Category Assistant

**Category Assistant**
**Options for Permanent and Secondment / Fixed Term Contract**

Our Category team are at the heart of our business and play a critical role creating compelling reasons for customers to shop at Boots. They are a fast paced and dynamic team, working cross-functionally to deliver a differentiated, competitive and customer led range in store. The team are accountable for delivering the sales and profit budget using the key levers of range, price, promotions and distribution to delight our customers enabling them to ‘feel good’.

**About the opportunity**
- Contributing to the effective delivery of customer promotions in store by setting up campaign offers such as 3 for 2, Half Price, on the Boots SAP system. Working alongside other teams such as the marketing and pricing team to ensure set ups are right first time.
- Confirming promotional funding with suppliers ensuring this is logged correctly on a tracker so it can be invoiced. Checking invoice calculations and working with the Trading Process team to raise the correct amounts.
- Helping the assistant category manager to review competitor pricing activity.
- Supporting the stores help desk and customer care team with all category queries, ranging from pricing, product descriptions or missing marketing material in store.
- Running sales reports and analysing for the team and suppliers, helping with Monday morning weekly reporting.
- Raising Purchase Orders for marketing and merchandising activity
- Providing product nominations for various marketing initiatives such as bump and baby or the health and beauty magazine, checking copy, prices and images are correct before going to print.
- Reviewing brand produced in store marketing material, working with legal and the marketing team to ensure all approved and Boots compliant.
- Attending team meetings to understand the category strategies and priorities.
- Attending supplier meetings to help out where required.

**How will you do it?**
- Through building relationships with stakeholders (merchandising, pricing and deals, supply, salesplan, suppliers etc)
- Strong organisational skills
- Managing prioritisation of workload, responding to queries in a timely manner.
- Via regular one to ones with line manager and team.
- Ensuring a right first time mentality and keen eye for detail.
- Providing great communication to other teams involved in project critical paths.
- Attending regular cross function meetings.
- Gaining insight into store processes and priorities.
- Developing product, market and customer knowledge of category.

**About you**

**Knowledge**:

- Knowledge of Microsoft office (Outlook, Excel, PowerPoint, Word)
- In depth understanding of numerous SAP programs
- Must develop knowledge of category strategy, performance and range

**Skills**:

- Ability to multitask and prioritise workload
- Good time management
- Basic numeracy skills
- Attention to detail, right first time attitude
- Strong administration skills
- Ability to analyse/ report data
- Collaborative team working

**Behaviours**:

- Good interpersonal skills, approachable and friendly with the ability to build relationships and network on a variety of levels
- Positive attitude, ability to deal with last minute changes & queries
- A team player
- Works well under pressure and to tight deadlines
- Confident and able to use initiative to create and/or seek out solutions
- Being comfortable to challenge
- Ability to be adaptable and flexible

**Benefits**

We have a great range of benefits* that go beyond salary and offer flexibility to suit you:

- Competitive holiday allowance (with the option to buy more days)
- Boots Retirement Savings Plan pension scheme
- Discretionary annual bonus scheme
- Enhanced Maternity / Paternity / Adoption leave pay
- £100 gift card for colleagues expecting/adopting a baby
- Flexible benefits scheme (via salary sacrifice) including financial wellbeing support, gym membership, holiday buying, dental cover, life assurance, restaurant discount cards, activity passes and much more (exclusions may apply, eligible roles only)
- Access to our Employee Assistance Programme offering free, independent and confidential counselling and support, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
- Generous staff discount (with enhanced discounts for Boots brands, Boot Opticians and Boots Hearingcare)
- Access to corporate third-party discounts, including retail, cinema, holidays and more (UK only)
- Access to the Boots Benevolent Fund, a registered charity that offers support to eligible current and former colleagues in the UK, as well as their immediate relatives, at times of financial hardship.
- Access to a range of learning and development resources and programmes
- Excellent onsite facilities including: staff shop, opticians, gym, coffee shops, cafeteria, outdoor seating spaces, dry cleaning service and excellent travel links including on campus bus stops

**Why Boots**

Our mission is to help everyone to feel good