Arpit Gandhi

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Leading a team of 25 members including Team Heads, Senior Managers, Merchandisers and Designers managing a business of 3500 Cr
• Responsible for delivering the top and bottom line, Sell Thru and Stock Turn across all divisions - Footwear, Apparel and Accessories.
• Formulating strategies to grow future business
• Identifying and Developing new product categories generating inorganic business
• Working closely with Top Brand Assets like Virat, Anushka, Harrdy for developing local Collabs
• Cost negotiations with Vendors to optimize margins
• 360 Collaboration with Sales and marketing to drive business across channels

KEY ACHIEVEMENTS:

• Infused multiple new products lines across Footwear, Apparel and Accessories and built multiple business critical channel strategies over the last 5 years to drive Puma India Growth from 1400 Cr in 2019 to 3250 Cr in 2023
• Received "Emerging Leader of the Year - 2022" during the Puma annual awards.
• Leading the 5 year MTP strategy (2023 - 2028) through organic and inorganic channel and product opportunities
• Developed product experts within the team through focused mentorship and training enabling them to handle their respective businesses independently

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Achieving targeted Net Sales, GP, Sell Thru and stock turns for the category
• India specific Product Creation including Design and Development to fulfill range gaps from inline range and maximize sales potential
• Working closely with top Brand Assets like Virat, Anushka, Harrdy for developing local Collabs
• Seasonal Buying basis sales analysis and market trends
• Planning Discounts basis sales performance
• Cost negotiations with Vendors to optimize margins

KEY ACHIEVEMENTS:

• Footwear sales growth by 65% (2022 over 2021) over a large base over-achieving the Footwear sales target by 12%
• Led the project of Resourced Footwear in order to localize the key global technologies across mid soles (softride, pumalite, pro series), uppers (knitted uppers, engineered mesh uppers, TPUs etc) and sock liners (memory foam).

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Achieving targeted Net Sales, GP, Sell Thru and stock turns for the category
• India specific Product Creation including Design and Development to fulfill range gaps from inline range and maximize sales potential
• Seasonal Buying basis sales analysis and market trends
• Planning Discounts basis sales performance
• Cost negotiations with Vendors to optimize margins

KEY ACHIEVEMENTS:

• Driven 63% growth (projected) in Puma Apparel and Accessories business from 2019 to 2021 vs company growth of 39% through collaborative working with customers, sales, marketing and sourcing
• Enabled Apparel and Accessories business growth in eCom - share increase from 19% (2019) to 34% (2021) through in-depth market research, gap analysis and developing relevant lines within a short span of time.
• Resourced key global product categories with key technologies like double knit, poly jacquards, warp knit etc to ensure speed to market and reduced costs
• Led the launch of key Collaborations like RCB, Dream11, 1der in a short span of 6 months

- Managing Merchandising for all categories (Footwear, Apparel and Accessories) for Full Price O&O Stores across India (Net Sales of ~220 Cr through ~80 stores)
- Responsible for achieving net sales, GP and sell thru targets

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Buying for all categories (Footwear, Apparel and Accessories)
• Managing a team of 4 merchandisers to ensure regular launches and replenishments across all controlled stores
• Planning in-season and EOSS offers/ discounting to ensure maximizing Sell Thru and Gross Margin
• Weekly Replenishments to all controlled stores
• Regular Analysis and Reviews to ensure gap fulfillment and inventory optimization
• Stock consolidation to ensure inventory optimization across stores
• Market visits to understand regional requirements and competition mapping

KEY ACHIEVEMENTS:

• Setting Up complete Direct to Consumer merchandising for Puma India (2017) from a wholesale driven business model
• >110% target achievement in 2018 and 2019
• Eliminated the tail and focus on depth in top sellers improving stock efficiency, fungibility and better sell thru
• Led the transition from Regional Buying process to Cluster buying process to ensure alignment across similar store groups across the country
• Working closely with BI team to develop Automated reports

• Managing North Adidas SPC Stores
• Apparel Range Selection for Adidas SPS stores
• Making suggested orders for Partners
• Presentations to partners during trade show
• Drove the project on Boost buys and allocations
• Lead the project on store cluster order planning

• Working closely with sales team with target of increasing Apparel Wholesale Business for PUMA India
• Building Puma India Apparel Range through Inline product selection (from Puma global range)
• Developing SMUs to fulfill gaps from inline range
• Defining MRPs for all Apparel lines
• Range Presentations during Sell-ins
• Markets visits to understand specific requirements

• Buying for UCB stores in Gujarat
• Maintaining optimum merchandise assortments ratios and Inventory Levels in all stores
• Undertaking product training sessions for store staff
• Maximizing efficiency and sell thru through stock consolidation across stores