ACE is one of the biggest hardware and lifestyle retail franchises in UAE, that Al-Futtaim company holds. For nearly eight decades, ACE has been a part of the American landscape and today has over 5,000 stores in the USA and hundreds worldwide.
The product range comprises DIY, hardware, electrical, home and garden, furniture, camping and barbecue, pet and decorating products, with the emphasis on lifestyle.
Reporting to the Senior General Manager, The Regional Head of Buying & Range Planning decides and sets all goals & targets relating to merchandise, i.e. range planning and assortment, range structure, number of articles, width and depth of the range, sales targets, pricing and gross margins, number of suppliers, negotiation & trading terms, assortment planning, planogram cycle, and implementation of the promotional/seasonal strategy of the business across all territories.
The current Ace territories for which Al-Futtaim has the territorial rights are the UAE, Qatar and Oman. In addition the Regional Head of Buying & Range Planning is responsible for managing all buying and merchandise related processes outside of the ‘Ace territories', specifically Bahrain, Qatar, Egypt and Kuwait where the business will trade under a separate brand fascia (Home Zone-DIY, Home & Garden).
As well as the above you will be responsible for:
- Ensuring that performance is monitored against plan regularly, supported by adequate merchandise performance reporting
- Ensuring that the product range is tested and is in line with local legislation, complies with import regulations, brand positioning and pricing strategy
- Ensuring direction is set for the buying team, with category ‘roles' set, agreed and in place
- Ensuring a high degree of ‘newness' is constantly being introduced while managing the amount of ‘churn' to acceptable levels
- Ensures that actions are taken on deviations to the plan to effectively manage merchandise assortments/inventory during the season to meet or exceed strategic targets
Minimum Qualifications and Knowledge: Graduate (Preferably Commerce, Economics, Business Admin); Specialisation in Retail purchasing & supplier management.
Minimum Experience: 6-8 years experience of Range & Buying Management in the Retail field.
Job-Specific Skills: Very good skills in planning, organisation & negotiation; Good skills in supply chain management, merchandise management & all aspects of business management; Good working knowledge of SAP; High level of computer literacy and working knowledge of the logic and design of external data information platforms.
Behavioural Competencies: Should have a high level of market awareness, analytical ability, decision making, strategic thinking, teamwork & leadership.
