Oguz S. Damirgi

**** ********* *****, ********, ** 55125

acutwf@r.postjobfree.com 319-***-****

acutwf@r.postjobfree.com 319-***-****

Category Management Professional

Significant experience leading category management, analysis and product sourcing for industry-leading organization

Repeated success guiding merchandising, business analysis, and project management activities at the corporate level in collaboration with senior management team members. Talent for analyzing market trends and consumer buying insight in order to drive merchandising decisions and lead to record-setting sales revenues. Expert communicator, team leader, and businessperson; able to forge solid relationships with partners and build consensus across multiple organizational levels.

Highlights of Expertise

Merchandising & Marketing Leadership

Business Strategy & Tactical Execution

Promotional Program Management

Data Analysis & Reporting

Staff Retention & Engagement

Store In-Stock Position Optimization

Full Lifecycle Project Management

Departmental Management & Growth

Career Summary

Supervalu Inc.., Eden Prairie, MN

Oversaw key categories within the GM/HBC department, which required close oversight of the sales and promotions of cough cold medicine, antacids, laxatives, analgesics, medical supplies, first aid, batteries, private brands and dollar store items.

CATEGORY MERCHANDISER – WEST REGION (Mar. 2014 to Nov. 2015)

Successfully led collaboration with manufacturers and vendors in order to seamlessly introduce products to the marketplace. Developed surveys and projections to determine ideal product quantities. Strategically selected products to be highlighted in weekly advertisements distributed in different states. Utilized the JDA system to assess plan-o-grams for distinct categories in support of meeting market needs. Ensured trends were reflected in item selection with retailers.

By creating and communicating a reporting tool to track Cough and Cold, Allergy, Dollar programs, was able to increase 2014 and 2015 sales by 12% and 8% respectively, Dollar cycle sales were up on average by 8%

Surpassed fiscal year sales projections through management of the private brand program.

Worked in partnership with the internal Sales and Operations teams, retailers, vendors and department leaders in order to fill client product needs, promotion, and pricing standards.

Plan-O-Gram reviews using JDA system, deleted and added new items based on space size and category review reports

Discontinued underperforming items and replaced with new items in response to market trends and item performance

Managed new sales driving programs such as “Fix the Mix “, “Private label Monthly Hot Buys” and “20ftDollar Rotating Program “

Projected new item quantities to ensure first to market strategy compliance.

BUSINESS ANALYST II, BUSINESS APPLICATIONS (Apr. 2012 to May 2013)

Effectively managed and mentored the Business Analysis team, which required liaising directly with stakeholders to define high-level business requirements. Performed UAT testing required for system migration.

Appointed to serve as the project lead responsible for implementing the EDI 852 reporting for military vendors to distribution centers

Directed project to create new screen allowing price zone increase from 10 to 99.

Re-engineered internal business processes and systems in order to enhance business efficiency and overall growth.

Established a reference document allowing the determination of access approval to SuperValue systems, resulting in 20% decrease in customer service calls to the help desk.

Planed and wrote testing scenarios, and conducted UAT/QA testing before rolling out changes to systems used by the organization.

Interviewed stakeholders and gathered information regarding the enhancement of existing programs, and presented information to domestic and offshore team members.

SENIOR DEPARTMENT SPECIALIST (Sep. 2010 to Apr. 2012)

Promoted to conduct in-depth analysis of sales information in order to propose strategies to drive category performance improvement. Directed the discontinuation of SKUs for 67 retail stores, and uploaded new items.

Grew dollar category sales by 10% year-over-year through the introduction of the dollar store program for all corporate retail stores.

Negotiated seasonal DSD bread programs with vendors to ensure best price in town and determine items quantities for weekly circulars and promotions

Worked with local Ethnic, Asian and Hispanic vendors for item selection and promotional activities to increase market share for a growing segment.

ASSISTANT SALES & MERCHANDISING MANAGER (Aug. 2007 to Sep. 2010)

Diligently supported corporate sales and merchandising activities for Dairy and Frozen foods

Minimized shelf tag printing by a 60% store average, which directly led to labor and expense savings

Strategically increased sales by 2.8% for the dairy and frozen categories, which represented $220M in annual sales

Recognized for contributing towards the reduction of center store inventory by $10M in four months through the development of a distribution guideline

Seamlessly negotiated promotional deals with national and local vendors.

Additional Experience

Assistant Store Director (Apr. 2003 to Aug. 2007) SUPERVALU Inc. – Cub Foods

Supervised, trained, and evaluated 60-100 associates to optimize effective resource allocation to meet both store and corporate objectives.

Monitored and advised store employees on productivity and store appearance to ensure optimal customer shopping experience.

Hired new talent to fill location needs by participating in career fairs, which directly led to a store retention increase to 98% compared to other company locations.

Led training on new systems such as SV Harbor, DEX and lead implementations of 5-Star Customer Service and 5S programs.

Responsible for Health Department USDA and OSHA regulation compliance in order to eliminate violations and fines, and achieve top store ranking for compliance in the organization for three consecutive years.

Additional experience as a Grocery Manager (1999-2003) and

Assistant Grocery Manager (1995-1999) with SuperValu Inc. – Cub Foods.

Education & Credentials

Master of Business Administration

Concordia University, Saint Paul

Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Engineering

University of Basra, Basra

Professional Certifications

Certified Professional Project Management – CPPM, University of Saint Thomas (2014)

Social Media Strategy training – National Institute for Social Media (2013)

Technical Skills

Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Access, Visio), Project

Linux Operating System

SQL

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