James Coomber, Product Manager

James Coomber

Product Manager

Alliance Healthcare (Walgreen Boots Alliance)

Location
United Kingdom - London
Education
Diploma, CIMA
Experience
19 years, 0 Months

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Work Experience

Total years of experience :19 years, 0 Months

Product Manager at Alliance Healthcare (Walgreen Boots Alliance)
  • United Kingdom - London
  • My current job since August 2015

Responsibilities
• Overall responsibility for a team managing numerous customer offers, including training, development and recruitment, within the Commercial Category department of the UK's leading pharmaceutical wholesaler.
• Responsible for profit expectations of £8m annually.
• Training area account managers on the details of various customers offers and helping them to identify opportunities.
• Liaising internally with Boots UK, finance, sales IT, and category heads and externally with pharmaceutical manufacturers and 3rd party software providers.
• Identifying commercial opportunities through the analysis of market and customer data.
• Streamlining and development of existing procedures.
Achievements
• Increasing membership of the most profitable customer offer in the company from 980 to 1, 300, which gives an estimated additional profit in excess of £2.5m per year.

Commercial Analyst (Branded Ethical) at Alliance Healthcare (Alliance Boots)
  • United Kingdom
  • October 2014 to July 2015

Responsibilities
• Managing the data and calculation processes for a branded product scheme with around 1, 000 pharmacies across the UK, with annual profit in excess of £7m.
• Setting prices for all branded products on the scheme, around 460 in total, by tracking competitor pricing and market trends.
• Calculating rebates paid to customers of over £1m each month.
• Calculating rebates claimed from pharmaceutical manufacturers of over £2m per month and liaising with the accounts department to raise invoices, resolve issues and obtain payments.
• Liaising internally with Boots UK, finance, sales IT, and category heads and externally with pharmaceutical manufacturers and PMR providers.
• Identifying commercial opportunities through the analysis of market and customer data.
• Analysis and communication of customer rebates, scheme compliance and product variances.
• Interaction with colleagues and pharmacies nationwide to aid in issue resolution.
• Streamlining and development of existing procedures.
• Training and mentoring the junior analyst within the same team.
Achievements
• Creating a tool, using Excel and Access, to extract data and produce bespoke comparisons against competitor prices, something that could previously not be offered due to time constraints. It also reduces the time required to check and set prices, a task which is necessary each month.
• Covering two roles within the team for 4 months due to staffing and recruitment issues whilst ensuring there were no financial implications or reduction in the quality of service to customers.

Commercial Analyst at Alliance Healthcare (Alliance Boots)
  • United Kingdom - London
  • June 2013 to September 2014

Responsibilities
• Category management of schemes and product databases behind software used by pharmacies nationwide.
• Identifying commercial opportunities through the analysis of market and customer data.
• Analysis of customer rebates, scheme compliancy and product variance and communication of findings to customers and internally.
• Streamlining and development of existing procedures.
• Managing cascades that control which products are distributed depending upon prescription data and dispensing guidelines for medication.
• Ad hoc analysis and reporting to guide decisions regarding schemes offered by the company to customers.
• Production and sign off authorisation of product and price lists distributed both internally and to customers.
Achievements
• Project managing the redesign of a 56 page pricing book which is the primary communication for the company’s most profitable scheme.
• Identification of a system related error through analysis and resolution of that error which resulted in an additional £100k sales revenue per month.

Retail Costs Analyst at Paddy Power
  • United Kingdom - London
  • September 2010 to June 2013

Responsibilities
• Producing weekly and monthly retail costs data for use by multiple internal departments.
• Reconciliation, discrepancy investigation and authorisation of invoices.
• Managing central database of all retail costs used for invoice reconciliation, cost reporting and analysis.
• Contract negotiation and management of service providers and suppliers
• Production of cost budgets for UK retail department.
Achievements
• Assessment, development and implementation of the company’s travel and expenses policy. This involved identifying issues with the existing policy, devising methods to eradicate those issues and the method required to manage the new system. This resulted in reducing the cost of travel and expenses by approximately 25%.
• Conducting a project to assess possible negative effects of the London 2012 Olympic Games across the retail estate. Devising solutions to prevent any impact on the business due to road closures and restrictions of access.
• Sourcing and introduction of a new style pen which involved negotiation of prices with a UK company to import them from China. Other changes included a change of shape and printed design. This resulted in an annual saving of £25k (15%) with savings based on predicted growth of an additional £10k per annum.

