Senior Business Planning Manager
BRITISH AMERICAN TOBACCO
Total years of experience :10 years, 3 Months
Commercial strategy planning & demand/revenue forecasting across 4 platforms within traditional and new categories. Responsible for two key markets; UK - highest net turnover pool within Western Europe region and Ireland, 5th highest. Responsible for in depth industry/competitor insights, BAT consumer sales & shipments analysis, leading to strategy planning recommendations to drive volume and value share. UK&I S&OP lead & member of the UK&I leadership team.
o Volume Forecasting - Delivered on globally set KPIs FY 2023 of 95% DFA (Demand forecasting accuracy) in Combustibles and 91% (vs 80% target) in new categories. Drove UK to 2nd highest market in DFA for Modern Oral globally.
o Business Development - Price promotion analysis & recommendations led to organic +17% net turnover growth YoY (2023) and H2 market share growth of +3pp vs SPLY
o Financials Forecasting - Partner to UK&I finance director to determine risks and opportunities in profitability, extensive collaboration led to accurate financial forecasting and delivery of 2023 to 98% of 2023 forecast. +2% vs 2022.
o Legislation - Navigating a highly volatile and dynamic industry in a complex regulatory landscape, overcoming multiple legislative changes through providing clear and concise scenario planning and information reporting.
o People Management - Lead a team of 6, instrumental in the development of a high performing team, with zero months time in role for 5 of 6 members at start of my tenure.
Go to market deployment strategy lead for new category brands Vuse & Velo NPI launches. Deployment lead of retail activation, trade retail programs and cycle planning for +200 field force representatives. Full UK retail channel, consisting of +40k outlets. Led a team of 3.
o Go to Market Strategy Lead - For BATUK record breaking Vuse Go brand launch. Co-ordinated the development of launch executional plans across brand marketing, consumer activation, trading channel/price/promo segmentation & B2B programs.
o Engagement with field merchandising and sales teams that drove excellence in distribution & retail activation deployment. Recognised by leadership team as best field NPI launch deployment since new categories intro.
o Overall delivered multiple records for an NPI launch, main achievement being a record NPI volume sale of
9.4mn units (May 2022 - Dec 2022)
o Business Development - Channel expansion program through launch of Vuse on Deliveroo
o Led contract negotiations, pricing strategy, brand marketing strategy & operational set up contributing
towards Vuse brand power growth by 2bps.
o Navigated a newly developed complex legal framework specifically for Deliveroo ensuring corporate
responsibility measures remained in place
Promoted to account manager of Tesco, a FTSE30 constituent & BATUKs largest volume & most profitable key account. Responsible for contract negotiations to grow volume sales, distribution & market share, as well as a multi-million pound P&L accountability. Managed internal and external senior level engagement. Brand ambassador within a variety of industry forums.
o Sales Account Management - 2019 contract negotiations led to market share growth of +2.2pp & NTO growth of +£1.1m YoY, through in depth SKU mix analysis leading to a new portfolio range strategy. Led to trade margin optimization of -2.3% Avg 2019 vs Avg 2018.
o Complex Contract Negotiation - Co managed the UKs largest grocery/distributor merger through Tesco & Booker Group with head of trade. Negotiated a 63% reduction from new trading terms requested value to agreement, saving £4.2mn per annum risk.
o Business Development - Led the first grocery retail activation for new categories. Led multiple campaigns for the Vype brand across multiple in store & storefront touchpoints, on average driving 3.2m impressions per campaign.
Promoted to account manager to continue the account management & business development of newly opened account Argos.
o Sales Account Management - Drove volume growth through initiatives to overcome unique consumer purchase behavior in new route to market
o Drove bulk buying initiative that delivered +34% sales, driving instant growth from execution launch. o Retail Activation - Embedded consumer activation campaign framework for managed retail, first for BATUK as we entered the new categories activation space for retail.
o Delivered digital (online and in store digital displays) campaigns driving awareness of launch, delivering 1.1m impressions during campaign.
Delivered brand campaign activation execution & P&L analysis. Focused on new categories, under Vype brand (now Vuse) within grocery retail (Sainsburys & Coop)
o New Business Development - Sought new business, networked and engaged with Argos buyers following Sainsburys merger
o Led to a first listing in non-traditional retail across both BATUK history and the first in vapour industry within
UK. Covered full 360 launch campaign set up during this period, prior to promotion to account manager. o
Project Lead - Review of BATUKs trading terms & conditions
o Analysis & identification of efficiency opportunities that drove cash flow savings of £1.4mn per annum. Managed analysis through to engagement & execution with internal and external trade teams.
Implementation of key business processes within OneSAP Global implementation project. Managed the order to cash function for the UK market, driving deep understanding of business process flows between trade supply chain finance.
Modules studied; Business Environment of THL, Management information, Aviation travel geography, Accounting, Sales & Marketing, Airline & Airport Operations Management and Managing People in Practice. Assessments included compiling business reports for budget airlines (Ryanair selected). Dissertation focussed on the analysis of airline branding guidelines in the face of consumers perception towards air safety
Business Studies & ICT
11 GCSEs including Maths, English Literature and Science