Maria Konstandopoulos

The Product Information Manager is a member of the Merchandising Operations Team. This position is responsible for the effective management of the Product Information. Managing the Product Information (PIM) Team and the Invoice Price Variant (IPV) Team. The Product Information role and responsibilities are to ensure productivity across the PIM & IPV teams and manage material master data in order to align with the business rules. This role requires the ability to identify and drive multiple opportunities to improve various processes as well as guide, train and implement the solutions, with a strong ability to partner with multiple merchants and various key stake holders. This role plays a key support function for a number of departments across the business including but not limited to merchandising, supply chain, accounts and warehouse. In this role, the Product Information Manager is further required to manage the objectives outlined for the PIM & IPV teams and ensure that operations are monitored and key data is analysed within all key systems. Moreover, the Product Information & Content Manager must ensure processes are developed, documented and communicated to functional data owners to support ongoing maintenance and data integrity. The Product Information Manager must be diligent, consistent and accurate as effective product information is essential for supporting our merchandising team and our Electronic Direct Invoicing processes for Procure to Pay, Sales and Service objectives, and to assist our customers to find, search & convert orders on our online platform, thus, delivering on our Easy promise to our customers.

Managing the Product Information Team as well as the Invoice Price Variance Team to ensure the ease of doing business. Reporting to the Merchandising Operations Manager. Ensuring Data Quality across all Catalogue Lines. Monitoring Code Creation & Vendor Contract Pricing, through Auditing & Maintenance of the Master Data, ensuring all Materials align with the Inventory & Business Rules. Working closely with Stakeholders; Business Systems, Pricing, Catalogue Team, Supply Chain, Accounts Payable and Merchandising.

Managing the Invoice Price Variance Verification Team; reporting to Merchandising. Reviewing SAP Purchase Information Records and ensuring the Material, Price and UOM had been setup correctly in our database. Ensuring the ease of doing business with Vendors, working closely with Merchandising Team to ensure Vendor Price Agreements align with Vendor charges and UOM, in order to eliminate risk to Margin and Sell price. Liaising with Supply Team, Accounts Payable, Pricing & PIM Teams to ensure that our data aligns with the Vendor Data.

As a Sourcing Specials Team Leader, I managed a Team of 8 Sourcing Specialists this team is a customer centric based team. The teams key focus was to continually exceed customer expectations by consistently working with vendors across Australia, to ensure we could source products outside of our range and deliver to all major clients. I managed and coordinated, the day-to-day operations; with a goal of developing the individuals’ skill sets and business interests, to grow their operational, sales and managerial abilities.

As a Product Information Analyst, I created product codes & run Data Audits in order to ensure the Master Data was correct & made uniform in the system.

I managed the Data Entry Team and the Credits Department for Customer Returns & Credit Claims on Customer Orders; I had authority for Claims up to the value of $1,000; I managed the Customer Service Call Centre, indirectly, whereby calls were escalated to me in order to resolve disputes; my duty was to liaise between the organization and its customers and work to resolve problems and ensure solutions were delivered in a timely manner. My success in this role came from my ability to problem solve and develop creative solutions, I achieved this through my strong communication and negotiation skills.

I was selected as Back to School (BTS) coordinator, based on my ability to problem solve and manage varying teams at the one time; Officemax was looking to implement the ‘Back to School Program’, replicating the Melbourne State Program; I was flown to Melbourne for training and then returned to implement and mirror the program in Sydney; this required forming a Team for Data Entry; Customer Service and event management for School sell days of ‘School Book Packs’. In addition, and more significantly I managed the logistics for Bulk Orders for Back to School; this entailed everything from keying orders, warehouse dispatch, through to deliveries. Working closely with Australia Post for storage, distribution & deliveries of BTS Orders, as well as working closely with StarTrack for Regional BTS orders. Liaising daily with OMAX Warehouse & Operations & Education Sales to ensure the flow of BTS orders and to meet delivery times for thousands of schools across NSW.

Certificate 1 Psychology Certificate 1 & 2 Sociology Certificate 1 & 2 Communications Social Economics Interviewing Skills