Product Specialist

**Product Specialist**: **POSITION SNAPSHOT**: - JobReq ID: 48506- Type of work: Hybrid- Type of contract: Open-ended/permanent- Full/Part Time: Full time- Location: Johannesburg, ZA**OUR COMPANY**: Bridgestone in Europe, CIS, Middle East, India and Africa (BSEMIA), headquartered in Zaventem (Belgium), is a subsidiary of Bridgestone Corporation, a global leader providing sustainable mobility and advanced solutions. In addition to our premium tire products, we offer a growing portfolio of tire-centric and mobility solutions. Together with our partners and guided by "Serving Society with Superior Quality”, that has been our mission since Shojiro Ishibashi founded Bridgestone in 1931, we are working to accelerate sustainable mobility innovations and solutions. Through innovative technology, we are committed to easier, safer, smoother and seamless mobility for our society and customers improving how people move, live, work and play. Bridgestone also benefits from a significant retail network throughout the region - in fact our retail presence in the EMIA region is the largest in the tire industry. Through 17 distinct retail partners, we have around 3,500 outlets across Europe, the Middle East and Africa as well as around 2,500 outlets through our partner network in India. This network offers a selection of services, concepts and mobility solutions. At Bridgestone we pride ourselves on the strong relationships we maintain with everyday drivers and this extensive retail network is one of the core reasons why. In line with the “Bridgestone Essence”, our work environment is based on integrity and teamwork, where everyone can learn from each other and contribute with their own ideas in achieving the coming goals. We want to hear from people who can take the challenge, unleash their creative potential and contribute to the company success demonstrating ownership, courage and agility. We want you to develop your skills, expand your knowledge and be proud of your work. : **Job Purpose** The purpose of this role is to be a strategic business partner to Consumer and Commercial Sales. The purpose of this role is to provide executional support, data management and market analysis to the Snr Product Planning Manager, LSCM and regional Planning teams **Responsibilities**: - Market Share - Co-ordinate with Europe HQ on Market Share and reconcile monthly market demand. - Research monthly Market Performance and provide reasoning. - Calculate Market Share and report back to the business leaders with reasoning. - Final Market Share submission to head office in Europe - New Product Planning & Sourcing - Organise and form relevant project Cross Functional Team and management timeline till project finality to insure successful launch readiness. - Conduct demand logic study by gathering market data (Carprc by segment, segment growth, price elasticity, Market Fair Share) to justify for potential volume. - Compile business plan with the help from Technical Centre, PCM (Product Category Manager) and sourcing plant. - Liaise with all internal stakeholders from Project Concept till launch ready. - Prepare accurate content of NPR [New Product Request] including factual back-up data. 3. Product Communication to internal and external customers - Issue quarterly B_News newsletter to Sales Team and dealer network. - Issue Product notifications for all Product and Line-up related news and maintain online notifications depository. 4. Manage Line-up - Manage and co-ordinate the line-up by processing new Product introductions through the SAP code creation process. - Manage quarterly SKU clean up and rationalisation project by identifying products to be discontinued, present to Marketing & Sales and obtain agreement to remove from product line-up. - Co-ordinate global SKU rationalisation process by receiving SKU’s proposed to be discontinued, report to Sales team for approval to remove and report back to global team. - Collaborate with LSCM (Logistics and Supply Chain Management) to study and update the Phase-In/Phase Out plan for all new product entrants and discontinuations 5. Market trend analysis and marketing intelligence - Competitor volume size change trend. - Competitor promotional activity. - Regional pattern performance by size by segment - Determine volume size changes in % for competitor by Retail Outlet - Opposition - Determine volume size changes in % for competitor by Retail Outlet - Analyse by pattern sales growth against budget guidelines / parameters for BSAF and provisional regions. - Monitor and track 5 most popular sizes and 5 least popular sizes and make recommendations - Analyse and find competitive products and match them with the company existing product to determine the price. Must be well verse in doing competitive analysis. **Requirements**: - Minimum 5 years’ experience - Data analytics - Competitor analysis and market reviews - Working with Big Data - Automotive Industry Knowledge - Data and p