External Brand Buyer - Landmark Lifestyle - Bengaluru, India
(2025-12)
- Manage a ₹100 Cr end-to-end buying portfolio across 130+ Lifestyle and LRF retail doors in India, owning four global sports and lifestyle footwear brands simultaneously.
- Define and execute seasonal buying strategy — range architecture, category segmentation, OTB allocation, and channel proposition — aligned to each brand's commercial roadmap and store cluster priorities.
- Lead joint business planning, volume negotiations, marketing co-investment, and exclusive product development with Puma, Skechers, Reebok, and Adidas regional and global teams.
- Orchestrate full trading calendar: weekly sell-through reviews, exception management, in-season reorders, and markdown optimisation to maximise gross margin and inventory turn across all doors.
- Drive exclusives and capsule-drop strategies with brand partners, creating differentiated consumer propositions unavailable at competing retailers.
- Partner with retail operations, supply chain, visual merchandising, and marketing to ensure seamless go-to-market execution from purchase order to shop floor.
- Build and govern a supplier performance framework — tracking on-time delivery, fill rates, and cost compliance — to reduce stockouts and improve range integrity across all stores.
Brand Manager - Reliance Retail - Bengaluru, India
(2024-08 - 2025-12)
- Managed brand and buying strategy for footwear categories across India's largest retail network, operating across multiple retail formats including specialty fashion and multi-brand outlets.
- Drove category P&L — owned OTB, range planning, sell-through targets, and margin delivery — consistently meeting or exceeding quarterly commercial KPIs.
- Developed strategic brand-partner and supplier relationships, negotiating favourable trading terms, marketing investment, and exclusive ranges to strengthen competitive positioning.
- Championed cross-functional collaboration across merchandising, planning, supply chain, and marketing to deliver aligned range launches and promotions on time and in full.
- Embedded data-led decision-making into category management — leveraging sell-through analytics, customer feedback, and competitor benchmarking to refine assortment and reduce excess inventory.
Buying & Sourcing Lead — Private Label Footwear - Udaan.com - Bengaluru, India
(2021-04 - 2024-02)
- Spearheaded end-to-end private label footwear creation on India's largest B2B platform — from trend research and product briefing through to factory approval, sampling, QC, and go-live.
- Owned full P&L for the private label category, delivering margin targets and inventory efficiency across a nationwide SME retail customer base.
- Built a supplier ecosystem from the ground up — identifying, onboarding, and managing factories across India; negotiating costing, MOQs, lead times, and quality standards at scale.
- Led a cross-functional team spanning design, sourcing, quality assurance, and logistics, driving seasonal range launches on time and within budget across multiple product tiers.
- Deployed customer insight loops — order pattern analysis, returns data, and field feedback — to continuously improve range relevance, reduce cancellations, and grow repeat purchase rates.
- Scaled the private label footwear business by introducing new categories, price-architecture ladders, and exclusive design drops tailored to regional demand clusters.
Deputy Manager — Buying & Brand Management - Reliance Retail - Bengaluru, India
(2018-05 - 2021-04)
- Delivered category growth and margin improvement across footwear buying within India's largest retail organisation, managing OTB, range frameworks, and supplier strategy.
- Executed strategic supplier negotiations — long-term terms, volume rebates, and marketing funding — strengthening commercial partnerships and improving cost of goods.
- Led and developed a buying team through coaching, structured performance management, and a culture of commercial pace and customer obsession.
- Collaborated with merchandising, marketing, and supply chain leadership to align category strategy with business plan deliverables and seasonal go-to-market requirements.
Manager — Buying - Etashee (Online Fashion Retail) - New Delhi, India
(2017-06 - 2018-05)
- Managed fashion footwear buying for an online retail platform — range curation, vendor onboarding, seasonal planning, and performance optimisation against revenue and margin KPIs.
Footwear Buyer - HomeShop18 (TV & Online Retail) - Noida, India
(2016-03 - 2017-05)
- Curated and managed the footwear category for a leading omnichannel TV shopping and e-commerce platform, driving vendor relationships, range planning, and revenue growth.
- Analysed sell-through data and live viewer demand signals to optimise category composition, improving conversion rates and reducing excess stock.
Senior Merchandiser - Khadim India Ltd. - Kolkata, India
(2013-03 - 2015-05)
- Led merchandising across a multi-store footwear network — OTB management, range frameworks, supplier coordination, and in-season stock management to deliver sell-through and margin targets.
Retail Merchandiser - VI-GA - New Delhi, India
(2010-07 - 2013-02)
- Built foundational retail expertise across range planning, inventory management, product display, and supplier co-ordination — the bedrock of a 14-year buying career.
