Regional Sales & Range 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

In the Service Office organisation, there is a team of Sales & Range specialists that each have responsibility for one Business Area. In a territory where the Sales & Range specialists are highly experienced and skilled, some individuals can take responsibility for more than one Business Area. Securing that the range to be sold in the local market is selected and priced each business year. To achieve the Sales and Gross Margin goals as set by the Sales manager for your Business Area.

What you will do

Commercial

- Together with their colleagues and managers, they contribute actively in the development and implementation of a clear IKEA Sales & Range action plan for the store using the store business plan and country business plan. These are supported by input from Growing IKEA together and the IKEA Sales Direction & Strategy. Develop and execute an annual action plan for his area based on agreed goals.
- Stay in weekly contact and support the shopkeepers in the stores
- Select and ensure availability of products for all the marketing activities in the commercial calendar, in close partnership with the Logistics department
- Support the stores by producing buying guides for complex product series
- Maintain ongoing communication with the IKEA range distributor regarding all issues related to the range and the annual IKEA range cycle
- Coordinate all issues with regard to the IKEA range between the stores and the central retail management and between the central retail management and the IKEA distributor
- Maintain in-depth knowledge of the local home furnishings market (e.g. customers, trends and competitors)
- Ensure that systems and methods stated in IKEA Concept Documentation are implemented in regard to your areas of responsibility
- Set prices on the IKEA range in cooperation with the stores' sales managers and reinforce the IKEA low-price profile by applying the guidelines stated in IKEA Concept Documentation
- Make sales budgets for the IKEA range
- Set local range priorities in accordance with the overall range strategy provided by IKEA of Sweden through the IKEA distributor
- Maintain ongoing communication with the IKEA range distributor regarding all issues related to the range and the annual IKEA range cycle
- Maintain in-depth knowledge of the local home furnishings market (e.g. customers, trends and competitors)
- Passionate about their products and actively learn about their content, origins and other benefits. Share this knowledge with their colleagues.
- Ensure to know the top-selling products, 4 Aces and 1 King, and that they are available and clearly communicated and displayed at all times. To promote alternative products when these are unavailable.
- Contribute to the planning, execution and follow-up of the store's commercial calendars
- Follow up and communicate the agreed KPIs within your area of responsibility to the Core Area Manager and to the shopkeepers of the stores
- Strive to reach the sales targets for your Business Area as defined in the business plan
- Support the shopkeepers in all stores in your market by collecting and spreading good sales solutions
- Spur a healthy competitive situation between all stores in your market by running different types of competitions each year

Operations

- To ensure that systems and methods stated in IKEA Concept Documentation are implemented in the Sales and Range of all stores
- Be the matrix manager for the shopkeepers in all stores for your business area and together with them, you drive the annual plan for Sales & Range in this Business Area
- Define the range in your sales area of Showroom and Markethall to be sold by all stores and together with shopkeepers you drive the process of selecting the suppliers and managing all the contracts in order to achieve economies of scale in the purchasing by generating large volumes
- Enhance the competitive strength of the IKEA product range by ensuring the implementation of all range issues related to systems and methods stated in IKEA Concept Documentation and by keeping yourself updated about the local market conditions
- Strive to reach the IKEA positioning objectives
- To steer the performance in your area operations towards maximized sales and optimized long-term profit by:
- Applying sales methods in accordance with the Sales and Range the IKEA way manual
- Stay in contact with IKEA of Sweden and the distributor to select, price, phase in and phase out the range for your market
- Perform all range administration in the sales IT-system for products belonging to your Business Area
- Work closely with the Logistics team to secure that the sales forecasts are adapted to the sales patterns in order to achieve an optimal goods flow
- Choose products of the IKEA Extra range in accordance with the Choosing from the IKEA product range manual
- Set prices on the IKEA range and you work closely with the shopkeepers in the stores to continuously track competitors' price levels in order to secure the IKEA low-price leadership. In this work, you use systems and methods described in the IKEA genuinely low prices manual and Setting prices the IKEA way manual
- Make sales budgets for the IKEA range in your Business Area
- Define the Local range in your sales area of Showroom and Markethall to be sold by all stores and drive the process of selecting the suppliers and managing all the contracts in order to achieve economies of scale in the purchasing by generating large volumes
- Co-ordinate with the catalogue production team within Marketing to complete the different text blocks, by timely inputs regarding pricing details and strategic product placements including timely inputs regarding the pricing details and strategic product placement

People

- Support the store shopkeepers to regularly conduct competitor analysis on the local markets. You take appropriate actions based on the results
- Committed to the development of Sales team and secure their training to ensure all co-workers understand the IKEA Concept and other key guidelines, and how they have an impact on their specific roles.
- Empower, support and coach Sales co-workers on the job to help them perform better and grow.
- Work actively to create an environment where the IKEA culture is a strong and living reality, and diversity is valued, to ensure the IKEA store is regarded as a great place to work.
- Ensure we have a simple and straightforward internal communication and information flow, and secure that key information is understood by all IKEA Sales co-workers.

Required skills to be successful

- Must have good experience working in Sales in IKEA Bedroom storage, bed & mattresses range
- Must have the ability to create an environment where the IKEA values are a strong and living reality that embraces the diversity of co-workers and visitors
- Customer Focus, Individual Accountability, Continuous Improvement, Personal Leadership, Teamwork

Requirements

What equips you for the role

- Ideally several years of IKEA shopkeeper experience in one or several business areas, preferred in Bedroom storage, bed & mattresses range
- Must have minimum 4 - 6 years IKEA retail sales experience
- Must have strong strategic, analytical and tactical abilities
- Genuine interest and knowledge of home furnishings
- Genuine interest in customers
- Genuine interest in the IKEA range and strong mathematical skills to be able to perform the gross margin calculations.
- Must have excellent communication and interpersonal skills
- Must be able to build working relationships
- Ability to work on very high workload.
- Strong Personal leadership skills

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.