AMIT P.

LOKHANDE
House No. 119, Mahendra Greenwood, Hoshangabad Road, Bhopal - 462026
amitpl12@rediffmail.com +91-7389920901

Job Objective Seeking senior level assignments in the domain of Merchandising Operations, Purchase Operations and Sales & Marketing with an organization of repute Summary
A competent professional with nearly 10 years of experience in Hospitality, Merchandising, Retail Operations, Sales & Marketing, Cash & Carry Operations and Category & Store Management

Skilled in planning, organizing and directing sales teams to ensure the achievement of group sales, revenue goals and profit objectives In-depth knowledge in designing entire product range from branding, category to product mix Experienced in managing all the retail operations - detailed market analysis, range & product selections, visual merchandising, store & inventory control and client servicing. Deft in monitoring the market behaviour and escalating business, profitability & market coverage Proficient at providing value added customer service by resolving customer issues Possess excellent communication, analytical & people management skills

Core Competencies Managing retail outlets for maximum product coverage and monitoring effective merchandising at the outlets for product promotion activities Handling space planning, visual merchandising and implementation of retail outlets Ensuring that visual merchandising is consistent with customers' expectations of the brand Formulating new concepts to generate increased sales for achievement of revenue targets Handling retail operations inclusive of account management, communication, merchandising programmes, pricing and trade terms management Identifying target audiences, planning marketing activities to ensure profitable product movements and ensuring maximum brand visibility and capturing optimum market shares Mapping market & competitors, conceptualising & executing strategies to drive sales, augmenting turnover and achieving desired targets Sustaining existing network and ensuring timely distribution of merchandise

Employment Details Since Feb10 with Bharti Wal-Mart Pvt. Ltd., Jalandhar & Bhopal (M.P) (Best Price Modern Wholesale Pvt. Ltd.) Growth Path: Feb'10 to Mar'12 Asst. Manager Non Food (Hardlines) Best Price Modern Wholesale (Jalandhar - Punjab) Since Apr'12 Manager Merchandising (Food, Non-Food & DFB)-Best Price Modern Wholesale (Bhopal Madhya Pradesh) Highlights: Astutely handled sales (100 Cr. AOP) for FMCG Food, Non-Food & Dairy Frozen & Bakery Adeptly adhered to all processes and standards with outstanding customer service Effectively liaised with Buying Team for daily operations & merchandise feedbacks Actively visited market & sold specialized categories like Hotel, Restaurant & Catering Needs Organised operations & safety audits and reported the same Carried out merchandising & productivity analysis Worked on various reports & feedbacks for optimum stock cover, shrinkage control & tracking dead & slow inventory and working towards positive P&L Significantly drove margin categories sales with Sales & Merchandising Teams Served as a part of the Inventory Process which resulted a record shrink of 0.15% of total sales of Jalandhar Store and overachieved the International Benchmark of Wal-Mart Intl of 0.17% Dec05 to Jan10 with Pantaloon Retail India Ltd., Pune (Big Bazaar Food Bazaar) Joined as Asst. Dept. Manger in Food Bazaar, rose to the position of Asst Store Manager and redesignated as Asst. Manager Category FMCG Food

Highlights: Administered sales & margin target achievement for 21 stores across 8 cities for FMCG Food Looked after inventory management at stores, damage and expiry (DAD approval) Monitored pricing & markdown management as well as regularly visited stores to ensure execution / implementation Effectively coordinated with distribution centre & vendor to ensure stock availability Significantly executed merchandise display & presentation guidelines Involved in handling vendor payment & other related issues Played a key role in enhancing information flow to store for assuring smooth operations & implementation of strategies on Shop Floor Planned promotion (including offer finalization) and category rationalization (product range addition / deletion) Efficiently negotiated with vendors and worked on offer management Drafted planning of distribution & replenishment and buying for food (Manual & ARS) Carried out data interpretation & analysis Merchandise Category wise sale performance & further plan to achieve numbers) Proactively handled new launches (mainly through HO) as well as gathered customer & store feedback to launch brands & expand categories Took part in working on joint business plan with companies for analysing sale performance brand wise and ensuring good fill rate, offers & visibility (other income) Headed Category Development Projects (Local Taste and Local Foods Launches) Deftly managed various other activities like: o New Store Opening (11 stores) o Assortment Planning and Plannogramming o Offers Planning and Offers finalization for Advertisement Instrumental in launching PEGS (Po Execution and Generation System) in the assigned(Rest of Maharashtra) STORES zone

Previous Experience Feb05 to Dec05 with Gold Adlabs Pune, (Adlabs Films Ltd. Now Big Cinemas) as Executive F&B May03 to Aug'04 with Pizza Hut, Pune as Shift Manager Academic Details PGDRM from Symbiosis College, Pune with 60% in 2007 DHMCT from BVIHMCT, Pune with 63% in 2003

Personal Details 4 July, 1982 Date of Birth Languages Please Mention (English, Hindi, Marathi, Konkani) Refer to the annexure for the achievements in specific organisations
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Annexure Achievements At Bharti Wal-Mart Pvt. Ltd.

