Head Buying and Merchandising, Peter England

Base Location:

Minimum Qualification:

Preferred Experience:

Preferred Skills:

Key Result Areas

• Develop and drive accurate financial, sales, and line plans for designated product categories, ensuring alignment with the overall Business Unit product and marketing strategy.
• Formulate annual business plans and OTB (Open to Buy) plans, collaborating on monthly, quarterly, and annual sales, inventory, and line plan targets.
• Maintain the right balance of price points, casual vs non-casual mix, category mix, and fashion quotient to meet business objectives.

Drive Sustainable Profitable Growth in Retail

• Lead the buying and allocation teams across all stores to manage pre-season planning, in-season stock management, gross profit optimization, SKU allocation, and replenishment.

Financial Goals (Non-Negotiable)

• Achieve sales targets on yearly, quarterly, and L2L (like-to-like) basis.
• Maintain Gross Margin and EBIDTA targets as a percentage of sales.
• Optimize working capital by delivering ideal Days on Cash (DOC).

Operations (Non-Negotiable)

• Improve buying processes to increase throughput from stores.
• Drive higher sell-through rates through timely and accurate buying, allocation, and discount management.
• Increase Sell Through Per Week (STPW) and Sales Per Square Foot (SSPD) to boost store profitability and assess store layout effectiveness.
• Achieve targeted inventory turns to ensure efficient cash rotation and maintain targeted stock days.
• Review stock and sales plans with team members to optimize performance.
• Develop and execute channel-specific plans to meet sales, gross margin, and inventory goals.
• Manage risk via promotional and markdown strategies to meet net margin targets.
• Implement action plans to reduce high stock levels in showrooms.
• Develop efficient pullback and replenishment systems.

Freshness of Stock & Pullback Process

• Ensure seamless running of Automatic Markdowns (AMM) and timely addition of correct stock into discount mix.
• Maintain a high Freshness Index current season stock as a percentage of total non-core stock at stores.
• Implement fast, controlled pullback processes to liquidate unproductive merchandise via value channels.

Efficient Core Management

• Maintain a sharp core range for best-in-class core availability and efficient DOC.
• Clear non-moving stock by timely discounting.

Ways of Working

• Document and streamline Brick & Mortar processes with review mechanisms.
• Maintain a season-wise library of orders with images.
• Drive adoption and smooth operation of automation tools such as Symphony and Store Config.

People & Development

• Drive continuous development of self and team through training initiatives.
• Train frontline staff on products, features, and unique selling propositions.

Trend Analysis & Forecasting

• Research and forecast future trends using online and offline sources.
• Communicate trends effectively to the design teams to influence collections.

Desired Skills and Experience:

Buying, Merchandising