Trading Strategist: How I Drive Commercial Performance

My role as a Trading Strategist

As a Trading Strategist within the retail business, my role is to own the commercial rhythm and ensure we deliver profitable growth. I translate our business targets (sales, margin, stock turns, customer growth) into a clear, executable trading plan that teams can run - week by week and category by category.

I sit between buying, merchandising, marketing, supply chain and stores, using data to make decisions across pricing, promotions, range, space and stock, and then tightening those decisions through weekly trade.

The problems I am accountable for fixing

In-day-to-day trading, the challenges are consistent:

• Promotions drive volume but don’t always deliver profit.... a lot of work for not much reward!

• Pricing isn’t always clear or competitive where it matters most

• Ranges can become bloated, masking hero lines and tying up cash

• Stock is either working too hard (OOS) or not hard enough (markdown risk) - a "wrong stock" problem!

• Commercial plans exist, but execution isn’t fully joined up across teams

My objective: align all levers behind a single trading plan that delivers profitable, cash-efficient growth and is executable in reality, not just on paper

Output: a simple, shared performance narrative that highlights the few levers that will move results.

2) Set clear commercial targets and KPIs

Before building plans, I lock-in the rules that protect profit and cash:

• Sales growth targets with margin and stock investment constraints - short term as well as longer term

• Clear value rules (which items we must always be competitive on) - identify your USP and make sure they are central to your strategy

• Promotional guidance & planning (depth, frequency, margin thresholds, funding expectations)

• Stock parameters (weeks of cover, service level expectations, markdown triggers)

• KPIs - what are the key measure that are going to provide success - how are we going to focus on these, to make the difference

Output: a decision framework that allows teams to move quickly without eroding value.

3) Build the trading plan across pricing, promotions, range and space

Output: a clear commercial playbook that teams can consistently execute in-store and online.

4) Lock everything into a single trading calendar

I convert strategy into a rolling 13–52 week trading calendar that connects:

• Key retail "moments" and seasonal shifts

• Promotional events and pricing actions

• Range changes and merchandise transitions

• Marketing and CRM activity

• Stock build, flow and sell-through plans

Output: one source of truth that buying, marketing, supply chain and stores align behind.

5) Trade the business weekly

Strategy only works if it is actively traded. I run a disciplined weekly rhythm:

• Review performance vs plan—what drove it and why

• Identify exceptions (availability risks, margin leakage, markdown exposure)

• Make fast interventions (re-phasing promos, price changes, stock reallocation)

• Test and learn through controlled trials where appropriate

Output: a live trading plan that adjusts to reality, not hindsight.

Example of how this plays out in practice (illustrative)

Trading reality: Footfall is strong, but profit is flat. Promotions are frequent, margin is under pressure, and availability fails during peak events.

Actions I take:

• Reduce low-return, deeply discounted promotions and focus on fewer, clearer hero events.

• Reset price architecture to protect known value items while recovering margin elsewhere.

• Simplify ranges to free up space and stock for high-performing SKUs.

• Improve promo stock phasing and supply alignment to protect availability.

Result: clearer value for customers, improved availability on key lines, and stronger profit per event.

How I typically structure the work