Our client a leading retailer requires the services of a Category Specialist to deliver the most appealing Customer experience through various baby product alternatives across categories. This will be achieved through developing a customer-centric national category strategy that incorporates Pricing, Promotions, Assortment and Ranging, Merchandising display, Private label role, Stock planning and Innovation, as well as sourcing from key suppliers.

Key performance areas:

1. Relationship Management
? Collaborate with suppliers, divisional buying and store operations teams, Private Label, General Merchandise, Fresh Department and Marketing Teams
? Maintain effective relationships with buyers
? Maintain collaborative work style by ensuring effective relationship management with internal stakeholders (marketing, suppliers, buyers, executive team)

2. People Management:
? Ensure direct administrative supports are equipped and trained according to the core competencies of their roles
? Coordinate execution across various business functions

3. Sales and Profit Optimisation:
? Ensure profitable customer segments
? Ultimately responsible for category profitability on a day to day basis

4. Facilitate Customer Understanding:
? Interpret customer, market, international and competitor information to derive accurate understanding of customers for each of the clients banners, and ensure customer understanding is brought into category plans

5. Internal Stakeholder Management:
? Communicate customer insights and related category plan to key stakeholders in operations, marketing, buying, suppliers and members of senior management

6. Planning to Ensure Category Performance
? Work with customer science experts to interpret customer-centric pricing, promotions, product offering and placement to inform category plans
? Set category roles, objectives, strategies and tactics and review periodically

7. Execution of Category Plan:
? Implement and execute category plan to ensure optimal product offering, pricing, promotions and availability of product

8. Compliance Assurance
? Consistently adhere to audit and required legislative standards and statutory requirements


The successful candidate must have:

? Matric with a National Diploma / Degree in Business Administration / Sales / Marketing / Supply Chain / Related Field
? Excellent written & verbal communication skills
? 3 - 5 years' experience in buying and /or category management within a retail environment 5+ years’ experience in buying in a retail environment
? Data analysis and interpretation
? Supplier negotiation skills
? Strategic Marketing skills
? Presentation skills (verbal & written)
? Budget planning and control
? Strategic sourcing and buying
? Knowledge of the functions that support category management
? Data analysis mechanisms (e.g. Nielsen, Aztec, Proclarity, SAP, Supplier customer insights, competitor range and price and promotion surveys)
? Category expertise e.g. product knowledge, upstream supplier base, importance to banner
? Knowledge of category customer –behaviour
? Knowledge of customer-science models
? Knowledge of SAP functionality supporting the category management process
? Knowledge of banner strategies
? Understanding of local competitor, customer and broader market insights
? Knowledge of customer trends within respective product category

Please note that only short listed candidates will be contacted.