Connor Thomas

• Manage operational capacity and resource deployment to achieve all Equipment Designs for New Stores, Refits and International. Developing a minimum of 10 store plans a week, recent example ‘Wilko Acquisitions – 56 stores opened in 5 weeks.”
• Communicated and influenced others at director/head of levels to drive action and continuous improvement cross functionally.
• Led team of cross-functional design, project management, and construction staff to consistently meet and exceed project KPI targets.
• Proposed detailed and strategic updates to drive impact of existing layouts. Recent Example, DRS Scheme in Republic of Ireland.
• Produced detailed feasibility reports, design proposals and project updates to stakeholders, facilitating positive relations and soliciting feedback.
• Competitor Visits/Store Visits to ensure designs are current, relevant and on trend.
• Developing and defining Store Planning Principles.

• Cross-functional working with buyers, and merchandisers to create and maintain our Visual Merchandising Planograms churning weekly.
• Developing team members through 1-2-1 and Reviews.
• Create, develop, and implement strategic micro/macro planning initiatives to drive sales and profitability across all retail stores.
• Analyze sales, space data, and customer behavior to identify opportunities for space optimization and visual merchandising improvements.
• Present recommendations for new fixture solutions to drive incremental sales and margin growth.
• Setting critical paths and defining strategies to ensure projects are delivered effectively.

• Defining Yearly Critical Paths for all Macro Merchandise Layout changes alongside the Store Planning Manager.
• Providing seasonal planogram support to maximize sales performance across FMCG/GM categories in line with theseasonal buying critical path.
• Conduct regular site visits to validate implementation and ensure the customer experience is at its optimum.
• Develop equipment Layouts to include Clothing and Frozen Food Ranges by manipulating existing store space to ensure incremental growth.

• Designing all macro merchandise changes through AutoCAD based off Project Brief, 820 stores including UK and ROI.
• Generating Sales Per Bay analysis for stores using PowerBI to ensure product mix within stores meets customer behavior driving basket spend and overall profitability.
• Launching new macro trial planograms during ‘Simple Price’ movement.

• Appointed first ‘Deputy manager’ in the area, becoming fully responsible for all KPIs in the store alongside the store manager. Store annual turnover being £9 million.
• Deputizing into the Store Manager rule 3 days a week, leading director store walks, and organizing weekly objectives for the store.
• Improving KPIs such as Stock Loss, NPS, and Health and safety. As the lead for Stock Loss, I delivered a 4% improvement from -5.5% to -1.5% in one year to achieve a green rating.
• Handling all cash audits, leading all Visual Merchandising changeovers and placing orders.