Industry: Interactive Entertainment
Compensation: $140K-$160K Base + Bonus + Stock + Full Benefits
Location: Southern California
Relocation: Yes
Job Description:
Lead global category management strategy for Wal-Mart Video Games across Wal-Mart US, Canada,
Mexico, Asia, and UK. Lead development of holistic go to market strategy leveraging category management, procurement/merchandising, product supply/operations & marketing/shopper insights.
Major Tasks, Key Responsibilities, and Key Accountability:
Interface with Wal-Mart buying group to deliver category focused goals:
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Improved shopping experience o Store of the community based assortment vs assortment by modular footage.
o Shopper driven section layout, signage, mod placement. o Increased speed to shelf.
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Improved Category Scorecard o Supply Chain refocus. o Inventory turn measure improvements. o JIT inventory/identified metrics for success. o New release flows. o Catalog inventory management.
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Long term Category Vision active with all suppliers o Clear strategy of success at WMT. o Optimized marketing and investments. o Optimized supply chain choices. o Long lead planning.
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Improved score-carding/reporting o Breakthrough dash-boarding & score-carding across shopper based item classification
(platform, genre, price point, esrb rating). o Industry trend reviews & Wal-Mart share of marketplace comparisons. o Shopper insights based on store level data mining. o Competitive SWOT analyses. o Sales fundamentals assessment including distribution, shelving, pricing, merchandising & promotional assessments.
Sales Analysis:
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Competitive Insights o Analyze Wal-Mart business model versus competition across sales fundamentals & market share throughout lifecycle of products; make recommendations for Wal-Mart to win with new releases & catalog titles.
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Customer Insights o Analyze Wal-Mart & competitive shopper insights; make recommendations for Wal-Mart to win with new releases & catalog titles.
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Distribution/ Shelving

o Support Buyers with new title launch plans including modular footages (based on clustering of stores using platform, genre, rating development), placement/adjacencies, launch quantities, etc.
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Distribution o Monitor product sales, assess performance & provide recommendations with respect to modular distribution, replenishment, etc.
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Shelving o Support Buyers with modular design/deployment behind new title release section, best sellers section, catalog section, hits section & open sell hits modular. Support Buyers with modular design behind emerging hardware platforms & new go to market strategies.
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Merchandising o Support Buyers with deployment of rep group video game priorities & execution levels.
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Pricing o Assist in analysis of space contribution using retail price of products.
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Supply Chain Insights o Support corporate with assessment of video game supply chain to maximize sales & optimize inventory metrics.
Sales Reporting:
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Present monthly category review templates: sales, market share, market trends, opportunity gap, space to sales, consumer & shopper, loyalty & competitive analysis.
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Present monthly scorecard templates, including sales, market share, competitor performance, brand performance, competitor promotions, Wal-Mart promotions, sales plan end caps, etc. and analyze performance progress.
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Identify opportunities to improve performance: item opportunity rankings, under performing items, etc.
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Create/analyze regional/store cluster differences for above.
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Identify emerging trends & forecast impact on the business.
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Compile, manage, analyze & distribute weekly Activision Wal-Mart Team sell through reports & graphs.
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Aggregate and distribute weekly/monthly/quarterly product and account sales reports & graphs.
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Assemble, assess and report quarterly & annual sales performance reviews.
Basic Job Qualifications and Education:

College degree required, business / finance related background a plus

Experience leading and implementing category management principles
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Excellent quantitative skills
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Interest and aptitude in interpreting the numbers in context of answering business questions
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Thorough knowledge of Wal-Mart business practices / processes, Retail Link, Excel, Access, and
Prospace.
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Knowledge of Spectra and store demographics tools a plus
 Minimum of 2 years key account category management experience with ‘Tier 1’ CPG company.
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Formal training in category analytics for category management is a must.
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Experience establishing this role preferred. Experience establishing a new Category Management function is an asset.
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Finance, sales, or other analytical related experience
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Needs 3-4 years experience using space management, retail sell through and syndicated analytical tools.

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Proven ability to analyze complex data and distill this information into meaningful reports and presentations
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Superior skill using MS Excel, PowerPoint, Business Objects. Experience analyzing AC Nielsen, IRI or NPD data. Wal-Mart Retail Link experience is a must.
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Excellent planning, analytical, presentation and organizational skills. Must have the ability to manage several priorities concurrently, and handle the stress of urgent deadlines from customers
(internal and external).
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Exceptional communication skills, as well as interpersonal style relating well to all levels within an organization.
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Cooperative by nature with the ability to forge strong internal and external relationships, managing through influence and getting the organization ‘on side’.
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Expert use of space and category management software programs, concepts and analytical techniques.