Retail Category Management & Merchandising Manager

dnata catering UK; United Kingdom; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A global retail services provider in the UK is seeking a Retail Category Management & Merchandising lead to oversee the category strategy and support new business implementations. Candidates should have at least 5 years of experience in retail buying and category management, strong leadership, and analytical skills. The role focuses on optimizing sourcing processes and developing merchandising plans for new markets.

Qualifications

• Minimum of 5 years in retail buying & category management.
• Experience in a buying and merchandising environment.
• Strong leadership and interpersonal skills.

Responsibilities

• Support sourcing, ranging, and procurement for new implementations.
• Develop clear category and range strategies.
• Optimize margin in the sourcing process.
• Create merchandising plans aligned to service routines.
• Prepare master data for retail systems.

Skills

Retail buying

Category management

Leadership

Analytical skills

Communication skills

Job description

The dnata global retail business is rapidly expanding, building off successful operations in the UK, Europe, Middle East and Australia. As the business expands into new market territories with new clients, the need has arisen to recruit a Retail Category Management & Merchandising lead to support this expansion to provide a range of services aligned to business readiness to provide a turnkey approach for category management and merchandising to meet client needs long term.

The role is designed to ensure for each new business implementation, we have clear leadership for the entire category strategy across the full range of products right through to the actual acquisition of goods within those categories.

In addition, the role will ensure that the business will be using ready-made processes, templates and applications upon deployment in a new territory or for a new start-up business without having to invest the time and resources required to develop their own from scratch. The role will also play a pivotal role in the development of new products and services pertinent to the retail business proposition.

Who you’ll deal with:

Internal: Regional units, management teams and support functions

External: Airlines and suppliers

Key Responsibilities:

• Support the Sourcing, Ranging and Procurement of applicable product ranges for new business implementations,
• Develop clear category and range strategies appropriate for the territory and market for the new businesses being implemented,
• Margin optimisation in the sourcing process – optimising price and investments to drive the best trading value for the launch assortments,
• Develop trading and supply chain forecasts and intake plans - developing appropriate opening stock levels, ordering new products, and managing warehousing requirements to avoid shortages or overstocking upon transition and launch,
• Create merchandising plans to align stock loading levels on the aircraft to onboard service routines and trading forecasts,
• Prepare all master data for range initiation to be input in the applicable retail or ERP systems,
• Assessments of existing Ranging, Category Management and Merchandising processes with identification of gaps and actionable improvement points,
• Create a core set of “white label” processes, templates and applications applicable to Retail Sourcing, Category Management and Merchandising,
• Supporting the global Sales team with new business implementations – providing guidance for prospective product offerings and start-up processes,
• Developing turnkey merchandising and bar design processes, that align with the new business start-up IT solution,
• Support the recruitment of local teams for new start-up airline customers – using the turnkey approach to embed processes and templates into the new teams’ ways of working,
• Engage the suppliers into the strategies and white-label approach and align them culturally to the objectives being driven.

This list is not exhaustive, accountabilities may vary dependant on locality and may include any other duties considered reasonable by the retail management team.

What you’ll have:

• Evidence of previous retail buying & category management - a minimum of 5 years
• Experience of working within an aligned buying and merchandising environment
• Strong leadership and management skills- Good interpersonal, communication, presentational and teamwork
• Able to work under pressure – plan, organise and delegate
• Attention to detail and accuracy
• High level analytical and numerical skills
• Enthusiastic, self-motived, proactive and persuasive

If you believe your skills and experience align with what we're looking for, we encourage you to apply — we’d love to hear from you!