Litsa Smith Email & Phone Number

Manchester Area, United Kingdom

Altrincham, England, United Kingdom

Mentoring and Consulting for business – helping business owners and leaders of busy operational teams to get their team more autonomous, motivated, engaged & effective, even if the priorities are always shifting, so they can show-up shining on the big stuff that matters, whilst their team thrive.

Trafford Park

• Led a team of 12 from Senior Customer Supply Chain Managers to Interns• Responsible for supply chain relationship and stock for Customers from Boots, to THG, through to independent pharmacies• Led the team through pandemic implementing changes in ways of working and managing huge increases in demand including excellent communication with stakeholders within the business and customers too.• Established clear team vision and roadmap to take from customer care base to solid customer supply chain practicing team managing and monitoring order fulfilment, forecasting, stock in trade and all supply relationships with customers.• Grew team from 5 to 12 team members to match growth in the division• Top “Pulse” scores for my team versus the broader operations team and vs. the division (Employee satisfaction survey)

Manchester

· Responsible for the project relating to the L’Oreal UKI distribution network.o Constructed intricate business case illustrating key KPIs, payback , financials and qualitative context for the projecto Managed a complicated network of stakeholders including many based in Paris to ensure continuous alignment.o Coordinated comms across project streams including people, operations, finance, real estate and build teams.· Led cross divisional Brexit planning effort for operations ensuring, transport, stock, packaging and other contingency plans were considered and communicated across the business. Worked with cross functional teams to develop, test and document short term workaround backup processes.

Manchester, United Kingdom

Reporting to the UKI Ops Director responsible for the transport plan across all divisions with the aim of minimising costs, maximising efficiency and maintaining and improving service.• Managed tenders for transport and co-packing contracts ultimately working with a range of partners including DHL, AKW Global, DPD and TNT • Controlled service levels with partners through collaborative reporting and meetings maintaining target of > 98.5% on time.• Owned UKI transport budget of ~£3M and responsible for ensuring compliance to budget and understanding of KPIs.• In 2017 saved £150K from cost to serve projects including consolidating deliveries to customer depots, reducing out of hours deliveries with retailers and improving trailer fill.

Northwich, Cheshire

Reporting to the COO- Head of Merchandising at The Hut Group leading a team of ten Merchandisers. - Responsible for Stock levels and Stock profile - Responsible for maximising fulfilment through good stock management - The commercial link to operations across all categories including Health and Beauty, Entertainment, Clothing, Sports, Footwear, accessories and gifts. - Manage the relationship with suppliers relating to supply chain- Managed a whole Warehouse move UK to Overseas- Work with buyers to overcome any supply issues- Work with warehouse to create capacity plans- particularly for peak

Responsible for stock, fulfilment, merchandising across Games, DVD and CD

Responsible for P&Ls, merchandising, conversion, look and feel etc of THG own brand sites.

Working collaboratively with DVD studios to promote, market and drive product sales

• Managed the ASDA, Amazon and New business accounts from a Marketing perspective• Developed strong relationships with retail contacts by becoming an “expert” on their in store space and operations and so ensuring Warner is “first choice” Studio• Identified, planned and implemented opportunities for incremental revenue. • Responsible for working with Sales team to ensure co-op Marketing budget spent to both maximise buys and guarantee impact in store and so maximise sell through• Initiated and implemented way of working to ensure long term planning of launches and events both internally and with customers• Improved in store compliance for ASDA from average of 60% on launch to 95% working with merchandising team and refining communication to store and delivery methods• Worked cross divisionally (with Theatrical, Consumer Products and Games) on franchises such as Harry Potter and Scooby Doo at retail to deliver in store events and sales• Negotiated internally for ATL representation for my customers by ensuring in store support in return• Managed a project across all departments to review and overhaul the way Warner manages co-op budgets drawing up a way of working schedule to ensure budgets managed tightly and return on investment considered

Specifically recruited to play a major role in Tesco's move to bring the buying and trading of their entertainment business in-houseRecruited and manage a team of 2 including a Trader and Stock PlannerEstablished new ways of working with new distribution partner and over 20 suppliersResponsible for financial budgeting of this area (WSSI) - Sales, Markdown, Margin, OTB and return on space using historical data, financial trends and forecastsAchieved '06/'07 budget of £102M and on target for '07/'08 budget of £129MAttained forecast accuracy of within 10% consistently (previous average ~ 25%)Achieved launch targets and ensured critical path was met by buying, operations and distribution streams for range changes, weekly new releases and promotionsOwn the trade plan including launch, tracking and exit strategy of promotional activityReview trading analysis and deliver plans to optimise sales, profit and offer to customerResponsible for stock availability for the customer by ensuring the right products are in the right place, quantity and time

Summer season as a receptionist at a holiday club

Headhunted internally for this roleManaged DVD ranges of up to 200 titles in four very different retailers- Somerfield (950 stores), Matalan (191 stores), Post Office (200 stores) and Clinton Cards (200 stores)Created and pitched seasonal and one off promotions e.g. HalloweenNegotiated deals with retailers including Christmas deals worth up to £500,000 eachImplemented and managed the rollout of DVD ranges into 200 Post Offices and also of a brand new concept "DVD greeting Cards" into Clintons resolving issues as they aroseDesigned and updated weekly category reports for each retailer Provided the business with monthly revenue forecastsProduced briefs for stores to explain clearly changes to ranges and promotionsCreated a cardboard "clip strip" resulting in distribution to 400 extra Somerfield stores

Responsible for managing availability in Silverscreen and Somerfield using the Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) systemIncreased availability in Somerfield from 83% to 97% averageInitiated, wrote and presented on "what is VMI" to the Marketing, Sales, Operations and Finance teams to raise the profile of VMIAwarded year end assessment of "exceeds expectation"- one of only two out of fifty people

Managed huge project to transfer warehousing from UK to IrelandManaged stock catalogue including forecasting and ordering from factory in France - stock holding reduced to below target coverOrganised all required sub-contracted work for promotionsInitiated new ideas such as a samples and sachets monitoring scheduleDeveloped and implemented new processes to improve forecasting efficiency resulting in forecast accuracy increasing from 62% to 79%Develop and justify commercial assumptions, sales forecast and logistics costs projection for 3-year plan and 2004 BudgetResponsible for Sales and Cost of Sales accounting and reporting to head office.

• Produced weekly sales report for senior management of Prestige and Collections (P&C) brands in all major store group including charts and explanation of trends• Ad-hoc reporting using Business Objects, Retail Link (Asda) and Tonic (Boots)

Sep 01- June 02 L’Oreal UK, Management Trainee, graduate scheme Category Management, Consumer Division • Conducted and reported fortnightly pricing survey of competitor products in eight store groups providing an insight into the market for L’Oreal consumer products division.Commercial Team, L’Oreal Paris • Prepared for and participated in meetings with buyers at supermarkets, managed cosmetic stand installation project for Waitrose and improved handling of Epos data.Logistics Team, L’Oreal Paris • Successfully completed a project to identify and destroy obsolete stock

Mchem, Chemistry (Mchem)

Education record

A Levels: Chemistry (A), Maths (A), Geography (A), Further Maths (B) and General Studies (A) GCSEs: 5 (A*), 3 (A) and 1(B)