Category Manager - General Merchandise & Specialty Retail

Real Estate Souq; Schamal al-Batina; On-site; OMR 17,000 - 39,000; Full time

Job summary

Real Estate Souq is seeking an experienced Merchandiser/Category Manager to lead assortment architecture across electronics books stationery home decor and emerging non-food concepts. You will source, evaluate and negotiate with local and international suppliers, establish price ladders and margins, and own stock performance and ageing.

The role requires strong analytical and category-management skills, GCC retail exposure, and a proven ability to learn new categories quickly.

Qualifications

• Minimum 5 years of General Merchandise/Non-Food buying experience.
• Experience across multiple non-food categories strongly preferred.
• Strong analytical/category-management background.
• GCC retail experience preferred.
• Strong supplier sourcing and negotiation skills.
• Must demonstrate ability to learn unfamiliar categories quickly.

Responsibilities

• Develop assortment architecture for each assigned concept.
• Source and evaluate local and international suppliers.
• Negotiate purchase cost, payment terms, MOQ and commercial support.
• Establish price ladders and margin targets.
• Own Sales GP Margin Stock and Ageing.
• Analyse SKU productivity and product lifecycle.
• Manage replenishment, markdown and category exits.
• Identify new products and market trends.
• Coordinate launches with Marketing and Operations.
• Develop exclusive private-label opportunities.
• Recommend when a category has reached sufficient scale for separate management.

Skills

Merchandise Buying

Non-Food Categories

Category Management

Supplier Negotiation

GCC Retail Experience

New Category Learning

Job description

Scope

Scope Electronics books stationery home decor home beauty and other emerging non-food specialty concepts Develop assortment architecture for each assigned concept

• Source and evaluate local and international suppliers
• Negotiate purchase cost payment terms MOQ and commercial support
• Establish price ladders and margin targets
• Own Sales GP Margin Stock and Ageing
• Analyse SKU productivity and product lifecycle
• Manage replenishment markdown and category exits
• Identify new products and market trends
• Coordinate launches with Marketing and Operations
• Develop exclusive private-label opportunities
• Recommend when a category has reached sufficient scale for separate management

• Minimum 5 years of General Merchandise/Non-Food buying experience
• Experience across multiple non-food categories strongly preferred
• Strong analytical/category-management background
• GCC retail experience preferred
• Strong supplier sourcing and negotiation skills
• Must demonstrate ability to learn unfamiliar categories quickly

Core KPIs

• Sales
• GP%
• Margin
• Stock Productivity
• Ageing
• New Product Productivity
• Supplier Terms
• Category Growth