New Product Development Manager-Merchandising (Jewellery)

Job Requirements

Role Purpose

Key process owner for New Product introduction from the merchandising side .

This role works closely with various key stakeholders - Design, NPI, Regional Sourcing, Manufacturing and category teams to ensure on time delivery of New product protos .

Key Responsibilities

1. New Product calendarization , New product process management and New product profitability adherence

Coordination with the category team for creation of the NPD calendar

On time adherence of brief creation by the category team and relaying the same forward to other stakeholders like Design /Sourcing.

Maintenance of the New product launched dashboard by vendor & need state and alert category in case of excess or starvation as per the planned New product number

Ensuring through his/her team the timely release of PDIS for the new products selected by the category team within a day .

Ensuring that Benchmark GC ( BMCG) and AMC-LC is validated for all new products before the PDIS is released

Ensuring that the fill rate against brief is at least 95% for all briefs released to the NPD team

Maintain a stage gate process chart for all critical new product development projects initiated by the merchandising team

Lead the periodic meetings between Design / NPI and merchandising to ensure adherence of time for the new products selected.

Flag of any deviations / delays in timeline for protos in advance with specific call out of the stage where the delay is occurring.

2. Planning & execution of NPIM for both L1|L2 and L3 channels

Managing the NPD team to ensure that the NPIMs ( both Offline & Online) are scheduled & completed on time and the hit rates are shared with the respective stakeholders – Category , NPI & Design

Coordinate with the L3 team to ensure that the L3 indents at the NPIM are processed within 3 days

Take end to end responsibility & Ownership of the protos brought for the NPIM till the return is completed without any damage or loss.

Ensure RSO & Franchisee satisfaction during the NPIM process in terms of boarding , lodging , transportation as well as the indenting process.

Ensuring that the Quality walk through with the QA team happens post each NPIM.

3. Driving Operational excellence & Lead time reduction

Owner of the New Product development portal ( BSID) portal and ensure that the critical responsibility of ensuring that the key stakeholders have visibility on the stage & the time elapsed since selection of the design.

Coordinating with the IT team to integrate all new product developments ( DEC designed) into the New Product development portal

Coordinating with the IT team to ensure that all stages of proto development right from the first stage (selection of proto) to the final stage ( bulk indent) is visible on the portal

Drive the lead time goal of selection to inwarding of selected protos ( In Tanishq quality ) in 7 days for all protos using the portal effectively.

Ensuring proto bin liquidation through periodic nudges & interaction with the category team.

4. New Product insights , development of new skillsets and new vendor onboarding

Ensuring New vendor onboarding on the basis of the new requirement ( through Instigator portal) and the current skill set gaps in workmanship & Innovation

Coordinating the participation in various trade shows ( IIJS / Jaipur Jewellery show ..etc)

Collation of new trends seen across vendors as an input to the category team

Ensuring that the new product briefs are released to the vendors with the right skillset thereby ensuring that the briefs for products with lower complexity are with cost effective partners ( KP/KC)

5. People Management

Responsibility of allocation of the various deliverables to the right team member

Grooming of the team to ensure that they take on higher order responsibilities

Periodic reviews & appraisal of the team’s work

Work Experience

Internal & External Interfaces

Internal: Design, NPI, Category, Sourcing, ISCM, IT, Regional Merchandiser & sales team

External: Vendors, Franchisee partners, Hospitality & setup partners

Required Qualifications / Experience / Behavioural Skills

Graduate or MBA for a reputed college or university.

7–10 years of experience in Jewellery business with a strong understanding of the product development process.

Ability to coordinate with multiple stakeholders and work on tight timelines

Ability to manage a team

Experience in Oracle will help.