Commercial Category Manager / Procurement Manager (Wholesale)

Minimum Requirements

Education & Experience

• Relevant tertiary qualification in Commerce, Procurement, Supply Chain, or related field (advantageous).
• Minimum 8–10 years’ experience in FMCG wholesale or retail buying.
• Proven experience managing Food and/or Liquor categories.
• Strong background in high-volume, low-margin trading environments.
• Experience managing multi-branch or regional category portfolios.
• Demonstrated experience negotiating trading terms, rebates, and promotional funding.
• Leadership experience managing or mentoring junior buyers (advantageous).

Key Responsibilities

Category Strategy & Performance

• Develop and execute category strategies aligned with wholesale trading objectives.
• Drive sales growth, margin achievement, and stock turn performance.
• Manage category budgets including sales, GP, and promotional participation.
• Monitor and analyse category performance, implementing corrective actions where necessary.

Supplier & Commercial Negotiation

• Negotiate pricing, rebates, settlement discounts, and trading terms.
• Secure supplier funding for promotions, advertising, and in-store campaigns.
• Build and maintain strong supplier partnerships.
• Monitor supplier performance and service levels.

Promotions & Pricing

• Develop and implement promotional calendars across branches.
• Oversee product listings, price positioning, and margin control.
• Ensure promotional execution delivers planned ROI.
• Align promotional activity with seasonal and bulk-buy trends.

Stock & Working Capital Management

• Manage stock levels to optimise availability and minimise out-of-stocks.
• Ensure healthy stock turns and controlled inventory holding.
• Collaborate with supply chain to maintain efficient replenishment cycles.

Leadership & Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Provide leadership and guidance to buying team members.
• Work closely with operations, finance, and branch management.
• Present category performance reports to senior management.
• Act as support to senior commercial leadership when required.

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