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TOP-TOY Group (toy retailer)
- Product Manager
2012 - maintenant
Responsible for the strategy, sourcing and selection of products within the Costumes, Pocket money, Seasonal items (Xmas, Carnival, Halloween, Easter), Party goods and Apparel & Healthcare categories for the BR and Toys'R Us retail banners in Scandinavia and Germany (300 stores) as well as for the NORSTAR wholesale division. (wholesale unit closed down)
Key Achievements:
-Drew up written sourcing strategies for the two major buying seasons based on market intelligence (retail and wholesale channels, suppliers, licensing department, store checks) and past seasons' analysis.
-Briefed the sourcing strategy to the merchandising team before each buying season to reach a common goal during supplier and trade fairs visits.
-Prepared and pitched the collections' business plans while taking into account the collections' efficiency in terms of profitability (RRP, forecast sales, labtesting costs, marketing...) Handled around 200 new skus per year.
-Suggested marketing communications (TVC, displays, in-store events, catalogues...) in close collaboration with the Brand Management team.
-Adapted products and packaging to the Scandinavian and German market by writing out packaging artwork texts, briefing designers for packaging design and model photo shooting.
-Developed own generic and licensed products by initiating the project and following-up the entire product development process (designer briefs, prototypes, samples, finished goods).
-Followed collections performance to make required adjustments (QC issues, assortments, update packagings, repeat orders...) and product lifecycle recommendations.
-In charge of some of the Supplier Relationship Management within my pool of suppliers to optimize the business partnership.
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La Grande Récré (LGR ASIA)/Ludendo Group (toy retailer)
- Product Development and Sourcing
2011 - 2012
Key achievements:
-In charge of the sourcing and product development for the ranges of 12 private label brands in preschool/early years, wooden toys, plush, dolls, music and party items
-Analyzed product portfolio per range and product recommendation
-Wrote out product specifications, gameflows
-New product creation proposal (concept, drawings)
-Sourced and audited factories for product development in China
-Price negotiation with factories
-Coordination between the headquarter and the factories
-Coordination between the quality department and the vendors
-Attended professional trade fairs for product sourcing and trend analysis
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Deco On Demand Ltd (design furniture)
- Purchasing and Sourcing Manager
2011 - 2011
-Sourcing of design furniture according to trends, factory price negotiations
-Preparation of orders, estimation of quantities according to customer analysis, competitors' offer, general/seasonal trends and google keyword studies
-Factory auditing, quality assessment
-Shipment organization, consolidation and follow-up to optimize logistics costs
-Seeking new providers to optimize further logistic costs
-Design of weekly newsletter to end-consumers
-Attending furniture trade shows for sourcing purpose
-Business development
-SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
-Creation of the HK website using the Magento Go E commerce platform
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MIND Asia ltd. (preschool toy)
- General Manager
2007 - 2010
Mind ehf., preschool electronic toys, computer and interactive solutions company
Fully responsible for the Hong Kong office operations, from human resources, product creation, design and development
strategy, factory selection, marketing, sales and price strategy to the daily financial management and problems solving
Key achievements:
-Developed 10 new innovative toy products along with a new brand and new packaging identity within 2 years (budget of 150K usd per year)
-Sourced effective partnerships with 4 more factories (vs. 1) by splitting production sites per production specialty
-Followed up, managed all the issues related to product development and production.
-Increased mark-up in operating profit by putting in competition more production factories, tougher price negotiations and
better cost control
-Conducted all the sales meetings with international buyers, prepared the price strategy and delivered the product
presentations
-Organized exhibition in major toy fairs (Nurnberg and Hong Kong), attended major toys and related activities fair
worldwide (Electronics, sourcing, design, licensing, packaging…) always seeking product and sales improvement
-Set up and managed an efficient local dedicated team of 4 people covering productively all the office activities
-Developed individual staff using competency based appraisals during 1:1 interviews and wrote out a company policy to
inspire the team towards common professional working values
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3 PLUS (edutainment toys)
- Licensing executive and Project manager
2003 - 2005
3 PLUS ehf., interactive toy company
Key achievements:
-Set up a subsidiary office in France to conduct all the Pan- European licenses negotiations and software development
-Developed licensing partnerships for a range of interactive dvd games in Europe. Negotiated more than
350 000 dollars of licenses with major licensors such as Disney, MTV Network, Warner Bros...
-Created and managed the development of 3 interactive dvd games. Conceived storyboard, scripts, conducted the casting
of actors, directed and coordinated a graphic design team to conduct the whole projects from creation to production.
-Carried out a market study analyzing the product’s packaging and the consumer behavior towards a new product such as
Interactive dvd games for children.
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Taldec Communication (preschool toy agent)
- Marketing executive
2001 - 2003
Bao ltd. (Hong Kong)’s agent in France preschool electronic toys
Key Achievements:
-Identified specific needs of the toy French market (by product family, by clients)
-Monitored constantly technologic and competitive market for systematic management reporting
-Analyzed the products portfolio, sales, turnover and suggested strategic plans
-In charge of trade marketing, web marketing, communication, organization of toy fairs, PR, sponsoring operations
-Sourced products for call-to-tenders
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Netdatis SA (webagency)
- Web Marketing
2000 - 2001
Part time job
-SEO (search engine optimization)
-Keyword optimazation (study, density, trends)
-SEO audit for clients with strategic report on keywords
-Search engine/Portal URL manual submission
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La Grande Récré (retailer-toys)
- Assistante Achat Import
1999 - 1999
-Labtests checking of all imported toys
-order placements
-opening letter of credits
-toy selections with suppliers
-sample orders, conflict management/after sales
-follow-up with suppliers abroad
