Category Manager
BRIAN BELL & CO. LTD.
Total years of experience :17 years, 2 Months
In-charge of the entire commercial aspect for the furniture category - 2nd largest category for the organization.
• In-charge of furniture buying, range planning, product selection, price negotiations & coordination, branch stock planning (across country), sales management, key customer accounts, order placements, staff and manager training on new products and sales ideas, visual merchandising ideas for store, advertising and buying budgets.
• Responsible for attending buying fairs across Asia and dealing with vendors in Asia-pacific and South America. Focus on Australia, China, Malaysia, Brazil, Vietnam, India.
• Day to day handling of negotiations and buying from over 40 furniture suppliers across Bedroom/Bathroom, Lounge, Kitchen & Dining, Office furniture and equipment, Window Treatment products. Majority focus on overseas suppliers.
• Heading & supervising a direct team of 15 personnel and indirectly coaching on category for various sales teams across the company including branch retail managers, commercial sales teams.
• Providing one stop solution for any product queries and requirements for all internal & external customers.
• Accountable for deciding mark-ups and price points with the aim of developing a mix of products including loss leaders, crowd pullers, core & promotional range and lifestyle products which help in increase the stock & sales turnover of the category while maintaining a healthy gross margin across the country
• Responsible for negotiating sustainable pricing, delivery schedules and MOQ’s with suppliers resulting in direct reduction of stock holdings while increasing gross margins on products and better stock turnover.
• Working with Dealer/Distributor network to understand their market dynamics and suggesting the product range for better sales.
• Collaborating with interior designers and consultants on various commercial and residential projects, to provide procurement and supply solutions.
Acted as In-charge of warehouse handling complete furniture range and major white goods lines for the company (5000 SKU’s). Managed a staff of 40 and fleet of 5 Heavy vehicles.
• Looked after the overall warehouse management, entailing receipts, store despatch, customer deliveries, furniture assembly, major project logistics, branch & outstation customer shipping arrangements.
• Responsible for complete revamp of operations to increase efficiency.
• Managed major furniture projects right from delivery to assembly and handover.
• Supervised & maintained midyear & end of year stock and reduced stock variation from 2.8% to .2% of total value over the period.
• Accountable for location mapping inside warehouse, product damage control, health and safety process implementation and training. Developed a Standard Operating Procedure document with emphasis on Occupational Health and Safety, trained staff on best practices.
• Effectively reduced the shipping errors to .1% in a span of 6 months while handling the warehouse.
• Successfully implemented Standard Operating Procedures and trained staff in best practices in both warehouse and retail store level.
• Attained overall improvement in process turnaround times of 60% at warehouse.
• Recognized for introducing the assembly line practice for furniture assembly at warehouse.
• Deftly imparted training to staff on best practices in safety, process and reduced the incidents & increasing efficiency
In charge of Corporate gifting division as whole and also handling operations of manufacturing and engineering division simultaneously.
Tasks Included:
- Spearheading the Corporate gifting division which includes - Business Development, New product Identification, Procurement activities, Logistics and value addition etc.
- Handling procurement and logistics operations for the manufacturing and engineering division.
- Continuous client and vendor interactions to develop business as well as new products for the market.
- Setting up Standard Operating Procedures for the company and its divisions to ensure seamless functioning.
- Market research on a day to day basis to understand new product and business potential as a whole.
- Frequent travel around India as part of vendor and product development initiative.
Key Results:
* Introduced variety of new products in the corporate gifting division.
* Achieved company's quarterly sales target for corporate gifting division in first month of operations.
* Identified suppliers across India for both Engineering and gifting items.
* Introduced and implemented standard document formats, processes, training booklets, product and company brochures etc.
Part of team In charge of the warehousing, inventory management and distribution operations of three warehouses situated in various parts of India.
Tasks Included:
- Proficiently managing the complete inventory control and warehousing & transportation activities - coordinating with 3PL
- Maintaining effective coordination between buying team, warehouse and stores to ensure smooth flow of products into and out of Warehouse to meet business requirements.
- Setting up continuous improvement suggestions & benchmarks for warehouse activities.
- Monitoring warehouse spend to keep within budget and exploring avenues for cost reduction.
- Imparting training to warehouse staff on new technology and process introduced
- Implementing and Monitoring FIFO process for FMCG goods.
- Competently handling import documentation and process.
- Generating and analysing KPI data for both warehouse and import activities for last two quarters.
Key Results:
*Incorporated as part of team within 3 months of joining as a trainee due to complete understanding of Supply Chain process.
* Played a pivotal role in WMS setup for new warehouse locations
* Deftly conducted Stock Takes in multiple warehouse locations with complete variance analysis.
* Submitted a proposal, flowchart for better processes and IT integration at warehouses to improve operations.
The 2 Year Post Graduate Programme In Supply Chain/Operations and Marketing consisted of a mix of theoretical subjects and on the job training. Some of the Subjects consisted of: Operations Management Sourcing and Procurement Management Statistics Marketing Management Retail management Organizational Behaviour Warehouse Management Logistics Management Supplier Relationship Management Customer Relationship Management Supply Chain Management