Director - Retail Leasing & Operations
The Hub Retail Gifts Trading LLC
Total years of experience :24 years, 0 Months
The Hub Retail Gifts Trading is a UAE based retail organisation with several locations in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and distribution agreements with Virgin Megastores, House of Fraser, Dubai Park & Resorts and Dubai Duty Free. We represent two brands Elephant Parade (www.elephantparade.com) and Venezia (www.veneziamurano.com) we have retail store locations in Souk Madinat Jumeirah, Ibn Battuta Mall, The Dubai Mall, Mercato Mall and Atlantis the Palm.
Key achievements & responsibilities:
• Created the business plan with KPI targets and timelines that enabled the successful launch of the Elephant Parade in UAE and creation of the Venezia brand (Italian glass jewellery concept)
• Achieved an annual increase of 20% in sales compare to the previous year
• Consistently provided the business with retail sector intelligence that enabled opportunities and business growth through leveraging a wide network of contacts
• Appraised and selected a unique product range that delivered consistent sales growth through distribution, store and online channels
• Evaluation of retail locations based on footfall, demographic, location and competitor sales benchmarking to identify winning retail space for each brand
• Identified high potential retail locations and negotiated the best contractual terms to ensure profitability
• Persuasively presented retail concepts to secure prime locations in a competitive retail market
• Effectively introduced a stock management and ordering system that improved operations performance by 30% and controlled stock loss and removed stock management bottle necks
• Recruited trained, retained and performance managed a team of retail professionals that delivered a 98% customer satisfaction rating with many repeat clients and consistent sales targets achieved
• Introduced a best practice approach to operations and leasing by creating a manual and procedures to ensure control, compliance and high quality standards
• Developed sales and marketing incentives and bonus schemes that achieved 5% growth year on year performance
• Increased sales performance through social media and in store promotions
Majid Al Futtaim Properties is MENA’s leading diversified real estate and property services company with a regional portfolio of innovative, world-class shopping malls, hotels and mixed-use living communities. Since its first mall, City Centre Deira in Dubai, two decades ago, Majid Al Futtaim Properties remains dedicated to delivering quality destinations and compelling experiences that enrich people’s daily lives.
Key achievements & responsibilities:
• To promote, implement and monitor an ongoing revenue generation program across the MAF Shopping Malls Portfolio including Mall of the Emirates, Mirdif City Centre, Deira City Centre, Sharjah City Centre and Ajman City Centre
• Creation of a leasing sales strategy for different areas of the mall including rate card range and guidelines for tenant selection
• Optimised the tenant and brand mix in the shopping centre in order to maximize the value of the landlords property
• Leasing strategy created considering occupancy, new leasing activity based on current and predicted occupancy and vacancy, market trends and the current market situation
• Account management and relationship development with existing clients to improve renewal booking rates and to include MAF as a part of their marketing strategy
• Preparation of sales presentations, rate card, license agreements, letters, proposals
• To liaise with the property management (engineers, operations, marketing and finance) on fit out of new stores for tenants
• Negotiated short and long term lease agreements that increased occupancy levels and guaranteed the minimum guaranteed rent
• Budget management, calculation and analysis of overhead costs and analysis of depreciation and profit goals
• Reporting of individual weekly and monthly sales performance detailing revenue from all commercial clients and pipeline and comparing actual rent against forecasted rental
• Submission of brand concepts to the approval committee
• Providing recommendations for new brands with high potential as a good fit for different properties
• Tenant management to ensure compliance with the mall operations manual and best practice procedures
• Business development activity to secure new brands for new malls and to ensure a good retail mix in MAF properties
Alshaya Retail covers a wide variety of sectors, including the latest and best recognized names in Fashion and Footwear, Food Service, Health & Beauty, Optics, Pharmacy, Office Supplies and Home Furnishings. By bringing top Retail concepts to local malls and high streets Alshaya ensure the delivery of franchise shopping concepts.
Main responsibilities:
• Co-ordination with other customer contact areas in the division to pay personal attention to customer grievances and feedback in order to initiate effective re-dress of complaints and suggestions
• To conduct and create training modules for Service Quality & Customer Care related programs
• Preparation of reports, presentations and business plans for brand; including the regional quarterly report for Starbucks, visit reports and action
• Recommendations for improvement of services to achieve customer satisfaction
• Evaluation of cost and quality of service by analysing the results of mystery shopping program data
• Regular store visits and training sessions to improve standards, communicate the Be Alshaya values and to address problems and to improve Shoppie (mystery shopper program) results
• Identification of poorly performing stores and creation of improvement action plans with ‘clinic visits’
• Communication with regional store managers to educate and update on rewards and recognition schemes (e.g. Program for recognition of high performance stores and individuals)
• Training management and development within Oman, Qatar and Kuwait
Dubai Festival City is a residential, commercial and retail destination. The Festival Centre Mall has 2.8 million sq ft of leasable space, with over 350 shops and a great selection of casual and formal eateries and restaurants, a 12 screen Novo Premier Cinema, a vast entertainment centre and parking for 13, 000 cars.
