Retail Executive: Food

THE PERSON

Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in Commerce, Business, Economics, Supply Chain or a related field. Experience:

• Minimum 10 years' experience in senior merchandising, category or portfolio leadership. • Direct accountability for a large-scale P&L, ideally involving a portfolio exceeding R1 billion. • Strong grocery, FMCG wholesale or retail experience. • Experience across edible groceries, fresh, perishables and/or frozen categories would be advantageous. • Proven success in driving sales and margin growth across multiple categories. • Private-label development and commercialisation experience. • Extensive commercial negotiation experience involving major national suppliers. • Experience leading Managers and influencing senior stakeholders within a complex matrix environment. • Strong exposure to enterprise merchandising and planning systems. Competencies:

• Exceptional commercial and financial acumen. • Strong P&L management, scenario-modelling and margin-management capability. • Ability to interpret customer, market and commercial insights and translate them into strategy. • Advanced understanding of category management, pricing, promotions and assortment optimisation. • Sound knowledge of demand planning, inventory efficiency and supply reliability. • Strong supplier negotiation and relationship-management capability. • Strategic, analytical, decisive and resilient. • Customer- and shopper-focused. • Executive presence with concise communication and presentation skills. • Strong leadership, stakeholder influence and change-management capability. THE ROLE

Portfolio Strategy and Financial Performance

• Develop multi-year strategies across a substantial food portfolio. • Translate portfolio strategy into clear national and regional commercial targets. • Assume end-to-end accountability for sales, margin, contribution and P&L performance. • Balance the advantages of national scale with regional shopper and market requirements. • Monitor performance against budget and implement corrective action where required. Category and Assortment Strategy:

• Define national and regional category strategies aligned with business objectives and shopper needs. • Guide assortment, pricing, space productivity, SKU rationalisation and planogram strategies. • Identify opportunities to scale high-potential products and address underperforming SKUs. • Guide product lifecycles from introduction through to discontinuation. Private Label and Product Development:

• Lead the portfolio's private-label strategy and growth objectives. • Oversee new-product development from the initial brief and costing through to quality approval, scale-up and margin delivery. • Ensure products support the organisation's brand positioning and customer promise. Pricing, Promotions and Trade Effectiveness:

• Set the portfolio's pricing and promotional direction. • Govern promotional investment and trade spend to maximise returns while protecting margin. • Guide price architecture, promotional cadence, markdown management and promotional effectiveness. • Encourage commercial experimentation and scale successful initiatives. Supplier and Commercial Negotiations:

• Lead strategic negotiations with major national suppliers. • Negotiate cost prices, trading terms, commercial funding and service levels. • Drive supplier segmentation, strategic sourcing, co-innovation and supplier risk management. • Build supplier partnerships that support sustainable commercial performance. Insights and Omnichannel Merchandising:

• Use customer, loyalty, segmentation and market insights to inform portfolio strategy. • Apply forecasting, pricing and promotional analytics to commercial decision-making. • Develop consistent assortment and pricing strategies across physical stores and digital channels. • Partner with eCommerce teams to improve product content, discovery and conversion. Supply Chain, Availability and Inventory:

• Partner with regional and supply-chain teams to improve demand planning and supply reliability. • Drive replenishment strategies that improve on-shelf availability. • Optimise inventory levels and stock turns. • Evaluate the appropriate use of distribution-centre supply, direct supply and drop-shipment models. • Identify and mitigate supply and availability risks. Quality, Compliance and Sustainability:

• Ensure appropriate regulatory and product-quality governance. • Support supplier quality assurance and recall readiness. • Drive relevant sustainability objectives relating to packaging, responsible sourcing and waste. • Ensure suppliers meet required legal, ethical and quality standards. Leadership and Stakeholder Management:

• Lead and develop a high-performing team. • Build merchandising and regional buying capability. • Influence senior leaders and align Regional Merchandise, Supply Chain, Marketing, Finance, Retail Operations and eCommerce stakeholders. • Lead cross-functional transformation, portfolio launches and continuous-improvement initiatives. This opportunity will suit an established Food Retail Executive who combines strategic commercial leadership with a strong understanding of large-scale grocery retail or wholesale operations.