Retail Business Head

ZUBAIR ASLAM LONE Contact: 009**-**-*******

E-Mail: ****.******@*****.***

An accomplished & knowledgeable retail/business professional aiming assignment as “Retail Manager” in reputed large scale retail brand.”

COMPETENCIES

PROFILE SUMMARY

Retail Operations Strategy & Plan

Expansion & Growth Strategy

Opening New Stores

Monitor Stock Level Report

Seasonal Projection Report

E-Commerce & SLAs

Customer Service Standards

Store Compliance, SOPs & KPIs

Trainings & Development

Inventory, Cash, & VM Expertise

A competent professional with wonderful national & international experience in Sales & Retail Operations, Business Development, standalone, malls & franchisee stores.

Executed & accomplished Retail SOPs, Operational excellence & Business “PROJECTS”.

Experience in handling retail sales through channel & store functions, in-house marketing plan execution, product promotion and implementation of business strategies to accomplish the decided targets

Hands-on experience in overseeing business development operations and accountable for increasing profitability and achieving business objectives within budgeted parameters.

Proficient in managing Sales Events & Opening of new Stores.

Strong experience of coaching & mentoring retail teams.

Instrumental in driving LFL science in stores & cost control management.

Demonstrated abilities in managing retail through strong processes & SOPs.

An effective communicator with good analytical, leadership, interpersonal, planning and problem solving skill.

Assisted higher management in the development and implementation of short & long term plans and budgets of the regions

A professional with Country & Regional Business experience.

WORK EXPERIENCE

Landmark Retail Group

Jun’08 – Dec’ 16

City Concept Manager- Malls & Stores–Max-UAE & KSA

Role:

As City Concept Manager/Retail Head-Landmark Retail-UAE & KSA

Looking after mall & stand-alone stores by managing top line sales & operations, controlling expenses & manpower budgets, while handling personal issues, accounting, visual merchandising and stock level control

Accountable for:

oDriving commercial aspect and conducting keen competitor’s analysis

oMonitoring retail audits, reviewing results & facilitating training workshops

oMaximizing stores contribution through exploiting every opportunity to drive sales; leads by example to reduce stock loss, maximise merchandising opportunities & maintain cost controls

oDelivering high level of motivation & development of team members & ensures individual & store compliance with all company regulations & procedures

oUsing sales information to make business decisions regarding merchandise & scheduling of management and to maximise sales opportunities through commerciality and outstanding customer services

Delivering highest level of customer service through teams, contributing to the administrative and technical assessment of the store managers & area managers

Formulating staff development plan & customer engagement plan

Heading retail by monitoring brand growth (sales, profitability & other) ensuring proper implementation of the strategy, and recommending new tools and means to grow the business

Highlights:

Essayed a stellar role in managing monthly sales budget & store expansion program

Steered efforts in handling multiple projects like People Development Plans, Store Touch Point’s Project & Back Store Management using as a profit centre instead of cost centre

Dec ’19-Continue: Retail & Business Head

Retail Management-SOP-Trainer-CX-EX-SEO-HR-Digital & Social Media-

Practising sourcing, buying, assortments, logistics, store displays, customer’s interaction & liquidation

Hands on experience in Retail Operations, Retail manual execution & implementation

Running business of Al Ghani Collection (Ladies unstitched collection)

Working experience on Skill Set, SOPs, manuals & Training Modules

Store Budgets & Business Numbers Analytics/Margins

People development & retail business launching & expansion

Strong tracking experience of RSM/ASM/SM at regional level & concept level.

Digital & Social Media practitioner, SEO & Free Lancer

MIS & Audit Compliance.

April ’19-Nov ’19: Cambridge-Zeen

Role:

As RSM/ Retail Head-Cambridge & Zeen

Maximizing sales at HIGH performing stores & manpower.

Handling LOSS making stores & preparing ACTION PLANS FOR BRAND & Dealers.

Providing support to Market Department before, during & after campaigns & offers.

Coordinate with Regional Real Estate and Legal Departments. In collaboration with internal stakeholders, liaise with developers for contract negotiations and lease renewals

Managing stand alone, mall & dealer’s store’s operations & driving them towards growth with processes.

