Jofy George

Handling Planning & buying for 35+ Beauty brands- (Anastasia Beverly Hills, Stila, Lancer, MALIN+GOETZ, Lime Crime, ILIA Beauty, Sarah Chapman, Cover FX, Barbra Sturm, Philip B, Oribe, Beauty Bakerie ) 4 countries (Kuwait, KSA, UAE & UK). With 2 POS.

Responsible for Business planning (sales & margin) & Demand planning of merchandise

Plan & analyze current brands sales & stocks to maximize turnover.

Responsible for phasing intakes, reordering & promotional stock needs.

Ensuring accurate, timely and commercial sales planning and reforecast for all brands.

Follow up with logistics and supply chain team and ensure that quantities are being delivered to Retailers on time and accurate.

Plan stock requirements to meet budget and manage the range building process to support gross profits on purchases and net profits on sales within business expectations.

Collaborate with commercial team on pre-season and in-season plans to align on budget and inventory plans by brands, style and color. Manage diagnosis of business and drive effective course of action.

Provide regular analysis of business trends and recommendations that support effective inventory management to senior management and Finance Director.

Handled buying for 15+ international watch brands (Aigner, Cerruti, Police, Versus, Tommy Hilfiger, Hugo Boss, Movado, Coach, Lacoste, Ferrari) across 4 countries (Kuwait, KSA, UAE & Iraq). With over 90+ POS. Annual Turnover of $28 million.

Managed professional relationship with suppliers (Movado Group & International Luxury Group ILG ). Engaged in discussion almost on daily basis for sales reviews and follow-ups. Conducted market visits together for better understanding of the local competition and growth opportunities in the market.

Driving sales / profitability through effective stock management, deciding volume of stock, building stock, attending host’s brand presentation for range building, controlling Open to Buy (OTB), negotiating with host brand, visiting commercial store and buying planned purchases.

Successfully launched new watch brands (Movado, Olivia Burton, MVMT, Hugo, Versus, Saint Honore, Puma, Daisy Dixon, and SEIKO)into theportfolio resulting in increased market share.

Attended Trade fairs (Basel/Davos), Distributor meetings for seasonal buying.

Analysing consumer buying pattern and predicting the Trends.

Responsible for orders, supplier negotiation and maintained relationships with existing suppliers and sourced new suppliers for business development.

Managing Range Plan for accurate buying and to get the right product in right location.

Negotiated costs, vendor margin and wholesale pricing, resulting in increased sales of 5% over previous years and improved gross margin rate of 1.5%

Regularly reviewing performance indicators, such as sales and discount levels and manage ideal stock level.

Planned and executed the marketing events for the business to achieve the targets.

Over viewing allocation process and rotations done by the merchandising team

Ensured that best visual standards were executed across all stores and region by working closely with the Visual merchandising team.

Produced the Key Financial Reports for the Monthly management review.

Excellent system skills. Worked and coached the team on IT based Planning and Reporting Tools. (Data warehouse(Oracle), Business Objects, Microsoft Dynamics AX )

 Maintained the weekly forecast tracker on sales & stock for the division.
 Deciding the pricing structure for the products by analysing the market position. Regular review of competitor product ranging, pricing structure, promotional stance.
 Developed several reports on Business Objects for the Senior Management to analyse the weekly, monthly and yearly sales.
 Maintained the display standards in the stores across the business in cooperation with Operations team and Visual Merchandiser.

 Preparation and presentation of Analytical and Financial reports to Top management with High Level commentary of happenings in Business.
 Developed reports in data warehouse for the Senior Management to analyse the weekly, monthly and yearly sales.
 Managed a team of 4 Assistant Merchandisers.
 Planned the Brand sales and margin budget by Store.
 Stock ageing analysis and recommending Markdowns to maintain clean inventory profile.
 Identifying appropriate monthly promotional activities and depth of discounts during sale to drive profitability and maintain stock cover according to business requirement. Weekly tracking done on promotions lines to show the effect of the promotion done.
 Recommended to be the key user and trained for the new Alshaya Inventory management System (AIMS).
 Responsible for the setup and coaching on all IT systems used by the brand.
 Maintaining the shipment tracker which is used to analyse the stock flow, identify and avoid blockages in the supply chain aiming for smooth flow of stocks

 Responsible for ordering stock from local suppliers.
 Responsible for all the Claims, Payments for the Brand.
 Brand expert on Oracle reporting, creating generic reports to identify the best sellers, worst sellers, cumulative sales density to improve the future buys.
 Weekly updates for stores/sales staffs on product, promotion, sales of the division by producing Brand bulletin and by regular contact.
 Often played a part in assisting and guiding colleagues on their queries on systems, reporting, planning’s. Gathered information and expressed my viewpoints on the business in assisting my seniors on decision-making.
 Periodic Category Analysis done to identify the performing and nonperforming categories for the Sales and Stock Mix strategy planning.

Handled the open market with a team of 12 executive.
Conducted product training.
Provide daily /weekly sales activity reports and monthly sales review to the management.
Using a range of tools and techniques to motivate the sales staff.
Managed client relationship at all levels.