Al-Futtaim Hiring for Buying Manager Job at Dubai Full Time

Established in the 1930s as a trading business, Al-Futtaim Group today is one of the most diversified and progressive, privately held regional businesses headquartered in Dubai, United A”rab Emirates. Structured into five operating divisions; automotive, financial services, real estate, retail and healthcare; employing more than 35,000 employees across more than 20 countries in the Middle East, Asia and Africa, Al-Futtaim Group partners with over 200 of the world’s most admired and innovative brands. Al-Futtaim Group’s entrepreneurship and relentless customer focus enables the organisation to continue to grow and expand; responding to the changing needs of our customers within the societies in which we operate.

By upholding our values of respect, excellence, collaboration and integrity; Al-Futtaim Group continues to enrich the lives and aspirations of our customers each and every day.

About the Role

The Buying Manager decides and sets all goals & targets relating to merchandise, i.e. range planning and assortment, range structure, number of articles, width and depth of the range, sales targets, pricing and gross margins, number of suppliers, negotiation & trading terms, assortment planning, planogram cycle, and implementation of the promotional/seasonal strategy of the business across all territories. Apart from the above the Head is responsible for

(i) ensuring that performance is monitored against plan regularly, supported by adequate merchandise performance reporting;

(ii) ensuring that the product range is tested and is in line with local legislation, complies with import regulations, brand positioning and pricing strategy;

(iii) ensuring direction is set for the buying team, with category ‘roles’ set, agreed

(iv) a high degree of ‘newness’ is constantly being introduced while managing the amount of ageing to acceptable levels;

(v) ensures that actions are taken on deviations to the plan to effectively manage merchandise assortments/inventory during the season to meet or exceed strategic targets.

Key Role Specific Accountabilities

• Develops a global commercial strategy (short, medium and long term) and implements for each category. Defines store layouts through all product categories. Excellent negotiation and relationship skills in order to create and develop long term business partnerships and portfolio (exclusivity) with brands.
• Sets the pricing strategy for each brand, in each territory to ensure the margin and profit goals agreed. Additionally, has the responsibility to make certain that overall margin goals are met irrespective of clearance sale and promotional activities.
• Manage full OTB process; sell through, markdown policy and return of supplier process. Analytical and proactively manages sales, inventory and margin through effective range planning and buying.
• Maps the ordering process, the frequency of placing re-orders, and the use of warehousing facilities in a manner that the handling costs are kept to the lowest and lead times of the products are optimized. Detailed competitor & market analysis. Ensure to guarantee compliance with import regulations
• System development & Co-ordination with different functions. Plays a vital role in developing and maintaining system processes relating to the buying & supply chain elements of SAP. Plays a ‘driving’ role in developing the catalogues for the local markets, ensures that availability meets targets for catalogue launch. Facilitates the close interaction of the Buying team with the store teams to ensure that commercial priorities and feedback is ongoing
• Maintain collaborative partnership and effective negotiation with external vendor’s internal customers such as Marketing and Store Operations to drive traffic and build brand and customer loyalty. Identify location (store) growth opportunities and minimise slow selling product categories. Work with marketing calendar to ensure synergies

About You

Education:

Graduate (Preferably Commerce, Economics, Business Admin); Specialisation in Retail purchasing & supplier management. SAP Knowledge is essential.

Minimum Experience and Knowledge:

6-8 years’ experience of Range & Buying Management in the Retail field.

Job-Specific/Technical Skills required to complete the tasks:

Should have a high level of market awareness, analytical ability, decision making, strategic thinking, teamwork & leadership.

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