Austin Davidson Email & Phone Number

London, Gb

Billericay, England, Gb

Billericay, England, Gb

London, Gb

London, Gb

 Responsible for the merchandise planning of the Harrods Group, with an overall annual turnover of £2.5bn covering store and digital Set Group strategy and annual financial budgets with the Merchandise, Finance & Retail Directors Agreed and implemented Ecommerce strategy and focus with Digital Director Responsible for developing, producing and communicating company business insight and reporting Initiated and developed systems to forecast and manage the purchase and movement of stocks from vendor to distribution centre & shop floor Delivered a Product Information Management (PIM) solution with an external vendor to improve data and support expansion of online Worked closely with distribution team to optimize the warehousing of stock and forecasting warehouse distribution requirements Agreed and implemented strategic change projects to streamline the buying and merchandising function Devised and delivered a number of training courses across the business Active mentor Grew the Merchandising & Replenishment function from a base of 8 to a team of 42 covering all product divisions within the Group

London, London, Gb

 Responsible for the merchandising of £50m of turnover for a privately-owned mail-order business Set the financial budgets and KPIs to maximize the profitability of the business Managed the range build and product review process to the agreed critical path Worked with the marketing and buying teams to agree page layout to ensure maximum profitability of each publication Liaised with the web team to exploit this fast-growing channel as a selling tool for both full price and reduced price stocks Worked closely with the retail teams to ensure optimum branch merchandising and open two-way communication between stores and Head Office  Managed the development of a team of 4 merchandisers and 2 assistants

 Responsible for developing and trading the company mail order business – both catalogue and web site Managed the catalogue publication process from range selection and merchandising, through photographic shoots, to the distribution of the catalogue to 100,000 addresses Developed the company website to a profitable transactional site Managed the customer service and call centre