Visual Merchandising Specialist - MENA Region
Lush Fresh Handmade Cosmetics
Total years of experience :22 years, 1 Months
• Core responsibility
o Supporting shops achieve a common goal, to get a 5 Star Candy Shop through effective communication, training and developing shop staff, instilling VM Standards making sure they could merchandise the shop the LUSH way
o Promotes 5 Star Candy Shops through well merchandised stores
• Visual Merchandising
o Responsible for correct and updated information and relevant materials (sundries and signage) reaching the stores ahead of time for a successful launch of products.
o Attend and support new shop opening and tweaks that covers merchandising, signwriting and training new staff, making sure that all shops are the correct visual representation of the LUSH brand. This applies for UAE, Oman, Bahrain, KSA and on occasion
o Regular shop visits that includes audits, hands-on merchandising and staff training
o Generate Shop Opening Guide and Shop VM Reports
o Train and develop Shop Managers, VM Champs and New Staff to maintain and support a high standard store
• Sign Writer
o Update and refresh the Lush boards and black bands throughout MENA stores: Roll-out new copies / quotes bringing life to the range and change / correct the signwriting on obsolete ranges
• Event Support
o Called upon to assist in Managers Meetings and Lush Events that covers both merchandising and signwriting
• Role Overview
o Provides link between the Shops, Contractors and the Property Team.
o Required to communicate effectively with managers, staff and external customers with regards to repairs and maintenance and store appearance.
o Working with the Project Manager on all projects and carrying out budget proposals for store improvements and refining current processes.
• Reporting to the Line Manager (Natalie Handforth - Project Manager) on a regular basis
• Work closely and communicate effectively with the PM, Store Designer and VM
• Supports the ‘Property Team’ in Shop Opening, Closure and Re-fit Projects
• Provide the stores and head office with full “Repair & Maintenance”, “Fire and Safety”, “Pest Control” coverage and support
• Review contracts to ensure best deal and service is being provided
• Oversee contract renewals and new acquisition process
• Search and identify reliable contractors and vendors
• Supervise, monitor and review day-to-day maintenance activities in accordance with Lush Standards, with emphasis on communication, timely service and quality workmanship.
• Managing store budgets on an R&M perspective
• Identify R&M procedure bottlenecks and streamline the process
• Liaisons between the store staff and contractors / vendors, making sure issues are dealt with using best practice
• Plan maintenance schedules in compliance with mall and shop requirements, ensuring efficient use of time and services.
• Effective communication thru different channels (E-mail, online portals, phone calls, Whatsapp…etc.) to sort out pending matters at the earliest
• Monitor contractors and sub-contractors to ensure guidelines, SLA’s and standards are met
• Review costs of services and materials to improve wherever possible
• Carry out regular shop visits to guarantee store standards are being maintained
• Supporting Property Team in various process such as store opening, closure and refit
• Spearheading improvement projects of the stores, storage units and warehouse (Deep Cleaning, Stock Racking…etc)
• Implement eco-friendly solutions and alternatives making sure parts and materials used are sustainable
• Purchasing officer function - Procurement of bits and pieces that are required in the head office, LUSH stores and Shop Opening / Refit projects
• Travel to GCC and other counties as required
• Responsible for shop related NOC’s and police permits
• Custodian of company vehicles - Supervise registration renewals and other related processes and build a good working relationship with the drivers
• Documentation
• Perform other duties as assigned
• Reason for Leaving: Promoted to Visual Merchandiser Specialist
• Main point of contact for customers on welding consumables and machine
• Coordinate the product flow from warehouse to end customer
• Follow-up on orders, service level agreements and other key measurements
• Plan, coordinate and book all transport to final customers
• Responsible for invoicing and issuing all relevant export documentation
• Synchronize with Sales Agents / Product Manager / Country Manager regarding product specifications, availability, compatibility and discounts
• Day-to-day administrative duties relating to Sales Support
• Reason for Leaving: Resigned due Personal Reasons
• Carry out troubleshooting, repairs, upgrades and servicing of devices to the highest standards
• Liaises and reports issues/instabilities (software/Hardware) gathered during testing to Team Leader/Managers
• Create accurate professional reports on technical issues using our system
• Adhere to installation guidelines and industry best practices in order to deliver quality service
• Provide service operation support thru phone, email and to walk-in customers in accordance with the terms of the contract and service level agreement
• Provides high level technical support to ASUS users
• Liaises within the team to help speed up the resolution
• Provides customer feedback on issues as they are progressed and record any interactions within the case
• Audit and test a large volume of devices before shipping out to distributors
• Responsible for field test for specific ASUS devices during product development period and over their lifespan
• Reason for Leaving: Company downsized and outsourced the Engineering department
• Master Custodian of device CP’s (Customisation Partitions) - tasked to maintain the CP’s for all i-mate devices and for all SKU’s (ROM Builds).
• Customizes ROMs for customers through CAB file-creation (Configuration Service Providers).
• In-charge of creating GSD’s (Getting Started Disks) specific to device
• Microsoft (MSFT) & NSTL (National Software Testing Labs) Liaisons Officer
• Responsible for testing ROM Builds on all i-mate devices during product development period and over their lifespan
• Liaises and reports issues/instabilities (software/Hardware) gathered during testing to Device Owners/Managers
• In special cases, required to flash/upgrade a big quantity of phones
• Product Quality Assurance - often tasked to audit a large volume of devices before shipping out to distributors
• Trains warehouse laborers on flashing and auditing (QA) i-mate devices
• Reason for Leaving: Company went bankrupt
• Provides high level technical support to i-mate users worldwide
• Deals with customer issues over the telephone, live chat and emails, on a 24/7 discipline
• Aims for 100% customer satisfaction call closure
• Keeps in touch with frustrated and irate customers, especially when technical issues cannot be fixed
• Identifies potential problems and develops appropriate solutions
• Coordinates with the Engineering Department for the development of the device’s ROM (Operating System) upgrades. Maintains a log of problems so that re-occurring problems can be reported to the engineering team
• Contributes ideas for the removal of bugs/glitches in the system of all i-mate devices
• Liaises within and outside the team to help speed up the resolution
• Provides customer feedback on issues as they are progressed and record any interactions within the case handling system (CRM)
• Participates in the exhibitions or events for device demonstrations if needed
• Device Quality Assurance - from time to time, I’m tasked to audit a large quantity of devices (in terms of hardware & software) before releasing
• Reason for Leaving: Promoted to Principal Device Engineer
• Data cleansing utilizing Advance Excel (vlookup, hlookup…etc)
• Data preparation & migration for the new system / Prepared the customer loading sheets for the SAP system migration.
• Creates, updates and maintains customer master data in SAP
• Block / Unblock a customer.
• Resolves error in SAP system.
Analyzes and delivers technical Voice, Email & Chat support to DELL clients on a 24x7 call center environment. Provides detailed troubleshooting and walkthroughs for the installation of drivers and softwares. Implements basic TCP/IP networking services for Windows 95, 98, 2000, XP. Configures wired LAN through Voice and Live Chat sessions.
BS Electronics and Communications Engineering