Commercial Sales Activity Leader

Job description / Role

Established in the 1930s as a trading business, Al-Futtaim Group today is one of the most diversified and progressive, privately held regional businesses headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Structured into five operating divisions; automotive, financial services, real estate, retail and healthcare; employing more than 35,000 employees across more than 20 countries in the Middle East, Asia and Africa, Al-Futtaim Group partners with over 200 of the world's most admired and innovative brands. Al-Futtaim Group's entrepreneurship and relentless customer focus enables the organization to continue to grow and expand; responding to the changing needs of our customers within the societies in which we operate.

By upholding our values of respect, excellence, collaboration and integrity; Al-Futtaim Group continues to enrich the lives and aspirations of our customers each and every day

Overview of the role:

Strive to achieve an enjoyable, convenient and successful shopping and buying experience that leads to increased sales and sustained long-term profitability. Create satisfied customers in an efficient and effective way by using all media and sales channels available in order to attract and encourage more customers to visit more often and buy more by optimising the sales priorities using commercial activities and securing the right forecasts for the total IKEA offer.

What you will do:-

Description of Accountability:

Commercial
- Empower and encourage the team to take immediate action to meet the needs of customers and give input on how to continuously improve our meeting with them.
- Ensure our guests have a great shopping experience always throughout the day.
- Review and monitor daily and monthly KPIs and analyze reports on various measurable factors against benchmarked figures (i.e. reports relating to stock levels, stock ageing, top sellers, service levels with regards to stock availability, range analysis, manpower productivity, etc.).
- Working with the Sales & ComIn teams to create meaningful actions to achieve agreed goals

OPERATIONS
- Optimise sales and create sustained long-term profitability by generating more traffic to the IKEA store and IKEA website by using all available internal and external media.
- Drive the vitality calendar in the store and online.
- Work in collaboration with the commercial team and local marketing responsible to lead and implement successfully the commercial calendar throughout the store and online. You do this by using your knowledge of the IKEA product range, the local market, competition, IKEA customers and the experience and expertise of your colleagues.
- Secure a consistent, seamless positive customer experience through all channels by ensuring that the department is always striving to fulfil the three IKEA customer motivators: "Is it worth it?", "Can I trust IKEA", "Is there something for me?
- Lead and communicate the commercial calendar and store activity plan to the store colleagues in a way that motivates them to take ownership for their part in achieving the overall goals.
- Secure the vitality of the IKEA store and IKEA website in all media by working closely with your store commercial team and using good examples from other stores to ensure customers feel inspired to visit the store more frequently.
- Ensure a qualitative and efficient implementation in the store through clear communication and secure that all functions take responsibility for delivering their part.
- Act quickly on commercial opportunities; changing availability of products (overstock and out of stock) and customer feedback (10 most asked questions).
- Analyse activity performance: identify successful activities, solutions and ideas, and use this information to improve the planning of future activities.
- Understand the impact of actions and activities on the financial results of the store
- Understand the IKEA social and environmental commitments and contribute to sustainability.

Required Skills to be successful:
- Strategic Planning and Analytical Skills
- Effective Communication skills
- Proficient user of MS office applications.
- Good analytical skills
- Leadership skills
- Able to cope with a very high workload
- Must have excellent communication and interpersonal skills
- Must be able to build working relationships
- Must be able to speak and understand English & Arabic
- Commercial awareness
- Strong customer service skills with a friendly approach
- Excellent command of English language.
- Excellent command of Arabic language is preferred.
- Good knowledge in home furnishing, market, social trends
- Multitasker and attentive to details

Requirements

What equips you for the role:
- High School / Trade school Certificate (Bachelor Preferred)
- 3-6 years' experience in similar field
- Customer Focus
- Individual Accountability
- Continuous Improvement
- Personal Leadership
- Teamwork
- Attention to Detail
- Highly Numerate
- Product Confident
- Good Communicator

About Al-Futtaim Retail

Al-Futtaim Retail has established itself as one of the leaders in Retail across the Middle East, Africa & Asia over the past 30 years. We have developed partnerships with some of the biggest and most respected Brands in the world including IKEA, ACE and Toys R Us in the Middle East and the Inditex Group of Brands (Zara, Mango, Bershka and P&B) across Asia. We are also one of the largest Global partners of Marks and Spencer's in both regions with over 75 stores offering both fashion & food options.

Most recently we have been responsible for bringing brands to the Middle East for the first time with the exciting launches of Watsons and B&Q and we aim to continue to be agile and adaptive to our markets with new launches and further development. For this to be possible we aim to recruit the best talent from all backgrounds who will continue to challenge and develop our diverse workforce which includes over 100 nationalities across 12 countries. Join us today and make a difference.

About the Company

Established in the 1930's, the Al-Futtaim Group initially operated as a trading enterprise. Rapid development throughout the 1940's and 50's saw it establish itself regionally as an integrated commercial, industrial and services organisation, positioning itself one of the leading business houses in the lower Gulf region. Today, it operates collectively over 40 companies bearing the Al-Futtaim name, dominates many market segments in the UAE, and has expanded its sphere of operation to include Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and Egypt.

The Group comprises a diverse range of strategically positioned operating subsidiaries and associate companies, structured to give the Al-Futtaim Group the flexibility and versatility to keep ahead of local competition while keeping pace with the ever-evolving global business scenario. The Groups continued investment in world-class systems technology is clear evidence of its commitment to maintain leading edge performance and service delivery.

The success of the Al-Futtaim Group can be attributed to a business approach that combines the ability to change with the traditional values of integrity, service and social responsibility that define its core business philosophy. This, linked with the Groups belief in decentralisation, gives the heads of the operating companies a high degree of functional autonomy and authority, providing the Group with essential flexibility, and individual employees a clearly defined work culture and sense of responsibility.