Company Co-owner at Rainbow Party Supplies
  • United Kingdom
  • July 2009 to June 2011

Responsibilities
• Co-founded a family business selling party supplies to businesses, organisations and consumers.
• Maintaining company accounts and producing company financial statements.
• Sourcing products from China, negotiating prices, organising international delivery and dealing with customs & border control.
• Designing and developing the company website including fully functional e-commerce module which involved managing a stock database. This was also necessary for managing the supply chain, sales forecasting and determining order quantities.
• Deigning product artwork using graphic design software i.e. balloons, plates, napkins, cups, etc.
• Developing business relationships and devising market strategy.
Achievements
• Successfully starting a business without outside financial assistance which, to this day, remains profitable.

Survey Data Processor at Colin Buchanan
  • United Kingdom - London
  • July 2009 to September 2010

Responsibilities
• Assessing validity, logic checking, cleansing and analysis of survey data.
• Worked on projects for Heathrow Airport, Norwich City FC, South West Trains, Wembley Stadium, TFL and numerous local councils.
• Organised surveys and supervised teams of up to 20 employees. This also involved assistance with post survey analysis and reports.
Achievements
• Managed an on-site team of 5 people for a project to assess parking and access required by Norwich City FC to cater for increased capacity due to predicted future successes.

Advertising Account Manager at Auto Trader
  • United Kingdom
  • April 2007 to July 2009

Responsibilities
• Managing the south east England customer base of agricultural and horticultural machinery dealers, service providers and manufacturers.
• Selling on-line and magazine advertising to existing and new customers.
• Working to fortnightly deadlines to complete each magazine and achieve revenue targets.
• Working with customers to produce initial advert designs and liaising with the in house graphics design team to complete the finished version.
• Devising and producing KPIs for a team of 7 account managers. Communicating daily KPIs to team members as well as presenting weekly and monthly KPIs in team meetings.
Achievements
• Employee of the month 6 of the 9 months the scheme was running prior to leaving the company.

Accounts Assistant at TXL Marketing
  • United Kingdom
  • June 2005 to April 2007

Responsibilities
• Recording financial data to log and distribute invoices and credit notes.
• Managing the company client base which included answering queries, producing monthly statements and credit control.
• Reconciliation of all payments, invoices and credit notes.
• Analysis to identify customer characteristics and business trends.
Achievements
• Complete eradication of overdue accounts through improvements in efficiencies and communication.

Education

Diploma, CIMA
  • at Chartered Institute of Management Accountants
  • December 2015

Status: Part-Qualified

Bachelor's degree, Accountancy & Finance
  • at University of Plymouth
  • June 2005

• Management Accounting • Financial Reporting • Business Law • Statistics

High school or equivalent, Maths, Business Studies, Chemistry and Physics
  • at Axton Chase School
  • June 2001

9 GCSEs Grade A - C A-Levels: Maths, Business Studies, Chemistry and Physics.

Specialties & Skills

managerial accounting
Accounting
Microsoft Excel
Cost Analysis
Financial Analysis
Microsoft Excel
Analysis
Verbal communication
Problem solving
Written communication

Languages

English
Expert
French
Beginner

Memberships

Chartered Institute of Management Accountants
  • Member
  • July 2012

Hobbies

  • Pool
    I founded the University of Plymouth Pool Club, chaired the committee for 3 years and captained the A team in inter-university competition. For the past 5 years I have organised an annual competition for all students & alumni, the most recent tournament attracted 71 players. I have also captained the London County Youth Pool team and have also played for the Devon and London County Men's teams.
  • Running
    I enjoy running and have completed a half-marathon, with hopes of completing more in the future and, with continued dedication and commitment, a full marathon in the not too distant future.