Senior Category Buyer

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Overview of the role

To deliver category budgets on sales, margin, cash profit and central income whilst ensuring the needs of the customer are met. Effective management of key supplier relationships and strong leadership skills across the Buying Team. You will ensure market leading product ranging, pricing, promotional and supplier strategies are met and exceeded where possible.

The role is hybrid working with 3 days in Manchester (or on site visits) and 2 days working from home

Main Responsibility

• Assist in building the OTC strategic commercial plans.
• Category manage key areas on Cough Cold, First Aid, Testing Kits, Bladder Weakness & Female Hygiene.
• Deliver Sales, Margin and Funding growth for OTC to meet financial objectives set through the effective delivery of the OTC strategic plan, to include promotional planning, pricing, range, merchandising and supplier strategies.
• Develop solid supplier relations with manufacturers to generate incremental funding income across OTC whilst ensuring all Business Planning criteria are undertaken in full; managing performance and development as appropriate.
• Deliver a strong and balanced promotional programme across all respective categories which meets and supports the overall Health & Beauty promotional strategy ensuring promotional sales and profit are maximised, promotional administration is undertaken effectively and accurately, full promotional analysis is undertaken and informs future decisions and quarterly promotional plan by category is created and worked towards.
• Ensure KPI's are in line with budget and address any variances.
• Monitor, report and propose actions on Well and market OTC performance, in order to help define OTC commercial strategy.
• Deliver appropriate service levels to all internal customers ensuring all deadlines and agreed actions across professional services, central and field operations, product supply, space planning, promotions & marketing, trading meeting, and communications teams are met in full and on time.
• Assist the Stock Planning Manager in the attainment of Service and Stock level KPI's in NDC and 3rd party suppliers via effective team leadership.
• Support the Space Planning Manager in the effective management of category micro space to ensure profitability levels are maintained and sales opportunities maximised across all respective team categories
• Support, coach and guide all Buyers to meet individual and Business objectives.
• Assist the Category Trading Manager as required.

Key knowledge and skills required:

• Proven track record in similar role
• Excellent communication skills
• Excellent negotiation Skills
• High degree of computer literacy
• Strong planning and organisational skills
• Ability to work to time pressures in a fast moving and rapidly changing market
• Good financial awareness and ability to interpret data
• Good interpersonal skills

The Ideal Candidate

Well are proud to be a diverse and inclusive employer. If you have any specific requirements, we'll do everything we can to support you. Whether it is to find a pharmacy that is accessible, or if it is a part time position you are looking for, we can help find the role that is right for you. If you need us to make any reasonable adjustments to our recruitment process, we will be happy to accommodate you.

Please be aware that due to the high number of applications we receive it may not be possible for us to provide an outcome to all applicants. If you are not contacted within 28 days of your submission unfortunately you will have been unsuccessful.

Package Description

• Competitive salaries
• Car allowance
• Excellent training & development opportunities
• Paid Holidays
• Workplace pension scheme
• Staff Discount
• Travel Loans and more.....

About the Company

For over 70 years, we've been looking after the health and wellbeing of communities across the UK. Well Pharmacy (part of Bestway Healthcare) is the second largest pharmacy chain in the UK with c.760 pharmacies and a team of around 7,000 colleagues based across our Community Pharmacies, Online Pharmacy, Healthcare Services Centre, Community Drivers, Bestway Medhub & Wardles team and our Support Centre team.

Our mission is to be here for the wellbeing of our patients and customers, to provide the best community pharmacy experience in the UK for everyone, for our patients, our customers, our people, and our NHS.

The pharmacy of the future will look very different from the one we know today. It will play a huge role in transforming primary healthcare and we will play a central role in bringing it to life.

We will use our clinical expertise and technological ambition to take advantage of the potential this future has to offer us. Making medicines, advice, services and care available in the places and spaces that people need and want it most.

We want to be a great business. To be recognised as delivering a community pharmacy experience that is the best there is. To do this we want our teams to feel proud about the positive impact they make, feel valued as part of a close-knit and expert community, and feel confident in their role in a business that is stable, innovative, and caring.

'Together we make a difference'