Vivian K.

Responsible for overseeing day-to-day operations across multiple retail locations and repair departments. Key duties include team leadership, vendor relations, inventory and merchandising management, sales performance tracking, and customer service strategy. Also manage staffing, training, and scheduling, while supporting eCommerce growth, marketing initiatives, and business development opportunities.

Managed purchasing and category development for TVs, DVD players, TV stands, rugs, home décor, and occasional tables. Responsibilities included product selection, vendor negotiations, sales and inventory analysis, and pricing strategy to support profitability and customer satisfaction. Worked closely with vendors to coordinate weekly and monthly flyer promotions, as well as customer appreciation offers. Oversaw visual merchandising by developing and implementing planograms, and conducted regular visits to all 12 retail branches to ensure brand consistency and in-store execution. Spearheaded the launch of a home installation program for AV/TV customers, arranging professional technicians to provide in-home services including wall mounting TVs, setting up sound systems, and complete AV installations—enhancing the customer experience and adding value to the sales process.

Responsible for the buying and selling of a $52MM portfolio of Large and Accent Furniture, Lighting and Home Décor for the 121 stores across Canada as well as Sears.ca • Accountable for the financial performance of the department. • Worked closely with SCM, DMM, GMM and Planning to drive sales, maintain and balance an open to buy budget that secured liquidity. • Supervised a team of category coordinators to deliver important materials to buying team resulting in higher accuracy and completion. • Participated in domestic and international buying trips to keep on market trend and expand our vendor base to meet the demands of our growing clientele. • Developed, built and oversaw in private label productions. Worked directly with vendors/factory to get tailor made goods only found at Sears. • Negotiated sourced, cost, delivery and discounts on all products with vendors. Ensuring competitive retails are maintained without sacrificing gross profit or product quality. • Reacted to the changing needs within the marketplace through creativity, forecasting market trend(s), competitive shopping and research. • Ensured proper distribution of goods through managing store inventory and commodity analysis.

Responsible for procurement in Handbags, Small Leather goods, Luggage and travel related products for direct and 8 retail stores located in the GTA region. • Created and maintained relationships with existing local suppliers and overseas suppliers through negotiation and communication to drive profitable growth. • Identified and established new relationships with prospective suppliers to diversify product mix to expand customer base. • Developed and prepared weekly and monthly sales and cost analysis reports, to support cost reduction programs resulting in 3-5% savings for both retail and direct channel. • Reviewed and analyzed market trends to maintain and drive current awareness of new products and suppliers. • Developed and aligned marketing strategies with key stakeholders to ensure sales targets were met. • Developed product sell-sheets and coached merchandise associates, to ensure product knowledge for customer consistency. • Strategized product and promotional activity for commodities and was directly responsible for determining items and retails in accordance to monthly marketing calendar. • Created and executed in-store and online promotions including e-newsletters and social media campaigns to increase sales. • Single-handedly procured the most successful luggage offer only months into the new role. Sold-out of all quantities just hours into the offer going live.

Was accountable for delivering business plans including productivity and financial goals for the Retail channel, including goals for both the Direct and Catalogue programs. Commodities included Home Office/Home Entertainment/RTA/Accent Furniture/Rugs/Curios/Fireplace. • Built marketing plans and executed the business plan for annual/seasonal assortment. • Participated with marketing team to develop the advertising program to support the plans. Provided analysis and recommendations to business team for the development of the marketing plans. • Implement transition and liquidation plans to maximize productivity. • Maintained and grew relationships with existing and new suppliers, reviewed and negotiated terms to meet corporate expectations. • Launched a Rug Riot sale that helped clear-out over a thousand units of aged inventory within weeks.

Was accountable for delivering business plans including productivity and financial goals for the $198MM Retail channel, including goals for both the Internet and Catalogue programs. • Built marketing plans and executed the business plan for annual/seasonal assortment. • Participated with marketing team to develop the advertising program to support the plans. Provided analysis and recommendations to business team for the development of the marketing plans. • Implement transition and liquidation plans to maximize productivity. • Maintained and grew relationships with existing and new suppliers, reviewed and negotiated terms to meet corporate expectations. • Developed and implemented the new 1-Day-Sale program that substantially exceeded corporate expectations. • Built and maintained competitive shop to support business growth along with weekly “Beat the Competition” to ensure our retail sales associates are informed and competitive strategy is in-line with the industry. • Quick to react to opportunities. Built a sales promotion on the spot that generated additional sales of $350k over a period of one day when launched • Analyzed trends and forecasted the demand resulting in an annual sales increase of 15% for the sales category.

• Executed purchase orders, price management, item creation, on-order reporting and product flow reporting. • Supported the Buyer to execute the seasonal buying strategies that achieve sales, gross margin and inventory productivity goals through all channels (stores, eCommerce & strategic sales) • Consolidated and analyzed historical data. Provided results of analysis with recommendations to Buyer and team members. • Reviewed market trends and maintained current awareness of the industry. • Accountable for shops performance to ensure inventory and assortment is healthy. • Responded to general inquiries, including ones from the stores regarding product, product knowledge, customer complaints, etc. • Assisted the Buyer with ad-hoc reporting, market research and other miscellaneous projects as needed.

• Oversaw four committees which include membership, corporate relations, community relations and volunteer relations. • In May 2011, invited by Junior Achievement Titan Program to facilitate two 75 minutes workshops focused on making business and career decisions. • Hosted the annual T&T Waterfront Night Market during 2011-2013, and coordinated over 140 volunteers for a three-night charitable event with an attendance of over 80,000 spectators. • Awarded the NAAAP Toronto President's Award of Excellence 2013. • Currently sits on the NAAAP Toronto advisory board.