Headed the largest division of best price in terms of margin, volume & value approx. 47 Cr. annually with gross margin of approx. 7%

Successfully achieved highest sales in apparel and succeeded in generating bullk orders in apparel alike other FMCG products delivering as high margins as 15% Achieved sales of 1.91 Cr in Electronics & Appliances second highest in the country during Diwali season 2011 Worked along with O & I Team (Expand Office & Institutions) to deliver bulk orders in General Merchandise which was an area of weakness Served as a part of a team that was recognized for SOPs and standards from the US Team Led the OJT Floor Training for Floor Management Played an active role in the classroom training sessions of Sales Floor for the OJT Teams Initiated product training for the Floor Associates Team on detailed knowledge of the products they handle Developed the team to take up responsibilities in new stores like Ludhiana, Bhatinda, Meerut & Lucknow Devised a Item Locator System for merchandise on the floor to have as alternate to the RFID System in the US stores to ease the operational difficulties catering to bulk orders and locating merchandise on floor with a click in the designed Steel Report o The store achieved 170% of the Sales Target in 2011 with the Shrink no of 0.04% which was nationally appreciated across Retail & Wholesale Format & a decent no across the globe Walmart Stores Offered various shrink control mechanism on floor to get the record shrink no. Got appreciation for the general merchandise contribution to the store along with high margin delivery Achieved 97% GFSA (Global Food Safety Audit) at Bhopal Store Bagged highest score in: o AOS (Associate Opinion Survey) Score at Jalandhar and Bhopal: 96% & 94% respectively o Bhopal Apparel & Footwear sales in the Month of Nov & Dec12 across India and stood on 3 rd place in sales & margin Contributed to the Pvt. Label at Bhopal which was 8.7% highest across all India Stores and this was result of focussed approach and displays on floor Commenced with the 1 Big Bazaar Store in Pune in Dec05 and was a part of the 1 Historic Shopping Festival 26 Jan Sabse Sasta Din later known as Sabse Saste 3 din Recognized by Parle Agro Modern Trade Team for highest sales of Parle Frooti across Rest of Maharashtra by any modern trade outlet in April May 2006 Got selected: o To be a part of the PRISM programme for selected few to be future Store Managers o As Champ in the DUM (Drive until Maturity) programme for Aurangabad Store and successfully generated footfalls for the store and achieved planned targets for Food Bazaar with support of Marketing Team Created categories like Sugar Boiled Confectionary through developing vendors to deliver sales of approx. 35 lakhs annually additional with 15% Margin Developed local vendors and NGOs to deliver regional food products with good margins and adding uniqueness to food bazaar Drove Pvt. label sales contribution in the rest of Maharashtra store to whooping 13% which was appreciated by the then Vice President Food Bazaar Mr. Sadashiv Nayak Developed several categories like Pvt. Label, International Foods, Biscuits, Snacks & Juices to the highest level which increased the overall margin of the stores & got down the contribution of low margin categories like oils & grocery Played an active role in handling: o Payment process of vendors streamlined o Transition phase of REM software to SAP o Improvement in the fill rates of Pantaloon Foods Grocery items across Pune stores from 58% to 89% within a span of 4 months with proper planning and forecasting, co-ordinating the store teams with then Future Agrovet Conducted meeting with the Store Heads at the packaging unit at Market Yard Pune to make them understand the complex management of the Supply System Created specialized categories like Gourmet International Food along & imparted training to Store Teams regarding the products and methodology of cooking Got exposure to Open 11 stores in Pune and rest of Maharashtra and led the category team at Pune for assortment listing, availability, store plannogramme, planning opening offers & freebies, pre opening store team trainings o Out of 11 stores 2 stores were of Lifestyle Format one in Nagpur Pantaloons & the other 2 were at Pune Central 2, one of the 11 stores was a Super Centre Store at Kothrude Pune Developed as the second largest market PAN India for Food Bazaar with the sales and no. of stores Functioned as a part of ARS (Auto Replenishment System) at Food Bazaar and with several challenges got the ARS successfully implemented smoothly across ROM Stores
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At Pantaloon Retail India Ltd.

At Gold Adlabs Pune (Now Big Cinemas) Designed formal SOPs for theatre operations and formalized checklists for F&B Operations and Theatre Operations Actively participated in the development of a formal training module for the new recruits at Adlabs along with the then Corporate HR Miss .Pooja Bhave o The training module was rolled out for all the multiplexes across India Conducted training programmes for the team for over all development of associates and to boost customer service At Pizza Hut Intl Got selected the only Management Trainee for Management Training Programme at Pizza Hut Pune from approx. 132 students

Completed Management Training Programme and posted as Shift Manager at Pizza Hut Served as a part of Management Team of Pizza Hut Kothrud one of the fastest growing delivery & takeaway store in the City Achieved the required Sales Targets & S.S.S. Worked on business oriented approach & customer call backs which motivated sales growth of 1.5% growth in APC Cleared 11 modules of Proficiency Assurance System (PAS) confirming to the high standards of YUM Restaurants International Received appreciation for the delivery standards and food safety standards by the US Yum Restaurants Team at JM Road outlet

CSR Activities Supported the launch & Sales promotion of products by various NGOs across Maharashtra with support from NGO Yashaswini, managed by M/s Supriya Sule (Daughter of Hon Shri Sharad Pawar Ex. CM Maharashtra) at Big Bazaar Actively participated and encouraged associates to have maximum contribution In the clothes donation drive at the store in association with NGO GOONJ At Wal-Mart (In 2011 & 2012)

Participated in stationary donation activity at a Govt School in Jalandhar on 14 Nov11 Donated old clothes, New Wheel Chairs to a nearby Home for Physically & Mentally Challenged this was the Management Group at Best Price activity without any company contribution

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