Sell Side Head - Merchandising - eCommerce

The Sell-Side Head will lead the overall merchandising and commercial growth charter across categories. The role focuses on maximizing revenue per dark store, driving assortment relevance, and owning category-level P&L. This leader will define the platform's sell-side strategy by balancing customer insights, data-backed assortment planning, supplier partnerships, pricing, and visual merchandising.

Key Responsibilities

1. Category and Merchandising Strategy

- Build and execute the merchandising roadmap across key FMCG, fresh, and impulse categories.

- Optimize SKU selection, shelf productivity, and contribution margins across stores and warehouses.

- Shape assortment depth and width based on real-time demand patterns and regional customer preferences.

- Own pricing, promotions, and planogram decisions to balance growth and profitability.

2. P&L Ownership and Growth

- Drive top-line revenue and category margin growth across all zones.

- Allocate budgets across categories and optimize buying, markdowns, and vendor margins.

- Partner with supply chain and operations to minimize stock-outs and inventory holding costs.

3. Vendor and Brand Partnerships

- Build strategic partnerships with brands, distributors, and D2C players for exclusive offerings.

- Negotiate trade terms, visibility investments, and campaign collaborations.

- Co-create themed sales or product launches to improve customer stickiness on the platform.

4. Cross-functional Collaboration

- Work closely with Marketing and Growth to align commercial calendars with customer campaigns.

- Partner with Supply Chain and Demand Planning teams to ensure agile sourcing and availability.

- Guide Product and Tech on merchandising tools, dashboards, and recommendation algorithms.

5. Leadership and Team Management

- Lead a team of category managers, buyers, and pricing analysts.

- Foster a data-driven, customer-centric decision-making culture.

- Develop capability frameworks for merchandising excellence and continuous improvement.

Desired Profile:

Experience:

- 10-15 years of experience in merchandising, sell-side category management, or buying.

- Domain expertise in quick commerce, ecommerce, or modern trade retail is essential.

- Proven experience managing multi-category P&Ls with regional complexity.

Skills and Competencies:

- Strong analytical grounding with comfort in assortment modeling and pricing elasticity.

- Strategic negotiator with hands-on experience building vendor ecosystems.

- Deep understanding of consumer purchase behavior and basket composition in quick commerce.

- Leadership capacity to direct teams and manage multiple commercial levers simultaneously.