Optical Administration and Merchandise Manager

Overall responsibility for the implementation of the agreed optical merchandising strategy as developed by the Chain & Regional Buying Managers and the operational effectiveness of the Lab and Administration functions ensuring a best in class customer experience.

POSITION:    Optical Administration and Merchandise Manager

REPORTS TO:   Optical Chain Manager /Optical Regional Buyer

SUPERVISION GIVEN TO:  Optical Buying Officer/Lab Supervisor/Optical Costing Clerk

LIASES WITH: Chain Manager and Optical Teams, Logistics Officers, Accounts Officers, Optical Regional Buyer and third-party suppliers.

JOB SUMMARY:  Overall responsibility for the implementation of the agreed optical merchandising strategy as developed by the Chain & Regional Buying Managers and the operational effectiveness of the Lab and Administration functions ensuring a best in class customer experience.

PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTABILITES:

• Develops and maintains all optical product categories to ensure that the country has the right merchandise to achieve budgeted merchandise sales, gross margin budgets, market share and customer service objectives in accordance with strategic and financial objectives. This includes conducting monthly analysis of cost and the pricing of products to understand and improve the optical product offer.
• Develops and maintains lens price list to ensure that all key lens types, finishes and treatments are covered at key price points
• Responsible for monthly sales plans and rotations with the local team utilizing the management system, to optimise stock availability and effective stock management through accurate product forecasting.
• Ensures that the monthly budgeted/ BOM Stock Plans are achieved.
• Develops and agrees on appropriate KPI’s for customer service delivery and implements periodic monitoring and reporting including liaising with Customer Experience Team.
• Through consistent review of processes and business operations to identify ways to improve customer service with internal and external stakeholders.
• Monitors aged stock, slow moving and discontinued lines and makes recommendations, ensuring that they remain within company targets by product category and works within monthly parameters and stock budgets, and initiates any forecast amendments to assist in achieving stock targets.
• Monitors the distribution of weekly stock availability reports to branches together with weekly sales for respective product categories and recommends sales and marketing initiatives to ensure budgeted sales are achieved on a weekly basis. 
• Reviews and approves product costing and pricing in line with specific guidelines to ensure product margins are maintained.
• Liaises with warehouse on stocking issues including prioritization.
• Creates and approves product briefs for agreed product advertisements, including product nominations and pricing and provides weekly sales analyses with recommendations for achieving budgeted sales along with after sales post mortems of respective promotions. 
• Assists in formulating an annual business plan for the buying function, proposing departmental resource requirements, outlining supplier strategy, relevant KPIs and including margin goals per product category and supplier, as well as settlement terms and volume rebates.

• Assists branches where necessary with price pledge policies including potential claims, retail prices for all optical products in conjunction with Regional Buying Manager, the monitoring of prices being updated on the system, and gross margin contributions and ensures all new product prices and bullet points are entered promptly on the stock management system.
• In the event of non-compliance of products, liaises with Service and suppliers and arranges any necessary changes to the product, documents the entire process, prepares and implements a range plans in conjunction with management. 
• Handles warranty claims and liaisons with suppliers regarding credit notes and replacement of products.
• Manages lab stock inventory within the agreed variance percentile.  Develops strategies to mitigate re-occurrence.
• Overall responsibility of lab team, (including attendance) KPI’s and productivity.
• Assists with the allocation of frames.
• Manages performance of officer/supervisor to ensure that departmental goals are met. Engages in staff training, discipline, motivation and direct duties accordingly.

People Leadership and Development

• Partners with Human Capital to identify, develop and coach key talent for succession to build bench strength within the optical business.

JOB SPECIFICATION

QUALIFICATION / EDUCATION:

Degree in Business Administration/Marketing or related discipline.

SKILLS / EXPERIENCE:

• Minimum three years proven track record in merchandise management
• Strong analytical, negotiation and communication skills
• Strong planning, organizational and monitoring skills
• A working knowledge of financial forecasting and inventory control
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office Excel
• Proven team leadership at least at a supervisory level

PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS:

• Team work and interpersonal skills
• Excellent at communicating at all levels
• Ability to work on own initiative, innovative and flexible
• The ability to work in a fast-paced environment, manage time and achieve targets
• Commercial awareness with a focus on pleasing the customer

• Leadership attributes geared towards people development and engagement

• Strong negotiation, analytical and problem-solving skills with a win-win mindset

This represents a broad outline of duties and responsibilities and cannot list in detail all the tasks the jobholder will be expected to undertake. Management reserves the right to review duties, responsibilities and key performance indicators based on the needs of the business.