Accountable for:

oMonitoring Inventory level (capacity vs. sales), stock movement, merging plan & weekend covers.

oExecuting & implementing store operational excellence plan / store operations manual.

oLooking after VM of the retail stores & guiding core values of the brand to retail teams.

oDriving commercial aspect and support in new store openings & important weekends & seasonal offers

oMonitoring audits, reviewing results & facilitating training workshops on customer satisfaction, product knowledge etc.

Coaching & mentoring ASMs, SMs & retail teams on day to day store operational implications, hurdles & solutions.

Delivering highest level of customer service through teams, contributing to the administrative and technical assessment of the store managers & area sales managers

Formulating & executing staff development plan, customer engagement plan & studying competitor’s strategies

Identifying potential market areas for expansion & growth. Conducting daily, weekly & monthly review meetings.

Oct’17-Feb’19: Outfitters & Ethnic

Role:

As Sales & Retail Operations Manager-LHR- Outfitters & Ethnic

Handling retail stores operations for A grade channel stores & factory outlet completely

Providing support to Marketing Department for Seasonal Shoots

Hiring & training store teams to deliver maximum results & productivity

Leading & driving operational excellence initiatives & implementation

Worked & lead on inventory management & drive controls by adopting proactive approach

Highly focused in implementation of processes at cash desks, entrances, back store & sale floor.

Fully involved in Standards/VM of the stores & highly engaged teams to maintain the standards.

Encouraged Best practices at stores & explored new practices

Extra ordinary sale on White Friday promotion 8.4 million in (2017) & 9.2 million in (2018) @ first day at Emporium Mall.

May’05 – Mar’08: Cambridge & Diners Industries-Pakistan as Manager - Retail Operations

Role:

Retail Operations Manager-Cambridge & Diners –Pakistan

Looked after cities/regions &opening retail stores in Cambridge Brand & also in Diners Brand opening of multiple retail stores

Coordinated with wholesaler & dealers for the same above brands plus converting the same business from dealer to franchise &company owned operated stores

Accountable for:

oMinimizing inventory, mark down & stock out costs yet increasing service levels in all assigned stores

oIncreasing control over inventory & finances through use of technology & better human resources management

oEnsuring that staff issues & grievances were handled in time in coordination with GM Retail & COO, visiting stores on regular basis, stock taking across locations & warehouse

Handled staff training as well as personal grooming as well as visual merchandising of all the assigned stores

Assured effective communication with maximum productivity of staff forecasting, warehousing, transport, stock outs,

Markdowns, category management & competition.

May’01 – Mar’05: Levis & Dockers-High noon Textiles –Store Leader

CORE COMPETENCIES

Spearheading & developing retail & mall stores, franchise partners and leading sales teams.

Formulating & implementing strategies for achieving annual business goals for the division & managing overall operations

Providing retail & merchandising expertise to stores including selling methods & techniques; handling promotions & events

Managing inventory rotations and achieving balanced results

Maximizing sales and profitability through excellent service and effective management of retail space in medium & big box format stores for mall & company own operated stores.

Managing sales & marketing operations with accountability for incremental volume & profit growth

Supervising entire retail operations inclusive of customer service, channel development, etc. and managing departments

Handling activities related to visual merchandising displays, windows, POP & design of retail outlets for maintenance of a high-end store image, also coordinating & dealing with facilities. maintenance & security departments & monitoring properties.

Mapping client’s requirements & providing best products to suit their requirements; generating business from existing accounts and achieving profitability & sales growth

Experience in driving (SLAP) Stock Loss Action Plan across region with great results

ACCOMPLISHMENTS ACROSS THE TENURE

Successfully handed over north region to the new resource of the brand. Sept 2019

Significant management of footfall & driving ATV, UPT, Conversion & optimizing operating costs & staff requirements as per business need – 2015-19

Significantly worked in Cambridge leading formal wear brand in Center & North regions, developed team, implemented retail standards with processes; comprehensive knowledge of six stores openings; 2005-8 (including Diners brand)

