Mehul Vaghela

Past

• Concept Lead, Big Bazaar Sales & Merchandising, GM-Homeware at Pantaloon Retail India Ltd
• Sr. Manager - Category Consumption, Food Bazaar at Pantaloon Retail India Ltd
• Vice President - Retail (India) at Staples Future Office Products

• Area Manager Operations at Pantaloon Retail India Ltd
• Store Manager, Pantaloons Ahmedabad at Pantaloon Retail India Ltd
• Assistant Store Manager at Pantaloon Retail India Ltd
• Management Trainee at Bodyline Fashions, Ahmedabad

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Education

• Nirma Institute of Management
• St. Xavier's College

Recommended

16 people have recommended Mehul

Connections

468 connections

Industry

Retail

Mehul Vaghela’s Summary

Results driven, customer centred professional with 10 years of experience in retail store and category management. Verifiable talent for maintaining profitable retail operations, with success in capitalizing on growth opportunities, implementing promotional/ marketing strategies, and upholding fiscal integrity. Articulate communicator and effective trainer skilled in achieving employee buy-in on organizational goals. Respected, trusted manager who upholds highest ethical standards.

Mehul Vaghela’s Specialties:

Core skill areas include:

• Hypermarket, Supermarket, FMCG, Fashion apparel & Office supplies and Technology retail store management
• Store Setup/ Start-up retail
• Category Management
• Space Planning
• Plannogramme Management
• Profit & Loss Management
• Loss Prevention/ Inventory Management
• Customer Service/ Loyalty Programs
• Staff Training & Mentoring
• Performance Management

Mehul Vaghela’s Experience

• Concept Lead, Big Bazaar Sales & Merchandising, GM-Homeware

  Pantaloon Retail India Ltd

  (Public Company; Retail industry)

  June 2009 — November 2009 (6 months)

  This newly created position is responsible for nation-wide sales achievement, product planning, advertising & promotion planning / execution, margins and markdown management, inventory planning and control, life cycle management of products, shop-in-shop management, etc.

• Sr. Manager - Category Consumption, Food Bazaar

  Pantaloon Retail India Ltd

  (Public Company; Retail industry)

  October 2008 — June 2009 (9 months)

  Challenged to spot and drive delta consumption and margin mainly by
  • Increasing usage of existing categories – Initiated Plannogramme based merchandising to facilitate effective adjacencies and increase add-on sales keeping in mind ground realities of low fill rates. Expected to create new purchase occasions of usage for low penetration categories.
  • Recruiting new customers – Championing an assortment correction exercise across 150+ stores to cater to the diverse customer segmentation of communities and regional catchments.
  • New Category creation - Nurturing categories like wine & beer, plastics & utensils, home fashion and organic foods till they attain scale to be absorbed by mainstream operations.
  Also lead the Space Planning team and launched the concept of Big Bazaar Express, a 'mid market' concept aimed at catering to Tier II and III catchments.

• Vice President - Retail (India)

  Staples Future Office Products

  (Retail industry)

  March 2007 — September 2008 (1 year 7 months)

  Joined as Deputy General Manager – Operations and promoted to setup the Retail vertical. Challenged to supervise store design, layout & décor; brand adaptation & marketing, setting up Standard Operating Procedures, ERP setup, recruitment & training, statutory compliance, visual merchandising, store construction & store setup, grand launch and sales. Successfully launched the first 5 standalone stores & 12 store-in-stores in a short span of 18 months.
  
  • Co-led team to large format and store-in-store launch within 4 months overseeing negotiating business terms of contract, customer setup & item setup. Recruited the entire initial sales force of 100+ associates in Bangalore city.
  • Steered a novice team to gear up to retail challenges including assortment planning and Plannogramme. Was successful in ensuring positive EBITA at the store level across the first few stores in less than 3 months of launch.
  • Established and maintained excellent relationships with host store management, corporate operations and support teams of Big Bazaar and Central for store-in-store concepts.

• Area Manager Operations

  Pantaloon Retail India Ltd

  (Public Company; Retail industry)

  January 2005 — March 2007 (2 years 3 months)

  Promoted to oversee 12 diverse format stores in the Gujarat region in reaching sales and operational performance goals, primarily through mentoring Store Managers in HR procedures, sales techniques, inventory control, staff supervision and cost management. Planned and set goals; coached and counselled employees. Assisted Zonal team with several activities including pre-interviewing management candidates, competency development programmes and overseeing store openings.
  
  • Planned and delivered training sessions, presented modules to both individuals and large groups that contributed to more than 25 employees receiving promotions to managerial positions.

• Store Manager, Pantaloons Ahmedabad

  Pantaloon Retail India Ltd

  (Public Company; Retail industry)

  July 2002 — December 2004 (2 years 6 months)

  Promoted to manage a large format Pantaloon store and drive profitability through customer service, loss prevention and audit.
  • Expanded business by 20% within 1st year; engineered turnaround for location challenged by stiff competition.

• Assistant Store Manager

  Pantaloon Retail India Ltd

  (Public Company; Retail industry)

  April 2000 — June 2002 (2 years 3 months)

• Management Trainee

  Bodyline Fashions, Ahmedabad

  (Retail industry)

  April 1999 — March 2000 (1 year )

  Progressed through increasingly responsible roles around floor management, advertising and sales promotions.

Mehul Vaghela’s Education

• Nirma Institute of Management

  PGDBM , Marketing , 1997 — 1999

• St. Xavier's College

  BA , Economics , 1994 — 1996

Additional Information

Mehul Vaghela’s Interests:

Sport in general but Cricket in particular, Video Games & Films.

Mehul Vaghela’s Groups:

•    Institute of Management, Nirma University
•    Recruiting Professionals Network
•    Retail Industry Experts
•    Retail Jobs
•    Premium Headhunting Network
•    Telecom Jobs
•    Retail Industry Professionals Worldwide
•    Office Depot Global
•    Pantaloon Retail (I) Ltd.
•    Recruit Dubai Network
•    CALIFORNIA Retail Networking
•    Zeus Retail
•    BLUECHIP Corporate & Management Gurus
•    Job Openings, Job Leads and Job Connections!
•    Europe Jobs, Careers and Networking
•    Fashion Careers

Mehul Vaghela’s Honors:

Related training

o International Management Trainee Program, Staples Inc. MA, USA 2007
o US Stores Management Development, Staples Inc. MA, USA 2007
o “Perfect Hires” – An Interviewer Training Program, Future Group 2005
o ‘What makes a leader? – A workshop on effective leadership’ , Future Group 2006
o Assessor Training Program for ‘Competency Assessment Centre’, Future Group 2006

Mehul Vaghela’s Contact Settings

Interested In:

• career opportunities
• job inquiries
• expertise requests
• reference requests
• getting back in touch