🚀 Assistant Category Manager – Fruits & Vegetables | Fresh Category Buying & Procurement Hiring
🏢 Company: KPN Farm Fresh Pvt. Ltd.
Fresh Category Management Hiring
📄 Job Description
KPN Farm Fresh Pvt. Ltd. is hiring an Assistant Category Manager – Fruits & Vegetables for its Kochi location. The selected candidate will take end-to-end ownership of the fresh Fruits & Vegetables category, including vendor sourcing, procurement, inventory planning, pricing, assortment, margin management, demand forecasting, and category performance. This opportunity is ideal for professionals with 5–10 years of experience in fresh category buying or procurement within Retail, FMCG, E-commerce, or Quick Commerce.
🛠 Key Responsibilities
- Manage the Fruits & Vegetables category with end-to-end ownership of category performance.
- Identify, evaluate, onboard, and manage vendors and suppliers for fresh produce.
- Lead vendor negotiations covering pricing, quality, commercial terms, availability, and service levels.
- Plan procurement based on demand forecasts, sales trends, seasonality, and inventory requirements.
- Maintain optimum inventory levels while minimizing stock-outs, wastage, ageing, and excess inventory.
- Develop pricing strategies that balance competitiveness, customer value, and category margins.
- Manage product assortment based on customer demand, seasonality, regional preferences, and business objectives.
- Monitor gross margins, procurement costs, sales performance, and category profitability.
- Coordinate closely with Supply Chain, Operations, Store, and other cross-functional teams.
- Analyze historical sales data and market trends to improve demand forecasting and procurement planning.
- Track category KPIs and identify opportunities to improve sales, margins, availability, and inventory efficiency.
- Support continuous improvement initiatives across sourcing, procurement, assortment, and fresh category operations.
🎓 Eligibility Criteria
- 5–10 years of relevant experience in Category Buying, Procurement, or Category Management.
- Strong hands-on experience in the Fruits & Vegetables or Fresh Category is mandatory.
- Experience in Retail, FMCG, E-commerce, or Quick Commerce industries is preferred.
- Strong understanding of fresh produce sourcing, procurement, seasonality, quality, and supply dynamics.
- Experience in vendor sourcing, commercial negotiation, and supplier relationship management.
- Knowledge of inventory planning, demand forecasting, pricing, assortment, and margin management.
- Strong analytical, negotiation, and problem-solving capabilities.
- Excellent communication and cross-functional stakeholder management skills.
- Ability to work from the Kochi office and operate effectively in a fast-paced fresh retail environment.
⭐ Key Skills
- Category Management
- Fruits & Vegetables Category
- Fresh Category Buying
- Procurement Management
- Vendor Sourcing
- Vendor Negotiation
- Inventory Planning
- Demand Forecasting
- Pricing & Assortment Management
- Margin Management
- Category Analytics
- Stakeholder Management
💰 Benefits
- Opportunity to work with a growing fresh retail business.
- End-to-end ownership of the Fruits & Vegetables category.
- Hands-on exposure to sourcing, procurement, pricing, assortment, and category profitability.
- Opportunity to work closely with Supply Chain, Operations, Store, and business teams.
- Professional growth and career development opportunities in fresh retail and category management.
⭐ Why Join KPN Farm Fresh Pvt. Ltd.?
- Be part of a growing business focused on fresh retail and food categories.
- Take end-to-end ownership of a strategically important Fruits & Vegetables category.
- Build deeper expertise in fresh sourcing, procurement, inventory planning, and category strategy.
- Work in a data-driven role involving pricing, margins, demand forecasting, and category performance.
- Collaborate with multiple business functions and contribute directly to category growth and profitability.
🎤 How to Prepare for the Interview
- Prepare examples of managing Fruits & Vegetables or other fresh categories with end-to-end ownership.
- Be ready to explain your vendor sourcing strategy and examples of successful commercial negotiations.
- Review procurement planning, seasonality, lead times, shelf life, wastage, and inventory management concepts for fresh produce.
- Prepare examples of improving category margins while maintaining competitive consumer pricing.
- Review key category KPIs such as sales growth, gross margin, inventory turnover, availability, fill rate, wastage, and stock-outs.
- Be ready to discuss how you use historical sales data and market trends for demand forecasting.
- Prepare examples of managing assortment decisions and responding to seasonal demand fluctuations.
- Demonstrate strong analytical thinking, negotiation, commercial acumen, and cross-functional stakeholder management skills.
📩 How to Apply
Interested candidates can apply via email using the link below.