Category Director

4 weeks ago

Worcester, Worcestershire, United Kingdom Halfords Full time

Job Purpose

Halfords Autocentres is on a strong growth trajectory, aiming to reach £1bn in 3 years. As the Category Director, you will be responsible for maximizing sales, profit, and market share within a defined group of products or categories. Your strategic development of the area will drive future competitive advantage and growth.

Key Responsibilities

  • Ensure customer-centric decision-making, collaborating with marketing, customer, digital, and field teams.
  • Understand each sub-product group at a strategic level, including market size, share, trends, competitor offer, and supply dynamics.
  • Develop a strategic category plan to increase sales, profit, and market share.
  • Create internal and external networks for 360-degree feedback on category plans.
  • Identify new products and services relevant to the category and bring them to market effectively.
  • Monitor and manage ongoing trading performance of the categories.
  • Navigate key digital metrics across multiple websites, understanding how various levers affect them, and work with the Digital team to optimize them profitably.
  • Update the business on any risks to targets and present comprehensive recovery plans.
  • Develop an in-depth understanding of all business levers to ensure fast and effective decision-making for optimal trading performance.
  • Design and implement a compelling category promotional and price plan, working closely with the commercial planning team and all channel owners.
  • Regularly benchmark competitive prices to optimize price elasticity.
  • Ensure all plans drive customer numbers that match capacity, understanding the relationship between capacity and demand, and maximize utilization.
  • Understand end-to-end processes across all categories, identifying areas of opportunity and implementing activity, development, training, or communication to address them.
  • Define supplier selection policy within the category, rationalize the supplier base where appropriate, and secure additional value.
  • Implement supplier trading agreements, ensuring suppliers conform to procurement policies, such as ESG, CSR, and Ethical Trading.
  • Conduct regular price benchmarking or tenders to ensure the business secures best cost prices.

Key Skills/Experience

  • Customer-centric approach with a natural ability to connect with and deliver for customers.
  • High commercial acumen, analytical, and financially robust, with a keen eye for cash flow and working capital management.
  • Able to understand, interpret, challenge, and build actionable insight from complex data sets.
  • Dynamic and results-driven individual with high levels of energy and commitment to delivering business objectives.
  • Hands-on, entrepreneurial approach, able to respond to fast-moving market conditions, fail fast, and learn quickly.
  • Positive attitude with a can-do spirit and ability to make things happen.
  • Previous experience in Category Management.
  • Cross-channel/multi-channel thinking.
  • Execution expert with strong planning rigor.
  • Pragmatic and grounded, able to drive delivery.
  • Ability to manage direct reports and inspire all colleagues around them.
  • Stakeholder management with high collaboration/cross-functional expertise, able to interact and influence effectively with the Leadership Team and Exec.
  • An effective communicator with outstanding presentation skills and gravitas, articulate and persuasive, able to build strong relationships across the business at all levels.
  • Previous knowledge of the automotive aftermarket is preferable but not compulsory.

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