Main Responsibilities:
• Key communication role between mall retailers and mall management, maintaining existing relationships, developing new client connections and delivering on partnership terms to achieve revenue targets and contribution to group KPI targets
• Advertising sales in line with Festival Centre rate card requirements and evaluation of performance
• Creating client media packages for store openings and a range of ambient media
• Driving revenue by selling new ambient media opportunities, promotional activities and events available in the centre
• Evaluation and selection of concepts for short term leasing customised kiosks, RMU and promotional spaces to ensure a good retail mix and to drive profitability
• Implementation, maintenance, production and set up/installation of banners, LED screens, 3D digital screens, light boxes, mupis and branding opportunities
• Organisation of small scale in mall events, including allocated space and supporting promotions (E.g. Emirates, Etisalat, BMW, Kia, LG, Nokia)
• Submission and review of annual budget, monthly revenue report, rate card and performance evaluation in line with mall policy and procedure
• Leasing contract negotiation, creation and payment in line with business objectives and guidelines. Revenue achieved ambient media 5 Million AED in 2008, 3.8 Million AED in 2009 and 4.2 Million AED in 2010, promotion event 9 Million AED in 2010
• Finalisation of digital media contract and planning for Installation of LED screens, project value 7 million AED over 5 years
• Specification, delivery and branding for marketing events (E.g. DSF, DSS, Ramadan, Dubai Pet Show, Festival of Literature, Gulf Bike Week, Dubai Dragon Boat) concerts (Eg. Celine Dion, Santana, Maroon 5, Paul Rodgers & Queen, Kylie, Scorpions, Deep Purple, Paul van Dyke, DJ Tiesto)
• Direction of mall employees and contractors from technical, maintenance and facilities management departments
DOM International is an outdoor advertising and signage company in the UAE. With products and services
encompassing out of home media, outdoor & indoor branding, signage, project management and event
signage solutions.
Main Responsibilities:
• Managing Key Accounts, obtaining a thorough understanding of the client’s corporate culture and resourcing requirements and actively seek to achieve revenue generating briefs
• Achieving the annual sales targets and maintaining excellent business relationship with all the key accounts
• Contribute to the overall strategy and new business efforts through creation of customer experience strategy and retention planning
• Manage internal resources to ensure advertising service projects, meet cost, schedule and quality parameters
• Provide high standards of service and achieve high quality results with an ability to handle numerous projects simultaneously
• Support strategic marketing plans with external media planner that affects the planning process
•Develop strategies for market presentation and expansion in consultation with reporting Senior
• Manage a marketing portfolio with a defined budget, reach and exceed targets
• Responsible for well-developed client relationship networks and continued growth of the organization
• Deliver all the necessary sales reports accurately and on time
Main Responsibilities:
• Sales and Pre-sales tasks include targeting clients through email and phone and scheduling an appointment to conduct a sales presentation
• Developing the business by visiting potential clients who are interested in online advertising and interacting with existing clients
• Create several PowerPoint presentations targeting the specific needs of individual clients
• Following up on the clients requirements and creating proposals in accordance with their budget, the countries and the sections of Yahoo! website in which they want their banners to appear
•Uploading new customer banners into the Yahoo! website
• Optimizing online campaigns for keyword advertisers
• Analysing statistics and comparing results with other competitor websites
• Maintaining sales records and drafting relevant market/sales reports
Main Responsibilities:
• Business development and account management for the Italian and UK markets, encouraging existing & potential customers to subscribe to Yahoo! Search Marketing
• Copywriter and content development editor - Creating Fast Track advertisement proposals for international clients, writing ad copies for Yahoo! Advertisers, editing listings (keywords, titles, descriptions)
• Reviewing content for advertiser-submitted search listing submissions to ensure quality and compliance with the editorial guidelines. Uploading these submissions and placing them online under Yahoo! Search engine listings and also partner websites (MSN, Lycos, Tiscali among others)
• Providing support and information to potential customers who want to set up accounts with Yahoo! Search Marketing (managing client’s expectations, keeping them up-to-date on all new Yahoo! Search Marketing information, product updates, marketing briefs)
• Assisting customers with the resolution of any technical problems in setting up an account (optimizing campaigns, helping clients ensure smooth running of accounts & online campaigns)
• Dealing with any queries regarding pricing and payments (dealing with refund/adjustments requests, administrative communication)
Main Responsibilities:
• Check-in and boarding for various airlines including Air France, Czech Airlines, China Eastern, Icelandair, Tunisair, Yemen Airways, Syrian Airways, Lybian Arab Airlines, Aeroflot
• Customs and security related issues, visa and security requirements
• Supervision of the Executive VIP Lounge. Ensuring that executive customers received special attention and value from their Air France experience
• Excess baggage charging for overweight and oversize luggage. Explaining company policy and communicating procedures and requirements to customers
• Meeting and escorting minors and elderly or disabled individuals on and off flights, helping them with their special needs and requirements
• Responding to customer complaints and inquiries to successfully resolve any problems and to maintain the brand values of Air France
• Meeting and escorting passenger to/from the gate, enhancing customer relationship and ensuring consumer satisfaction
• Greeting passengers and ensuring a positive customer experience
Main Responsibilities:
• Check-In and boarding for various airlines including Air France, Alitalia, Cityjet, Air Wales, Spanair and Iberworld
• Ensuring compliance with IATA visa and security requirements
• Responding to customer inquiries and resolving complaints
• Completion of excess baggage procedures
• Meeting and escorting minors and elderly or disabled individuals on and off flights
• Flight and passenger information announcements
Main Responsibilities:
• Administrative and operation functions
• Customs documentation compliance
• Collection of invoices from ships from various ports throughout Italy and Europe
• Port and crew expenses
• Credit control
• General accounts for the ship owners