John Whittaker Email & Phone Number

Melbourne, VIC, AU

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Melbourne, Australia

• Product Strategy Development & Execution | Working with factories and Asian sourcing team to ensure our categories are moving in the right direction, keeping up with the latest trends and remaining relevant to the end.
• Major Account Management | Key contact to support retail buyers from Woolworths, JB Hifi, Bunnings, Officeworks, Big W, Target, Harvey Norman, The Good Guys, & Travel Retail.
• Sales & Stock Forecasting | Setting our sales forecast and managing/reporting the results in line with company objectives. Forecasting incoming stock from end to end, ensuring inventory targets are met.
• Vendor Management | Working closely with external suppliers to ensure they align with our business requirements. Negotiating Pricing / Terms and ensuring orders are delivered on schedule and to the correct quality.
• Branded & Private Label | Managing our in-house brand (Jackson) to maintain its current position as one of Australia’s largest electrical accessories brands.Managing global brands such as Tile (Mobile Accessories) CAT.
• Stakeholder Management | Regularly reporting results to the senior management team.Setting objectives and supporting the product management team (AU & Asia) to deliver our business strategy.

Melbourne, Australia

• New Product Development | Working with customers and factories to develop new products driven by trends and consumer insights. Categories include: Decorative Lighting, Electrical Accessories, Mobile Accessories & Smart.
• Pricing Management | Costing product out from factory to landed (USD to AUD), considering tooling & compliance.Regularly monitoring market retail pricing to ensure our products remain competitive.
• Brand Messaging | Worked closely with the graphic design team to develop packaging, customer presentations and online website content including social media.
• Sales Team Support | Regular training on new product ranges and updating sales targets. Supporting customer service team where required.
• Tracking Marketing Spend | Co-ordinating marketing activities with outside agencies and ensuring activations come in on-time and within the set budget.

Auckland, New Zealand

• New Product Development | Working with customers and factories to develop new products driven by trends and consumer insights. Categories include: Decorative Lighting, Electrical Accessories, Mobile Accessories & Smart.
• Pricing Management | Costing product out from factory to landed (USD to AUD), considering tooling & compliance.Regularly monitoring market retail pricing to ensure our products remain competitive.
• Brand Messaging | Worked closely with the graphic design team to develop packaging, customer presentations and online website content including social media.
• Sales Team Support | Regular training on new product ranges and updating sales targets. Supporting customer service team where required.
• Tracking Marketing Spend | Co-ordinating marketing activities with outside agencies and ensuring activations come in on-time and within the set budget.

Auckland, New Zealand

• Market Analysis | Researching new market & product opportunities and building strategic category plans.
• New Business Development | Identifying new customers across online and bricks & mortar retail.
• Sourcing Strategy | Regularly attending trade shows to ensure a solid pipeline of new products into the market.
• Online Store | Project managed the development of 2 online stores with external software developers.
• Account Management | Presented range reviews to key accounts and managed the day to day requests.

Manchester, United Kingdom

• Team Leadership | Direct day to day management of 4 product managers, 2 UK based and 2 Asia based, including management of progression plans for each team member. Successfully managed the team with overall.
• Sales, Share and Marketing Strategy | Monthly presentation of strategy progression to the board. Developed 18 month rolling strategy with key stakeholder buy-in, leading to 25% growth year on year. Responsibility for.
• Supplier Management | Ensure all vendor agreements are fully completed and up to date, including negotiation of key trading terms: Payment, Settlement, Rebates, Marketing support, and Returns. I personally negotiated.
• Budget Management and Sales Forecasting | Worked closely with the finance and supply chain teams to ensure stock holding/working capital is maintained at an appropriate level for the business. Implemented a promotional.
• Development of Key Trading Partners | Identification of key strategic partners, and putting the correct amount of resource in place to ensure maximum mutual benefits. Developed a range of private label shower products.

Manchester, United Kingdom

• New Product Development | Driving product through the NPD process, working towards key launch deadlines. Managing product through its life cycle and identifying opportunities to optimise performance.
• Pricing | Regular monitoring and review of retail prices to ensure maximum benefit is achieved for sales and margin. Negotiated seasonal CPR’ with suppliers to achieve 3% growth on GP vs. previous year.
• Sourcing and Managing FMCG | Travelled to Asia every 3 months to tender product to new and existing suppliers. Worked closely with suppliers and the compliance team to ensure correct specification, price and container.
• Identify Opportunities for Category Growth | Regularly attended trade shows and exhibitions in Europe and Asia to identify trends and build into the future category plan. Working closely with the store merchandising.
• Spot Buy and Footfall Drivers | Work with new and existing suppliers to identify FMCG to boost sales and market share in optimum selling periods.

Taiwan

• Provide Effective link between Asia and Europe | Co-ordinate communications between the UK based product managers and Asia based project managers. Successfully integrated into the culture of working within an Asian team.
• Project Management | Ensured the projects where delivered in scope, on time and within budget. Gained valuable manufacturing experience spending 50% of time in the Chinese factories.
• Customer Presentations | Supported the account management team in preparing presentations for a number of the largest DIY retailers across Europe, and feeding back specific requirements to the project management team.

Manchester, United Kingdom

Worked within different departments to get an overall appreciation of the business, and identify how they successfully work together. Worked in; Logistics, Finance, Marketing and Account management on various projects.

Bachelor Of Science With Honours, Business Information Systems

Class Two, Division One.

A-Level, Mathematics, Business Studies, Information Technology, General Studies,

Gcse, Maths, English, Chemistry, Biology, Physics, History, German, Information Technology, System Design