Retail Buying Manager

[PURPOSE & OVERALL RELEVANCE FOR THE ORGANIZATION]
This role is responsible for maximizing the profitability of the Own Retail business by overseeing that the sales planning, buying, day-to-day trading activities, sales reviews, and inventory management are carried out effectively and efficiently. A secondary responsibility of managing the buy for key Franchise partners/doors may be added in the future.
This includes:
• Planning and setting the right merchandising strategy for Own Retail in the country
• Implementing Merchandising End-to-End (E2E) process
• Putting in the right strategies to derive the right Buy for Own Retail in the country
• Monitoring all in-season activities and acting accordingly for Own Retail
• Providing feedback and working collaboratively with SEA Own Retail Buying/Merchandising Department
[KEY RESPONSIBILITIES]
• Lead and coach country Buying team members on all Buying functions to provide career progression.
a. Pre-season:
• Support the implementation of key strategic priorities in the country for Own Retail within the SEA Own Retail Buying Department framework.
• Responsible for the Business Units’ Sales Planning, Buy, cost, and margins in the country.
• Work with the SEA Own Retail Buying Department to derive an Open-To-Buy (OTB) budget for Own Retail – Concept Stores (New Seasons) and Factory Outlet (GFO).
• Build the right product mix based on the share of the business of store formats, product categories, store types, age, and gender mix for Own Retail.
• Review and implement the right buying analysis by categories for Own Retail.
• Review and define product options and space management in the country for Own Retail.
• Ensure correct size ratios are used for order placement for Own Retail
b. In addition to the above (when secondary responsibility becomes effective):
• Work with the Head of the Franchise Channel/Key Account Manager to receive the Open-To-Buy (OTB) budget for Key Franchise Partners/Doors.
• Support Key Franchise Doors to ensure their sell-in buy is appropriate by giving them the right range recommendation per store based on SEA Own Retail Buying seasonal strategies.
• Guide Key Stakeholders i.e. Buyers of Franchise partners to ensure that all merchandising strategies and principles are executed timely and correctly.
• Ensure correct size ratios are used for order placement for Key Franchise doors.
c. In-season:
• Drive and achieve Benchmarks and KPIs on productivity and sell-through which are aligned with SEA Own Retail Buying Department for Own Retail.
• Support improvements in Allocation and Replenishment (A&R) techniques with SEA Direct to Consumer (DTC) Own Retail Buying Department for Own Retail.
• Ensure products are launched on time with adequate stock for Own Retail.
• Work closely with Store Operations to ensure product grading and product option plan are in line with space management guidelines for Own Retail (pre-season).
• Establish and analyze Own Retail’s key Buy, Sales, and Inventory reports and take necessary actions to ensure business strategies are well-executed and business goals are achieved (pre-, in-, and post-season).
• To validate and identify Month on hand (MoH) inventory planning file based on the monthly cover of Concept Stores and Factory Outlets
• Ensure end-of-season stock is managed accordingly to the Product-Life-Cycle (PLC) policy for Own Retail.
• Ensure all Store Openings/Closings/Remodels are well coordinated by tasking the Buying department to act as the single point-of-contact for Own Retail.
• Guide Key Franchise Partners on sales report generation and analysis (pre-, in-, and post-season).
• Ensure in-season chase models (Evergreen, In-Season-Creation, and Planned-Responsiveness) are well managed to make sure inventory is optimal for Own Retail.
• Establish Own Retail store-visit schedule to achieve an expected amount of time spent in the stores. The ratio of time to be spent in the office versus stores is recommended as 60%/40% respectively.
• Analyze Own Retail Store Visits Pack (SVP) before store visits.
[KEY RELATIONSHIP]
• Internal: Own Retail Stores, Country Retail Operation Team, Country Category Marketing, Country Finance, SEA Own Retail Buying team, Country Franchise team, Country Warehouse Operations team
• External: Franchise Partners, Other third-party service providers

Attractive annual health check package and private insurance
,#18 annual leaver and additional 5 office holiday days off per year
,#A dynamic working environment that focuses on individual growth as much as team growth

Garment Buying, Merchandising, Footwear Merchandise, Textile Merchandising