Gary Eccles Email & Phone Number

England, United Kingdom

Northampton, United Kingdom

Northampton, United Kingdom

• Responsible for the financial performance, future direction and success of the Joinery categories I have developed rolling category plans, strategies and budgets for each within 8months. During this time I have presented my ideas and plans to the depots and executive leadership team for feedback and approval.• Conducted focus groups with colleagues, builders and end-users for better understanding of their specific expectations and requirements of Howdens product and service offering before including in the range planning and future strategic projects. • Forged strong relationships with the Supply Division improving the understanding of the strategic direction and product requirements to meet the customer expectations and company strategies.• I have developed new reports to monitor and manage product lifecycle, and improve the timely and effective launch of new products.• Created new commercial performance reporting for accurate and consistent measures, coaching the category team how to use the data for insight and business planning.

Rugby

Northampton

Management and development of Exertis 3PL contracts within a 235,000 sq ft DC facility ensuring the highest levels of operational and financial performance are maintained at all times.• Ensuring the highest levels of service are delivered to 3PL clients.• Management and development of existing and new 3PL client relationships. • Ownership of first-line relationships with the 3PL client base, managing expectation between clients and Exertis, whilst ensuring successful completion of projects and tasks. • Ensure service levels in respect of SLA and various periodic KPI targets are accurately measured, reported and exceeded. • Liaise with category and sales team colleagues, measuring performance versus client expectation, recommending and implementing new approaches when necessary.• Liaise with DC personnel to ensure efficiency of timescales, objectives and resource to budgetary compliance.• Development and implementation of initiatives to continuously improve operational performance; service offering; and reporting to the 3PL clients.

Northampton, United Kingdom

Responsibility for developing and executing a range of category plans, offering excellence in experience for Exertis customers, with focus on delivering start-up growth in a proactive and dynamic way.Working in partnership with Board Directors influencing the direction of the Office Products category to ensure profitable and substantial growth whilst also acting as a guide and mentor to the Category Managers.Working collaboratively with business partners to drive local buying efficiencies, rebates, and cost pricing, whilst managing effective vendor relationships and working with all relevant colleagues to deliver the agreed financial targets for the Office Products Category.

Managed performance, and led development and motivation of buying, merchandising & marketing team with responsibility for overall category strategies and promotions; achieved turn-around double digit sales, margin and market share growth; in-stock management; and product & services range expansion and innovation.Collaborative category team leadership to constantly improve the customer experience, to drive customer value, acquisition, retention and growth.Led and owned key Vendor relationships at senior level to negotiate trading contracts for sustainable relationships, and collaborative development and implementation of business strategies to achieve c. £81m annual sales revenue surpassing key performance targets. Developed and executed collaborative online and offline marketing campaigns and promotions identifying opportunities for short and longer term cooperative and marketing and merchandising. Forged strong relationships with internal functions for 34% annualized business sales growth; improved own label and OEM propositions and marketing support; enhanced supplier performance measurement, and management of poor product quality and delivery performances.

Major contract negotiations and supplier strategies agreed in support of extended range and incremental category sales plans by up to 62% – key supplier business plans included annual promotional plans, exclusive products, stock planning assurances and market leading service propositions to maximise sales, and achieve market share and profitability targets. Identified and developed new opportunities, delivering market beating range propositions for the new format Currys Megastores and achieving 30% annual sales growth.Negotiation of incremental supplier revenues for almost 50% of the total funding for the store launch, which covered over one third of the total capex of the pilot.Influence of central and store operations management teams for the implementation of new supplier funded operations model resulting in 30% sales growth and increased profitability - includes branded merchandising and product demonstration solutions for significantly improved customer experiences; a robust staff coaching programme; and the collaboration of store functions.Improved stock turn and reduced stock value by half whilst maintaining at least 95% stock availability in all stores at all times through defining, developing and delivering stock management principles.

Conducted in depth analysis of the current supply chain operations and performance measures with key business members in all locations to discover process, and cost inefficiencies of the business silos.Consultation with business experts and suppliers to design and hone the new supply chain operating model before influencing key stakeholders and Board Directors for their approval and support of the new and improved procedures and roll-out schedule. Roll-out of stream-lined business processes and measures to reduce operational costs by £5m pa. Preparation of the category teams for business change and new operational procedures before business expert support in delivering to users.Created and implemented a daily progress reporting tool to ensure delivery on time and on budget. Daily review included use of issues and risks analysis, actions log review for any extra support, and cross-functional/ project work-stream support requirements and actions.Ongoing evaluation of the new operating model efficiencies with the business users and experts before project work-stream review for agreement of necessary amends and improvement

Controlling annual spend of £250m+ with responsibility for pan-European range tender, in line with 9 country strategies, and successful negotiation of product cost prices for 16% increase in total annual profitability.Forged global supplier relationships for major contract negotiations and product development initiatives for exclusive ranges of consumables that delivered 28% sales growth. Negotiated 18% incremental pan-European branded supplier revenues and formulated the strategy and direction for a 12 month rolling promotional plan for sustainable results.Agreed product returns efficiency strategy reducing European Category logistics costs by £1.5m pa.Engendered a sense of involvement and ownership by engaging with all team members in important decisions and ensuring they can connect their aims, expectations and activities to a philosophy of the business. Continual empowerment, encouragement, and coaching of the team members resulted in exceeding commercial targets and the celebration of our successes.

Sourced and selected products for an own brand range of software for incremental 25 percentage points of margin. Negotiated a sales attach strategy with a supplier partner for an exclusive product range to double product percentage sales margin; pays down-stream sales revenues; and result 50% increase in total Category supplier revenues (£4m). Exceeded supplier revenue budgets for consecutive years and led action for new marketing initiatives and the securing of incremental £22m revenue.Surpassed annual sales and market share budgets for all categories for 5 consecutive years.Conducted supplier and product rationalisation programme that secured 20% incremental supplier revenues and 4 percentage points of category margin. Engendered a sense of involvement and ownership by engaging with all team members in important decisions and ensuring they can connect their aims, expectations and activities to a philosophy of the business. Continual empowerment, encouragement, and coaching of the team members resulted in exceeding commercial targets and the celebration of our successes.Actively seeking the right opportunity for career development.