A Day in the Life of a Central Logistics Specialist Retail Impact Ltd
As an Implant you will become a fully integrated member in a Central role working in the main head office of a major retailer, on behalf of a major supplier. Your role is in essence, the hub of the wheel. A lot of people will be reliant on you to produce the goods in an appropriate manner, and a lot of things will revolve around you.
As an Analyst you report to the retailer’s Category Manager. They are your main contact on a daily basis and your immediate line manager on behalf of the retailer. They will be your 1st point of contact on a daily and weekly basis, as they are the people who report to the sales teams, to give progress updates, and track your performance.
There will also be a team of merchandisers working in your category, which will be doing a similar role to you, but also in place are industry support colleagues, food technicians, food buyers and range planners. You are a part of this team, and the key task is to help to grow sales, increase availability and reduce wastage. Tasks are always completed within the retailers set targets and parameters and at the same time helping your supplier to grow their own sales and increase profitability.
In addition to this, you will also have the Retail Impact Team. They are in place, doing the same role, but will also give you assistance, guidance and support, help complete part of your induction process and be available to answer questions or queries you may have.
You will also have our own Senior Business Analyst (your line Manager) in place. They are there primarily doing a similar role to you, however there is a duality to their duties. They will also act as a prime contact between the Retailer and Retail Impact, helping to forge new business relationships. They are present during negotiations between new suppliers as we strive to increase the scale and size of our business. Also they will be the main contact from our Head Office based in Theale, ensuring our own internal company standards are achieved, we achieve our own internal targets, and we also present ourselves to our external customers in a professional and efficient manner.
The role of a central support analyst is varied, but has a similar streak running through each day. There are no two days the same, but there is a core that has to be completed on a regular basis to ensure procedures are followed in an accurate and timely fashion.
The first thing we do when we arrive at the office is to check the reports from the previous day. Having a handle on your department’s sales progress, availability and wastage is key. You may be challenged by your external line manager, on your departments’ progress so it is essential you are aware of what progress you have made, which departments or specific lines are causing issues and more importantly, how you are going to resolve this. Regular meetings to discuss these issues are standard, and you may be challenged if the figures do not tally up with the expected results, you may get a pat on the back if you’re bang on target, or if the business has heavily traded over the original estimate, then you will be looking at your stock levels to see if you may have to order more than previously expected.
The ability to use spreadsheets and adapt to retailers bespoke systems is the key. We utilise a number of tools to ensure accuracy; excel based spreadsheets are used to examine trends, spot potential growth areas and to eliminate risks of loss and wastage.
Delivery estimates and availability figures are all generated and the data is used to manipulate the retailer’s internal forecasting system to ensure that you will get the correct stock at the correct times. Detailed analysis is required at key stages during the week, in hand with the spreadsheet data and using the internal system.
Examination of future forecasts, calculating stock levels to ensure they stay within limits, ensuring key lines have sufficient covers are all valuable elements that must be completed regularly to ensure peak trading times during the week have sufficient stock levels to cover sales and with a level of security built in so that if your sales increase exponentially, you will not sell out and miss out!
Building a relationship with your supplier is going to be a major influence on your daily routine. Maintaining that relationship with them, building a rapport and being there for them, is what this role means. Regular communication with your supply contact is the best way to grow sales. They want us to succeed, and they will be more than ready to go the extra mile to help, whether it be regarding questions or queries, or arranging Supplier visits, factory tours and presentations.
Feedback on sales trends, detailed work on lines, such as pack size reviews or customer feedback to improve store availability thus increase the suppliers output is what they will want from you. Ad-hoc reports and scheduled updates will be a regular occurrence, in order to raise their awareness of what is happening with their products and to help develop this relationship.
In short, the role of a Central Support Analyst is a very much a case of building relationships. Being a part of three teams, using your own professionalism and integrity and maintaining the key corporate values of our company and a Major UK Retailer. Growing sales, reducing wastage and increasing availability, whilst using a bespoke retailer tool and windows based systems, is what the role is about.