Head of Wholesale
Al Futtaim Group
Total years of experience :12 years, 4 Months
Development and management of the Wholesale Division across the Middle East and North Africa with full P&L accountability Countries of responsibility include UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Jordan, Qatar and Bahrain. Management of all sales channels including Sub Franchisee, Ecommerce, Department Stores and Airports.
Main achievements:
Introduced four new brands (Vince Camuto BCBG, Sud Express and La Fee Maraboutee to the wholesale division in Q 4 2017.
Succeeded to negotiate acquiring multiple new categories from the brand principles.
Expansion of the division by hiring 2 team members in the HO team.
LFL 17 vs 16 Growth:
-Net Sales by +9%, Net Profit by +8%, Net Margin is 41%.
-Reduced the total Expenses by -31%
•Reporting to the Head of Wholesale.
•Building relationship with the Brand Principal, Suppliers, Buying, Marketing, Visual Merchandising, Finance, Logistics and Operations Departments.
•Attending the GUESS seasonally buying & market in New York and Hong Kong.
•Maintains a healthy relationship with existing customers and approaches pro-actively potential new customers
•Ensures the financial success of area by meeting or exceeding financial targets including sales, gross margin, gross margin return on investment, and turn goals.
•Reviews weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual sales performance and marketplace information to identify sales trends and business opportunities.
•Provides input in sales forecast and open-to-buy discussions that review sales and inventory against financial goals, and recommends changes to future order quantities, deliveries, pricing or markdown strategies
•Develops expert knowledge of customer base through local store visits, evaluates product execution and point of view, gets customers’ feedback, and communicates to manager
•Participates in competitive analysis of both direct competitors and opinion leader stores.
•Provides support and compiles data for senior management line reviews
•Follows up on all Customer Service activities
•Participates at collection merchandising meetings and presentations to edit with the retail department and supplier the correct product mix of each collection and to identify key items and best-sellers
•Provides efficient service and informative product knowledge to customers
•Updates with changes, distributes and communicates changes to appropriate business partners on an on-going basis
•Participates in product review meetings with retail merchandising team and suppliers.
•Provides input and make recommendations to manager on changes to future product assortments and strategies based on in-season analysis and observations.
•Learns to evaluate product assortments, quality, pricing, merchandising strategies and business opportunities.
•Prepares sales budgets and targets for senior management review, and discusses internally approved budgets with customers before the start of the sales campaign.
•Plans and organizes the markets and the customer appointment schedules
•Follows the arrival of samples collections, prepares the showrooms, merchandises and the collections with the support of the VM team in accordance to the brand image and guidelines
•Makes sure the showroom is neat and tidy and samples are complete at all times
•Prepares all necessary material to support sales (order forms, catalogues, line sheets, price lists, etc)
•Creates an exceptional customer experience in the showroom, and presents and sells properly the collections to all clients, following the guidelines and product mix
•Demonstrates strong commitment in achieving sales goals
•Prepares and promotes “special packages”
•Recruits and trains temporary showroom sales staff (if necessary)
•Coordinating with the Brand Principal, Suppliers, Buying, Marketing, Visual Merchandising, Finance, Logistics and Operations Departments.
•Meeting and building good relationships with the supplier to improve the business level.
•Communicating with the supplier for the markets, deliveries and orders and sharing analysis to improve the business.
•Leading the merchandise planning function for GUESS wholesale business in the Middle East and North Africa region.
•Conducting seasonally buying markets by receiving the samples from the suppliers, scheduling and inviting all the wholesale and Sub-Franchise clients to place their orders with us.
•Follow up with the supplier for the order deliveries until it end to the wholesale client’s warehouse.
