City of Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa
Dear hiring Manager, I have been with Nike for the past 7 Years in the management role of Merchandise Financial Planning Manager; however, I have amassed 18 years in the retail experience from the most prominent retail groups in South Africa including EDCON and Woolworths. Through the years I have acquired a in depth experience and industry knowledge that has helped me shape me into the leader I am today. My previous roles have strengthened my technical skills in strategy and demand planning as well as my interpersonal skills such as communications, leadership and business acumen. I believe in the power of collaboration and adopt a growth mindset in my approach to business. Succession planning and coaching is of key interest to me, and I believe is a key unlock for business continuity and a great way to retain talent through the transfer of skills, keeping team members engaged and growing. I believe in teamwork, and I ensure that we are all accountable for the KPI’S we aligned to achieve. My role in the business is to create the Nike Value Stores product financial strategy and ensure that it is aligned with the EMEA strategy to meet the needs of our consumer that is consistent with the global experience our brand aims to deliver. My agile approach to business is illustrative of my high-performance nature. I adopt an agile approach to business by maximizing opportunities as I identify them demonstrating astute business acumen, whilst leveraging the organizations strategy as the guardrails to protect the business from risk. It is important for me to continue growing as a leader and it is my objective to seek out new career challenges. I am looking for opportunities that will be pivotal in sharpening some of my strengths whilst allowing me to develop my blind spots , through feedback and coaching, as I continuously grow as a leader my team and holistically being supported to do so. .
Responsibilities: • Responsible for all of the steps involved in getting products from suppliers to customers, Retail planning which is a combination of location planning, Allocations and store execution • Management of all Business planning KPI’S (i.e Revenue, Margins, Inventory , stock turn). • Activities include inventory planning and control, movement and prodactivity. • Forecasts consumer demand and market trends to assist with internal operations. • Monitoring and understanding demand and supply accuracy with the aim of minimizing inaccuracies and the impact thereof • Driving weekly collaborative processes with C Inventory management, Integrated Market place Planning supply chain. • Liaising and building a relationship with the Retail team. • Work is within functional practices and management precedents. Implements and executes strategies for a larger team (or multiple smaller teams) to deliver business results. • Problem Solving: Solves complex problems using limited information; implements solutions taking into consideration future implications. • Works with non-routine information and develops recommendations to gain approval of ideas or services. • Leadership: Accountable for meeting short-term , medium-term and long term targets that impact the department, team and the Business. • Responsible for performance management, pay and resourcing decisions for direct reports. • Manages and coaching teams ensuring that they are working to their optimal levels and their potential is maximized. .
Worked with a team of buyers, and allocators to ensure that all the KPI's are achieved. Key Responsibilities as per below : 1.Analyse and evaluate key performance indicators (sales, stock turn, GP rands) to assess and highlight areas of positive performance and to identify areas where improvement is required, using the budgeting process and GP Matrix document. 2. Analyse and interpret data using merchandising reports to drive future sales plans and relevant recommendations. 3. Conduct financial planning of sales, products, stores and replenishment projections. 4. Take appropriate markdowns on slow sellers, to free up OTB for getting new products and generating sales and plan business promotions in order to create product awareness. 5. On-going supplier relation in order to sustain product development and react to changes that the business is occurring.
Effectively manage turnover, inventory and Gross Profit . Set the targets in terms of stock, sales, inputs, markdowns and work in season to achieve. Weekly/Monthly analysis, as per reporting and trend meetings. Analysis of good and bad sellers, category performance – highlighting risks and opportunities to budget. Making recommendations for change and to ensure balanced stock to sales per category at store level. Review each weeks forward sales, stock and markdowns and identify OTB opportunities with the Brand Manager, Planning Manager and Merchandise Director. Input Management – manage the receipts together with the Brand Manager of all products from order creation to delivery to warehouse/stores. Weekly monitoring of all orders due, make contingency plans if problems arise. Ensure that all allocations prior to actual delivery date to ensure that the right product is sent to the right stores at the right time. Preparing, actualizing and monitoring all planning documentation
• Financial Ratio - Analyse and evaluate key performance indicators (KPIs) (i.e. sales plan, gross profit, cost reductions, stock turns, closing stock). • Process Improvement and Efficiency- Suggest and implement improvements on the range by examining competitor information and market trends; implement improvements on allocation trends to maximise stores' stock holding profitability. • People Management- Manage the performance of self and all direct reports (formally and informally), ensuring that regular feedback is given/received, coaching and mentoring on performance is given/received to enable continuous improvement. • Balanced Stock-Analyse and evaluate Key Performance Indicators (i.e. sales plans, cost reductions, forward covers, Chain Sales to Stock Ratio (CSS) and stock turn), and consider trends, supplier efficiency, lead times and store profiles when making recommendations for future buying plans • Product Portfolio and Assortment Analyse and evaluate a range of historical data and past performance trends, in the context of current portfolio strategy, to develop a balanced assortment plan; ensure past performance of product is related to future buying plans Plan a balanced assortment in line with overall sales plan and ensure that criteria such as pricing, styling, colours, fabrics, units (volumes), sizes, options per store, stores and locations are considered Market Intelligence - Merchandise Research and evaluate local and international service levels and trends for measuring business performance and identify opportunities for aligning own portfolio with best practice standards. Conduct a thorough evaluation of current Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and use findings as the basis for the development of future business plans.
Key Tasks Stock movement and replenishment from warehouse to store Consolidating and balancing of stock Maintaining the product data base Sales Forecasting Store Planning Creating Business plans , grids and inflow Plans Creating buying size ratio’s for buyers. Markdowns