The trading year as a sequence of Board decisions
The Independent Director will serve on the Nomination & Remuneration Committee and Strategy Committee. The mandate combines retail strategy, leadership succession, merchandising governance, format economics, working capital and customer trust. The Director should understand how choices made months before a season appear later as availability, margin, markdown, cash and obsolete stock.
Before the range is bought
The Strategy Committee will examine category roles, price architecture, private labels, supplier concentration, minimum order quantities and the evidence behind demand. Assortment breadth must be justified by customer missions and store or digital productivity. Management should show where products are interchangeable, where range duplication creates hidden inventory and how item exit will be handled.
Open-to-buy governance should connect sales forecast, lead time, working capital, storage, fulfilment and downside markdown. A favourable gross-margin percentage is not adequate when the item requires slow inventory, high return cost or promotional support that is not contractually secure.
While the season is trading
The Director will expect weekly or periodic evidence on availability, sell-through, realised margin, inventory age, returns, supplier performance and customer complaints. Promotions should state the objective, funding and post-event evaluation. Teams should not preserve reported margin by holding slow stock at unrealistic value or delay markdown until demand has disappeared.
Pricing and offers require integrity across store, online and marketplace channels. Personalised offers must have clear rules, customer consent and safeguards against unfair exclusion or manipulative scarcity. Loyalty data should be collected and retained only for defined purposes.
After the season closes
Management will conduct category and format reviews using original assumptions. The Strategy Committee should see which variance came from demand, price, availability, buying, allocation, store execution, fulfilment or return. Lessons should change range, supplier, space, process or leadership decisions. Repeating the same explanation across seasons signals a governance issue.
Store and channel economics will include occupancy, labour, loss, fulfilment, return handling, inventory, local marketing and digital contribution. A store may support omnichannel demand, but the contribution must be evidenced. Expansion proposals should have customer-density logic, ramp assumptions, capital, lease downside and exit terms.
Leadership and incentives through the NRC
The Nomination & Remuneration Committee will review succession for the chief executive and leaders of merchandising, operations, supply chain, digital, finance and people. Candidate readiness should include trade-off decisions under inventory and cash pressure. The Director will examine whether leaders develop category and store successors or maintain personal control over key suppliers and choices.
Commercial incentives will balance sales and margin with cash, inventory health, returns, customer outcomes and supplier integrity. Store incentives should not encourage stock concealment, forced selling or under-reporting of loss. Long-term awards should recognise durable format economics rather than expansion alone.
Applicant experience
Candidates may have led retail, consumer, merchandising, store operations, supply chain, digital commerce, finance, human capital or multi-site services. They need the courage to challenge attractive growth when range, inventory or leadership evidence is weak.
Active IICA registration is compulsory. Applicants should disclose interests involving retailers, suppliers, marketplaces, landlords, logistics providers and payment firms. Submit a Board résumé and a note on the evidence needed before approving a new retail format.