Overview of the role

In the Service Office organisation, there is a team of Sales & Range specialists that each have responsibility for one Business Area. In a territory where the Sales & Range specialists are highly experienced and skilled, some individuals can take responsibility for more than one Business Area. Securing that the range to be sold in the local market is selected and priced each business year. To achieve the Sales and Gross Margin goals as set by the Sales manager for your Business Area.

What you will do

Commercial

• Together with their colleagues and managers, they contribute actively in the development and implementation of a clear IKEA Sales & Range action plan for the store using the store business plan and country business plan. These are supported by input from Growing IKEA together and the IKEA Sales Direction & Strategy. Develop and execute an annual action plan for his area based on agreed goals.
• Stay in weekly contact and support the shopkeepers in the stores
• Select and ensure availability of products for all the marketing activities in the commercial calendar, in close partnership with the Logistics department
• Support the stores by producing buying guides for complex product series
• Maintain ongoing communication with the IKEA range distributor regarding all issues related to the range and the annual IKEA range cycle
• Coordinate all issues with regard to the IKEA range between the stores and the central retail management and between the central retail management and the IKEA distributor
• Maintain in-depth knowledge of the local home furnishings market (e.g. customers, trends and competitors)
• Ensure that systems and methods stated in IKEA Concept Documentation are implemented in regard to your areas of responsibility
• Set prices on the IKEA range in cooperation with the stores’ sales managers and reinforce the IKEA low-price profile by applying the guidelines stated in IKEA Concept Documentation
• Make sales budgets for the IKEA range
• Set local range priorities in accordance with the overall range strategy provided by IKEA of Sweden through the IKEA distributor
• Maintain in-depth knowledge of the local home furnishings market (e.g. customers, trends and competitors)
• Passionate about their products and actively learn about their content, origins and other benefits. Share this knowledge with their colleagues.
• Ensure to know the top-selling products, 4 Aces and 1 King, and that they are available and clearly communicated and displayed at all times. To promote alternative products when these are unavailable.
• Contribute to the planning, execution and follow-up of the store’s commercial calendars
• Follow up and communicate the agreed KPIs within your area of responsibility to the Core Area Manager and to the shopkeepers of the stores
• Strive to reach the sales targets for your Business Area as defined in the business plan
• Support the shopkeepers in all stores in your market by collecting and spreading good sales solutions
• Spur a healthy competitive situation between all stores in your market by running different types of competitions each year
• Find new business potentials by following up on PR&C related issues and push to get it sorted

 Operations

• To ensure that systems and methods stated in IKEA Concept Documentation are implemented in the Sales and Range of all stores
• Be the matrix manager for the shopkeepers in all stores for your business area and together with them, you drive the annual plan for Sales & Range in this Business Area
• Define the Local range in your sales area of Showroom and Markethall to be sold by all stores and drive the process of selecting the suppliers and managing all the contracts in order to achieve economies of scale in the purchasing by generating large volumes
• Enhance the competitive strength of the IKEA product range by ensuring the implementation of all range issues related to systems and methods stated in IKEA Concept Documentation and by keeping yourself updated about the local market conditions
• Strive to reach the IKEA positioning objectives
• To steer the performance in your area operations towards maximized sales and optimized long-term profit by: Applying sales methods in accordance with the Sales and Range the IKEA way manual
• Stay in contact with IKEA of Sweden and the distributor to select, price, phase in and phase out the range for your market
• Perform all range administration in the sales IT-system for products belonging to your Business Area
• Work closely with the Logistics team to secure that the sales forecasts are adapted to the sales patterns in order to achieve an optimal goods flow
• Choose products of the IKEA Extra range (Market Specific Range ) in accordance with the Choosing from the IKEA product range manual
• Set prices on the IKEA range and you work closely with the shopkeepers in the stores to continuously track competitors’ price levels in order to secure the IKEA low-price leadership. In this work, you use systems and methods described in the IKEA genuinely low prices manual and Setting prices the IKEA way manual
• Make sales budgets for the IKEA range in your Business Area
• Work closely with PR&C team to ensure that All Suppliers and COO are registered with the authorities in order to avoid any Gaps in the range.
• Study all restricted functions and follow up with IOS through creating business cases to find an alternative solution.
• Monitor the range availability in order to achieve the agreed goal.
• Co-ordinate with the catalogue production team within Marketing to complete the different text blocks, by timely inputs regarding pricing details and strategic product placements including timely inputs regarding the pricing details and strategic product placement

People

• Support the store shopkeepers to regularly conduct competitor analysis on the local markets. You take appropriate actions based on the results
• Committed to the development of Sales team and secure their training to ensure all co-workers understand the IKEA Concept and other key guidelines, and how they have an impact on their specific roles.
• Empower, support and coach Sales co-workers on the job to help them perform better and grow.
• Work actively to create an environment where the IKEA culture is a strong and living reality, and diversity is valued, to ensure the IKEA store is regarded as a great place to work.
• Ensure we have a simple and straightforward internal communication and information flow, and secure that key information is understood by all IKEA Sales co-workers.
• Work closely with Sales Manager to identify and spot potential successors for the shopkeepers

Skills

Required Skills to be successful

• Good planning, organizational and prioritization skills
• Strong and excellent attention to detail
• Results-orientated, with the ability to drive and deliver the implementation of new ideas
• Excellent working knowledge of MS Office
• A high level of customer focus and the ability to understand customers’ needs
• Strong analytical and numerical skills with experience in producing trade reports and analysis
• Ability to learn new technology quickly
• Previous Shopify experience is preferred
• Arabic Speaker

What equips you for the role

• 2- 3 years’ retail experience
• High School Credential
• Experience and knowledge of home furnishings