Buyer
Ali Abdulwahab Al Mutawa
Total years of experience :11 years, 10 Months
Key Responsibilities
• Category responsible for Training, Yoga, Swimming, Boxing and Cycling for Intersport Kuwait which contributes to 25% of the total sales mix while maintaining healthy margins.
• Average sales growth up to 20% across categories over previous year.
• Able to handle and reduce overstock position by 15% in a span of 6 months.
• Working with globally recognized brands like Nike, Adidas, Puma, Under Armour,
Speedo, Everlast among other brands.
• Planning and implementing allocations (selection, quantity and assortment) based on
sales expectation at store/ brand level.
• Liaison with suppliers regularly and during seasonal sell-ins for selection, building
range plan and assortment.
• Co-ordinating with marketing team to ensure products are highlighted on media
channels (key products, global launches, collabs).
• Analyzing current business performance to identify key profitable products or
categories, areas of concern, and impact of price levels.
Managing key categories of a local reputed brand of home furnishing across 5 stores in Kuwait while also being actively involved and responsible for digitalization of the business.
Key Achievements:
⁕ Reduced downtime and maximized revenue by developing reorder tracker and
movement, eliminating last minute orders to suppliers by 45%.
⁕ Achieved 80% of the sales target by third quarter and also met customer demands
through accurate predictions or forecasting based on data analysis and market
research which helped in determining adequate stock levels for maximum
potential of the products during the season.
⁕ Development of option/ category wise sale tracker which aided store team to
identify stock/ category which required more focus, resulting in increased sales of
15% per day.
⁕ Collaborated with marketing team and Kuwait Finance House to successfully
launch promotional campaign to achieve record one day sales for department.
⁕ Reduced time span of flyer corrections by 65% by introducing new check methods
and delegation of work between the team members.
⁕ Proved successful working within tight deadlines and fast-paced atmosphere.
Key Responsibilities:
Planning/Budgeting
• Sales and Margin budgeting for key categories accumulating to 70% of the
accessories business plan.
• Track performance by line (by category) and taking necessary steps to optimize
stock turnover.
• Planning and executing markdown strategies.
• Provide recommendations on stock availability, display and pricing to the
respective teams based on actual performance.
Online Merchandising and Marketing
• Oversee product initiation and engagement with day-to-day management, content
uploads, categorization and updates to ensure complete product details are
efficiently featured online with the right benefits and exposure to customers,
maximizing conversion.
• Collaborated with marketing and e-commerce team to effectively merchandise
all products, highlight best sellers and also tackle slow sellers through specially
created deals.
• Scheduling social media posts on multiple platforms with marketing team for all
campaigns along with product focus, post reviews and updates.
• Alignment of priorities and timelines for launches, campaigns etc.
Store Promotions and Stock Management
• Execution of store promotions and marketing related activities including content
and POS requirements.
• Monitored company inventory to keep stock levels and databases updated, while
also ensuring shelf count is maintained by category for customer display.
Manage an international brand driving sales, pricing, and brand contribution to overall organizational targets. Accountable for analyzing the
product pricing, promotion and markets to cut down cost and identify profit avenues. Managed and forecasted sales and stock intakes for 7 sectors
in the GCC countries while also effectively coordinating between logistics,
operations and marketing.
Key Responsibilities:
Planning/Budgeting - Analyzing past sales figures/trends to anticipate future
product needs.
• Forecasted Weekly Sales & Margin for 48 stores across 7 markets,
while also achieving the targets by +5% each year.
• Worked out sales plan for the year on 19 departments and 22 sub
categories, achieving 89.4% accuracy on forecast provided.
• Further involvement in financial aspect of the business eradicating 5
departments and 12 sub categories which were generating losses.
Stock Monitoring - Maintains inventory by restocking stores with products
from warehouse; observing inventory levels; prompting store management to
reorder when levels appear low; arranging for return and credit for damaged
products. Monitor stock movement, consider markdowns, inter-branch transfers,
promotions or clear outs.
• Ace in handling and maintaining 12 departments acquiring almost 70%
of the sales plan.
• Initiator of new modes of transport of stock into the market cutting
down cost by 18.5% in all markets.
• Coordinated with shipping team to ensure smooth flow of stock from
host country (U.K.) to destination markets.
Pricing - Analyze pricing data and recommend pricing levels, finalize intake
margins on products during pricing process.
- Decide on sales lines, percentages and discounts for each market.
Promotions - Checking daily on special promotions; observing customer
reaction to promotions; forwarding observations to management; removing
promotions at end of special promotion period.
• Collaborated with marketing teams to successfully launch 51 campaigns to showcase and promote the brands in various countries,
malls and sites.
Team Management - Directed a team and deputized duties of merchandisers
of other brands where required by the company.