Bhavin Vora

BIO

“Stay Hungary . Stay Foolish” is a famous quote by Sir Steve Jobs , is the philosophy with which I like to live my life. This thought has inspired me to take on different challenges in the corporate and academic world. Having completed my B.E(I.T) from Shah and Anchor Kuttchi Engineering College and my MBA ( Marketing) from Chetana’s Institute of Management and Research , I started my career at India’s top advertising agency Rediffusion which welcomed me to the magic world of brands. From there on was fortunate to work with some of leading corporate houses in India and the Middle East , namely Tata Group , Landmark Group , Reliance Brands Limited , Future Group and Pepperfry. These were iconic brands where I deep dived into the world of retail buying and merchandising in the Furniture & Home Décor space. One common tie along all these 15 years has been NMIMS PDSE Family where I have had the opportunity to contribute as a Visiting Faculty for subjects in the domain of Marketing & Operations.
And well life has now come a full circle with my role as a Full Time faculty where I envision to built great global leaders and entrepreneurs who will build brand India $5 Trillion economy in its next phase of growth. Away from work,  you can find me on a tennis court or writing poetry by the sea side.

Skills

• Business Planning & Budgeting
• Category & Brand Management
• Product Design & Development
• Merchandising Planning
• Quality Control
• Trend Analysis
• Inventory Management
• Strategic Sourcing
• Supplier Relationship Management

Professional summary

Retail Buying Professional with 14 years of Buying Experience in Furniture and Home Decor category. Managed challenging businesses driving growth across brands like Nilkamal Furniture , Pepperfry, Tata Trent – Westside Home , Future Group – Home Town , Reliance Brand Limited – Westelm and Landmark Group – Home Centre Dubai. Having worked across the spectrum of retail formats has helped me build a holistic omni channel buying and merchandising approach.

Work history

Assistant Professor – Marketing (Full Time)                                    June,2025 – Present

NMIMS University

 

Visiting Faculty ( Part Time)                                                   Aug,2024 – Dec,2024

NMIMS University – Mumbai, India

• Visiting Faculty at NMIMS University which is ranked among the Top 10 Universities in India.
• Mentored and taught 600 students across undergraduate and post graduate business school programs.
• Subjects Expertise : Retail Management , Managing Franchise Business , B2B Marketing , Foundation of Entrepreneurship & Management, Brand Management

Buyer                                                                                            Jan,2023 – July,2024

Landmark Group – Home Centre – Dubai, UAE

• Managing the bedroom category contributing to a revenue of 530 Mn.
• Achieved Highest YTD revenue and GP performance since 2015-16 – 16% YOY Sales Growth & 24% Margin Growth.
• Launched 70 new ranges in 17 months contributing to 48% of concept sales
• Expanded modular bedroom program in UAE & KSA contributing to sales of 28 Mn.(5% of bedroom sales)
• Reduced Stock Cover from 5.7 to 4.4 months and ageing from 6% to 3.6% by reduction in broken ranges, top seller availability and launch of new ranges.
• Drove focus towards building of Homestead Furniture Ranges contributing to 45% YTD growth at 61% GP with 14 Options across territories.
• Focused on development of new product categories – Laundry Furniture , Bathroom Furniture , Modular ( Wardrobes , Shoe Racks ) and Vanity Program

Manager – Buying & Planning                                                Sep,2021 – Sep,2022

Reliance Brands Limited – Westelm (Franchise) – Mumbai, India

• Reliance Brands Limited (RBL) is one of India’s leading retail brands that manages franchise business of William Sonoma brands – Westelm & Potterybarn beside multiple iconic brands like Versace , Giorgia Armani etc.
• Successfully launched and scaled the Westelm Franchise business in India to 60 Cr. (25 Mn. AED) across 3 offline stores and 2 online platforms
• Responsible for the assortment planning, buying, merchandising and achieving P/L targets across furniture and homeware category.

Buyer                                                                                           Oct,2018 – Aug,2021

Future Group – Home Town – Mumbai, India

• Hometown is home retail brand of Future Group present across 31 Stores & 24 cities in India positioned as one stop destination for furniture & household products.
• Managed the home décor business contributing to a revenue of 70 Cr. (30 Mn. AED) to total homeware business worth 320 Cr. (135 Mn. AED)
• Achieved highest record sales of 10 Cr. (4Mn, AED) for month of Oct 19′ by ensuring right seasonal home décor merchandise mix.
• Achieved targeted stock velocity of 93% with forward cover of 5 months for the financial year ending 2020.
• Re-aligned assortment and visual merchandising in slow performing stores based on SPF and MPF analysis.

Deputy Buyer                                                                           May,2017 – Sep,2018

Tata Trent Pvt. Ltd – Westside Home – Mumbai, India

• Westside Home is home retail brand of Tata Group present across 150 stores pan India delivering aesthetic home decor and furnishing solutions for the discrete fashion conscious consumer.
• Manage home décor business contributing to a revenue of 30 Cr. (12 Mn AED.) to total homeware business worth 100 Cr. (42 Mn. AED) across 60 stores pan India.
• Executed the product development process from concept to launch ensuring timely season launches.
• Responsible for the launch of 4 new product categories contributing to 15% increase in annual sales.
• Executed product training road shows educating sales teams on new launches and cross selling opportunities across 60 stores.

Assistant Category Manager                                               May,2015 – April,2017

Pepperfry – Online Marketplace – Mumbai, India

• Pepperfry is India’s leading omnichannel e-commerce marketplace for furniture and home goods present across 100 cities in India.
• Managed Home Decor business contributing to revenue of 25 Cr.( 10 Mn. AED)
• Increase in live assortment from 7000 to 14000 SKU’s across product groups and active seller base by 50%.
• Responsible for the growth of 150 marketplace brands across 20 product categories like Table Decor , Wall Decor & Garden Decor.
• Launched a cluster based ethnic collection contributing to 20% of overall sales sourced across interiors of India.
• Increased contribution of Pepperfry House Brands to 30% by building a Pepperfry exclusive curated selection.
• Launched top brands like @ Home, Home Town, Home Stop and Chumbak.

Product Executive                                                             Oct,2012–April,2015

Nilkamal Furniture – Mumbai, India

• Nilkamal is the world’s largest manufacturer of moulded furniture & India’s favourite furniture brand with 50 stores & 3,000+ distributors.
• Managed Home & Office Furniture business contributing to revenue of 100 Cr. (42 Mn. AED ) across dealer distributor networks.
• Channelizing inventories across the supply chain from factory to shelf meeting buffer norm targets.
• Collaborating across teams (Design/SAP/Quality/ SCM/Sales) for launch of new products.
• Responsible for the liquidation strategy, stock corpus, supplier mapping and COGS reports.
• Analyzed the online furniture ecommerce market and suggested a new online sales platform.

Brand Planner                                                                          June,2011 – Sep,2012

Salt Brand Solutions – Mumbai, India

• Worked on new business pitches for brands like EBay, Jabong , L&T and Maxo.
• Built the brand architecture and packaging for launch of food and beverage brand – TATA LYFE.
• Built the brand architecture, distribution & communication strategy for Himalayan’s new variants.
• Managed the re-positioning campaign transforming Kaya from a skin doctor to a beauty expert.
• Conceptualized the service architecture of Kaya into 3 beauty solutions – Cure, Enhance Pamper.

Awards, Accomplishments, and Honours

• Selected among the top 5 Employees at Pepperfry with a 5 Star Rating during 2016 annual appraisal.
• Reliance Brand Limited awarded my team ‘Digital Pivot of Year’ award for launch of online channel – www.westelm.in.