Aisle Spy
The blog that goes behind the scenes at Asda.
Meet our graduates
Charlotte
Serve Over Ready Meals Buyer
Trading Graduate
Hi, my name’s Charlotte and I’m the buyer for Serve Over Ready Meals.
I joined Asda on the Trading Graduate scheme straight from the University of Exeter. It was the culture which first attracted me and the fact that the company presented itself as a friendly family, which always supported each other. As I was relocating from Devon to Leeds this was obviously very important to me, and it’s all proved to be true!
After a few months of training, my first proper project has been this year’s Halloween products, so it was pretty spooky around my desk for the first year!
In my second year I moved into a supply role working in our impulse department. Although this move took me off of the trading floor, it gave me great experience understanding how our stock gets from our suppliers, through our distribution network and in to our stores; and this really helped me understand what impact different factors have on profit and margin which is invaluable as a trader.
With my trading knowledge I was able to drive availability whilst also removing millions of pounds of inventory from the department, it was great to see such tangible results that benefited the customer and our stores, and know that I could make such a difference.
I have now started my role as the serve over ready meals buyer. Every week is really busy and it starts early on a Monday morning by looking through the last week’s sales. Then I’ll work through any availability issues the stores are having with suppliers and try to resolve them. A part of the week is also spent analysing the way we’ve done things in the past and working out how to do them better in the future.
One of the best parts of my job is tasting all the new amazing curry and oriental dishes that we are looking to introduce into our range. Suppliers come to ASDA house and cook all kinds of delights, that will be in our stores if they are right for our customers.
Having already achieved my position as a buyer within Asda is testament to the fact that I couldn’t have asked for better support from my colleagues and managers and the formal training that’s arranged is amazing.
I’ve also set myself a target of three years to become a Senior Manager. It’s going to be a challenge, but it’s one I’m looking forward to tackling.