Senior Merchandise Manager (Toy and Baby) at Toys R Us and Babies R Us South Africa

Role & Responsibilities

• Develop a clear merchandise strategy aligned with company goals
• Set and manage departments financial and expense budgets in line with group’s budget.
• Creating and developing a long term plan of action and strategy for the development of categories.
• Strategically sustain and develop key partnerships and supplier relationships. Manage supplier strategies to deliver Group KPI’s in line with department strategy as well as identifying and proposing mitigations for risks arising from supplier management.
• Effectively collaborate between key departments to meet department goals
• Deliver on over-all margin through collaboration with rebates, shipping and finance department
• Establish & negotiate trading term agreements with both local and import suppliers
• Manage front-end margin through overseeing pricing and supporting Category Managers in price negotiations
• Drive private label development and gaps within the assortment
• Improve margin through effective sourcing and supplier negotiations
   
• Align category goals with Operations through optimizing floor space, merchandise adjacencies, visual merchandising solutions, staff training and supplier support.
• Drive category sales objectives alignment with Marketing department
• Deliver on Ecommerce sales objectives through strategic alignment with Ecommerce department

Reporting:

• Provide meaningful analysis to the executive and senior leadership team with regard to category performance, category trends, brand analysis and consumer behavior by store based on category trends
• Strategically act on category analysis with agility to meet/exceed set goals

Lead an effective Merchandise team:

• Review departmental operational plans to ensure that they deliver into the group strategy
• Review range plan taking into account customer needs, trend direction, competitive analysis,  growth/exit of product categories, determining product objectives that deliver to department operational plan.
• Review post season analysis by department as input in the development of the group strategy
• Review weekly and monthly performance with departments and consolidate identified solutions and develop action plan to ensure departmental KPI’s are met and exceeded
• Identify opportunities within the season to maximise profit and grow market share
• Monitor Open to Buy within planning department and report anomalies to CFO.
• Ensure buying processes are managed in line with merchandise cycle in order to deliver on time launch and against critical paths
• Develop, motivate, inspire and lead the team to achieve and deliver the group strategy and plans that will ensure high performance
• Conduct regular store and competitor visits to understand product performance, assortment balance and customer experience of range and adjust where appropriate
• Identify new suppliers, products and latest trends to maintain and improve sales and service delivery
• Be proactive in identifying and developing and winning profitable new incremental business opportunities utilising market research to understand consumer needs

Desired Experience & Qualification

• 3 year Tertiary Degree - Supply Chain/Procurement
• 5-8 years’ experience in a similar role
• 3-5 years’ experience in managing a team
• Advanced Excel Skills
• Analytical Skills

Knowledge

• of Sourcing
• of Purchasing Policies, Processes, Reporting and Purchasing systems is a critical advantage
• of local and global retail
• speciality toy and baby products