•Negotiate prices, discount terms and transportation arrangements for merchandise
•Set and recommend mark-up rates, mark-down rates, and selling prices for merchandise
•Placing orders on behalf some of the wholesale clients based on my experience with the product history
•Be effective in analyzing client’s behavior in trend analysis, store requirements, policies and competitor prices
•Making effective analysis and reports and sharing it with the clients to increase the business level
•Pricing all the merchandise for each wholesale client as per the agreed wholesale price
•Supporting the clients in solving problems like: overstock, low stock, visual merchandising…etc
•Conduct meeting with the existing wholesale clients to review the business and increase the relationship
•Regular market inspections by visiting the clients point of sale and stores to maintain the perfect brand image and product merchandising as well the pricing policies
•Regular marketing research for new clients and new accounts in the region
•Follow up with the new opening business in terms of agreements and contracts according to the brand concept and standard
•Conducting meetings with the potential clients to setup the best offer for both parties
•Reporting to the Regional Brand Manager.
•Conducting seasonally buying markets by receiving the samples from the suppliers and inviting all the clients to place their orders with us.
•Follow up with the supplier for the order deliveries until it end to the client’s warehouse.
•Be effective in analyzing client’s behavior in trend analysis, store requirements, policies and competitor prices.
•Making effective analysis and reports and sharing it with the clients to increase the business level.
•Supporting the clients in solving their problems.
•Conduct meeting with the existing clients to review the business and increase the relationship.
•Follow up with the clients in terms of promotions and displaying our product.
•Regular market inspections by visiting the clients point of sale and stores to maintain the perfect brand image and product merchandising as well the pricing policies.
•Regular marketing research for new clients and new accounts in the region.
•Reviewing the sales performance of our product.
•Follow up with the new opening business in terms of agreements and contracts according to the brand concept and standard.
•Conducting meetings with the potential clients to setup the best offer for both parties.
•Reporting to the Branch Manager.
•Improving the sales by putting new plans and strategies for selling the bank’s product.
•Organizing and reviewing the customer’s accounts.
•Opening new accounts for the new customers.
•Reviewing the customers’ transactions (Credit Cards, Debit cards & Loans)
•Assisting the customers for getting credit cards and loans.
Supervises and coordinate activities of workers of retail store by performing the following duties:
•Managing and motivating the team to increase sales and ensure efficiency.
•Managing stock levels and making key decisions about stock control.
•Analyzing sales figures and suggesting future sales volumes and product assortment to maximize profits.
•Using the RMS to record sales figures and for data analysis and forward planning for target achievement.
•Dealing with staffing issues: interviewing potential staff; conducting appraisals and performance reviews; and providing or organizing training and development of his team.
•Ensuring standards for quality, customer service and staff image.
•Responding to customer complaints and comments and take proper actions.
•Suggesting special promotions, displays and events.
•Reporting to the Brand Manager.
•Monitoring and analyzing sales volume and stock levels through sellout sell thru and stock movement reports.
•Preparing all types of reports like, sales analysis, purchase update, shipment update and cumulative reports.
•Input data in available system of the company.
•Coordination and follow up with the following dept., Logistic, Accounts, IT Dept. and Human Resources.
•Weekly stock transfers between stores to prevent stock increase problem.
•Merchandise distribution among branches through weekly orders sent to warehouse according to the sales percentage of each store.
•Assists in the buying process.
•Direct communication with the supplier.
•Creating new shipments files (buying files-shipment files-pricing files-warehouse orders).
•Dealing with staffing issues: interviewing potential staff; conducting appraisals and performance reviews; and providing or organizing training and development of the team.
•Ensuring standards for quality, customer service and staff image.
•Managing and motivating the team to increase sales.
•Assign duties to workers and schedules break period, work hours and vacations.
•Trains workers in-store policies, store procedure and job duties.
•Feedback on merchandise compare record with merchandise ordered, and report discrepancies to control costs and maintain correct inventory levels.
•Inspects merchandise to ensure it is correctly priced and displayed.
•Recommends addition to or deletion of merchandise to be sold in store.
•Prepare sales and inventory report.
•Listen to customer complaints, examines returned merchandise, and resolves problems to restore.
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