Assistant Near Sourcing Manager

4 weeks ago

Redditch, United Kingdom Halfords Full time

Context:

Direct Sourcing is the most cost effective way of buying from suppliers off-shore. Where an organisation has developed the internal capabilities, there is no need to pay third parties to find and develop factories and products, ship at less favourable rates and add additional margins. Sourcing direct removes, or at the very least minimises, additional costs and maximises profit as well as delivering softer benefits of having direct communication, visibility and control as well as full transparency of the Supply Chain. Traditionally, retail businesses have a typically strong sourcing footprint in the Far East.  As cost inflation continues to emerge from Asia, increasingly, opportunities are being identified closer to home where Direct Sourcing is less common. Near Sourcing attempts to adopt the same approach as Far East Sourcing, but closer to home in Europe, Turkey and other low cost, shorter lead time manufacturing bases.

Closely aligned to our Global Sourcing activities is our strategic Buying Alliance with a similar major European Motoring retailer. Joint Tenders and Buying/Selling opportunities have been identified and the Buying/Sourcing teams need to work closely together with their counterparts in the partner organisation to deliver value against these. Near Sourcing is identified as the ideally placed team to coordinate European options and to give oversight on anything requiring actions/inputs from the wider Global Sourcing teams.

Job Purpose:

A huge amount of potential suppliers have been identified in areas under the Near Sourcing jurisdiction that have not been able to be fully converted by following the traditional Buying approach. The Near Sourcing team need to proactively develop compelling commercial offers for products from factories that comply with strict technical and ethical standards and work closely with the Category Buying, Quality and Supply teams to leverage these opportunities to grow margin and satisfy our customers’ needs. The role will also support any future cost reduction, margin enhancement or commercial buying programmes to give leverage to competitive tender negotiations and yield increased financial returns.

Under the general oversight of the Near Sourcing Manager and the broader direction of the Sourcing and Buying Directors, this role will form the coordination point of all sourcing related workstreams between Halfords and its Buying Alliance partner(s).

The role would suit an individual with a resilient, self-starting mentality to work within a small, but effective team to really make a difference to the profitability of the business. An ideal next career step for an assistant buyer/buyer who is currently working in a retail head office.

Key Responsibilities:

  • Strategy:  Support the Near Sourcing Manager in the execution of the Near Sourcing strategy and the 5 year growth plan in line with the Halfords Global Sourcing strategic, financial and corporate social responsibility objectives.
  • Commercial Delivery:  Support the continual iteration of the Near Sourcing development roadmap agreeing priorities with buyers which align with the overall Category plans/timetable. Develop commercial opportunities in line with this roadmap. This will include:
    • Sourcing new factories
    • Developing relationships/understanding capabilities of supply opportunities already identified
    • Requesting and analysing quotations
    • Negotiating commercial (and Quality related) terms
    • Assessing samples (alongside Senior Near Sourcing Quality Engineer)
    • Preparing and presenting range proposals to category teams
    • Managing successfully selected ranges into the business
  • Buying Alliance coordination: Working cross-functionally, this role will coordinate and maintain the schedules of all Joint Tender and Buy/Sell opportunities between the Buying Alliance partners. This will involve:
    • Ensuring all parties are aware of the timescales and actions required
    • Coordination between Halfords and their counterparts in the partner organisation
    • Liaising with the Halfords Global Sourcing Teams in Asia
    • Working with the buyers to ensure they meet all set deadlines and adhere to the expectations of the buying alliance objectives
  • General :
    • Develop and maintain an in-depth understanding of the customer, and Halfords’ competitors, in order to be able to deliver credible alternative supplier opportunities to the UK commercial teams
    • Gain a broad understanding of all Halfords product categories in order to engage, influence and support the various buying teams across the trading floor
    • Understand the requirement to bring innovation and NPD to the business as you will be at the forefront of understanding the broad supplier base for each category across each market
    • Work closely with the UK quality and buying teams to understand product specifications, product briefs and support the Near Sourcing Manager by conducting both desk based research and cold calls to potential new suppliers to uncover new supply sources in near sourced territories

Key Skills/Experience/Requirements

  • Experience of wide cross functional stakeholder collaboration and influencing to Head of Dept level
  • Ability to work both independently and within a team environment
  • Strong, resilient and creative negotiator
  • Customer first mentality
  • A good understanding of the retail buying/direct sourcing processes and product launch cycle
  • Ability to travel frequently (sometimes at short notice if required) for exhibitions, factory and supplier visits
  • Strong communication, presentation and influencing skills
  • Good organisation and analytical skills with a solid ability to use excel
  • Ability to deal with external suppliers at all levels and build strong relationships
  • An understanding of the intricacies of international business and adapting/working with other cultures across the near sourcing landscape
  • A highly motivated, self-starter with a passion for retail who will thrive in a fast paced environment
  • This opportunity would suit a current assistant buyer or buyer working in retail at the moment who is looking for their next career step and would like to focus their skills on the sourcing side of a retail buying role.

Behaviours

  • Excellent communication and collaboration skills
  • Ability to overcome setbacks and not take no for an answer
  • Process oriented with attention to detail
  • A passion to learn with an inquisitive nature
  • A continuous improvement mind-set. Constantly looking for ways to better things
  • Lives the Halfords values (One Halfords family, WOW our customers, be better every day, pride in expertise)

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