy, Pseudohero achieved the ‘Princes Trust’ and ‘Paul Smith’ awards for successful new businesses of the year 2003.
After completing my Post Graduate Certificate of Education to become a qualified secondary school teacher I then went onto a position at a local school.
In my role as Design & Technology teacher I taught several subjects including Art, Textiles, Woodwork, Graphics and Electronic to students aged 11 - 18 years, which developed my technical understanding of the design process.
It was essential to meticulously produce all schemes of work, allowing for all levels of development. Constant people management skills and assessment were crucial in this role.
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