Retail Corporate Audits: Achieved 89 % in BOE audits (Barometer of operational Excellence) & Cash audits & satisfactory in Loss Prevention audits – 2015-19

Mystery Shopping Results: Score above 90% in 5 stores & ranked number 1 & 3 against 69 stores audited in KSA.2015

Shukran Loyalty Program: Increased member ship from average 115 cards/store to 125 cards/store (increase 9 %) also increased penetration from 33% to 60% - 2016

Headhunted 56 retailers & developed/groomed them from scratch, for front line retail operations; 2005-19

Sale & Marketing plan were giving only 2% growth & teams were struggling. I organized & developed teams; also worked on planning of merchandises & display standards &increased Sales by 8 % for five Big Box Format stores in 2013-14

Successfully implemented back store project/supervisors development program/cashiers productivity @ cash desks & benefited maximum -2013-14

Played a key role in optimizing sale by successfully managing a diverse customer portfolio including owned operated stores & franchise partners from PKR 198 million to PKR 285 million (44 % Organic Growth) 2005-8

Best in Visual Merchandising & Sales Techniques skills - 2004

Merit of being hired as SM & promoted as ASM for Dubai and later promoted to City Concept Manager for Jeddah KSA 2008-16

Highest one-day sale for one store KSA in Ramadan 2016 SAR476151, unit 14302, amongst all 112 stores.

2nd highest one-day sale Outfitters Lahore 9.4 million in Emporium (White Friday 2018)

SKILL/S- Recruiting, Hiring, Leading and Coaching, Identifying New Locations /Opening New Outlets, Visual Merchandising, Inventory & Cash Management, Customer Care/Customer Service, Space Planning, Sales & Business Development, Development of retail SOPs, stores management (Malls & Company own operated stores)

PROFESSIONAL ENHANCEMENTS

AMAZON VA-7 course from Enablers & Digital Marketing course from Google –Mar 2021

Team as One, Effective On boarding of RSMs-Cambridge & Zeen -Oct 2019

Negotiation Skills-PIM-16th & 17th April 2018-Outfitters & Ethnic-Pakistan

Business Acumen & Analytics – Landmark Group in 2016-KSA

Leadership & Employee Engagement Workshop-Dr Marshall Goldsmith-Dubai 2015

Leadership Development Program – Landmark Group in 2014-Dubai

Retail Management Bundle-Landmark Group in 2010-Dubai

Magic in Customer Service – Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industries in 2007

Challenges in Retailing–LUMS-2005

Retail Sales Training – Levis & Dockers in 2004

Visual Merchandising Training – Levis & Dockers in 2004

PROJECTS

New Ladies unstitched Garments Store Opening in one of the largest market 2021

Preparing Retail Training Modules & SOP manual.2020

Formed & developed regions & retail teams as per brand guidelines & vision.2019

Lead & Drove Operational Excellence Project in the assigned territory. 2018

Implemented LFL Strategy for Malls & Stand Alone Stores-Landmark Group KSA 2016

Introduced & implemented ASM & CM Retail Store Walk Checklists-2015

Cashiers Productivity Project-Landmark Group-2013-14

Back stores Optimization & Productivity Plan/Project-Landmark Group Dubai -2013-14

Store Managers & Supervisor Development Plan/Project-Landmark Group Dubai-2014

Active player & lead Retail Stores Operations for Dubai, Sharjah, AL Ain (UAE) 2008-16

(KSA Malls) Jeddah –Makkah & Taif stores supervision 2015-16

Launched & Opened stores in Sharjah, Makkah, Jouri mall Taif- 2008-16

Launched stores in EME, HKB, Raja Sahib, Enem, Shoppe, Fortress, Riaz-uddin, Galaxy, Chen One Mall - 2005-18

Established Regional Team, Office & WH in Lahore 2005-6

EDUCATION

MBA (Marketing) from Preston University, Pakistan in 2005

TECHNICAL SKILLS

Well versed with SEO, SEM,Ms Office and Internet Applications

PERSONAL DETAILS

Address: Mankhool Dubai

Driving License: UAE-KSA-Pakistan

Skype ID: lone. zubair11

Mobile: 009**-**-*******

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