Category Manager/Retail Buyer – Confectionery & Food Gifting

DFDS offers a candidate the opportunity to join an expanding Global Duty Free Travel Retail business serving passengers in 9 countries, 23 vessels, 2 Port Shops and our eCommerce platform.

As Category Manager/Buyer for DFDS you will be working with some of the biggest names in confectionery to service the needs of our varying passenger types on our fleet of DFDS vessels.

You will need to take category lifecycle ownership of the Confectionery & Food Gifting business and take responsibility for delivering relevant in-store assortments, supplier investment, visual merchandising practices and stock optimization.

• Utilising analysis and insights you will develop and deliver overall category strategies across DFDS global retail business to maximise profitable sales and drive efficiencies in stock with a view to optimizing cost of catalogue and company cash-flow.

• Analysing category performance across individual SKUs to continuously develop and optimise the category assortment to maximize absolute profit per passenger including right pricing and overall promotion strategy.

• Analyse and understand passenger shopper trends, consumer insight and shopper categories to tailor the retail assortment mix to the passenger mix.

• Optimising sales per liner meter to ensure optimal in-store space allocation for brand/category.

• Working cross-functionally and collaboratively with other Category Managers, marketing and operations to develop execution plans for the category strategies.

• Working with suppliers and utilizing supplier insights to develop the retail assortment in specific categories which are curated for local customer needs.

• Develop and agree activation plans for key initiatives including merchandising and promotion recommendations.

• Capitalize on opportunities to enhance margins.

• Full product lifecycle management including assortment management and clearance to optimise profitability.

• Delivery of Budgeted financial KPIs including sales, profit, margin and supplier income.
• About you:
• We think that you have great interpersonal skills and feel comfortable in engaging with stakeholders on all levels of the organization. You enjoy a dynamic work environment full of challenges. Furthermore, you are a true team player with the ability to challenge the current situation based on strong communication, sharp analytical skills and change management capabilities.
  
  • You have min. +3 years of Head Office Retail Category Management/Buying experience
    
  • Experience and knowledge of the confectionery category, would be an advantage
    
  • Previous experience within the Travel retail sector is a distinct advantage
    
  • Solid track record in developing bottom line impact within the categories managed
    
  • Educated to degree level, ideally in a sales/marketing or business focused degree
    
  • Strong collaboration skills with internal senior stakeholders
    
  • Proven negotiation skills
    
  • Your English language skills, oral and written are excellent
    
  • Experienced Excel user
    
  • As a person you are result-oriented, you have strong analytical skills and a winning personality
    
  Travel days
  In order to perform to the expectations of the role you have to anticipate 30-45 travel days a year.