Craig

• Karl
  Business Development Manager
• Charlotte
  Trading Assistant
• Gareth
  Distribution Operations Manager
• Michael
  Procurement Manager
• Geri
  Business Analyst
• Caroline
  Festive Plush Buyer
• Raj
  Buying Manager
• Caroline
  People Director
• Craig
  Buying Manager
• Feroz
  General Store Manager
• Martha
  Head of General Merchandise Marketing
• Emma
  Head of Food Business Development, Finance Team
• Andrew
  Transport Operations Manager

Craig
Buying Manager ASDA Mobile

I graduated from Hull University in 1995 after reading Geography. During my course I worked in retail in the holidays and over the weekends. I found that I really enjoyed the variety from managing stock and the warehouse to the buzz of working with customers.

It was then I decided I wanted to make a career in retail and so went along to my local ASDA supermarket in Rotherham and spent a day with the Store Manager getting a feel for ASDA. From that day on I was hooked!

I started in store in a number of different roles - Grocery Manager, Fresh Food and Produce as well as a stint working nights to understand how the store operates at night. I then took a secondment as part of "Refresh 2000" which was an exciting project landing rotisserie, curry pot and pizza counters into our stores. Following that, I had a real change of role as the buyer for cafes; responsible for £1.2 million sales a week in our customer cafes and working with 74 different food suppliers. My job was to feed all the ASDA colleagues and customers in our stores.

More recently I've worked in Trading Business Improvement looking at how we can work smarter and use our own lorry fleet more effectively. We took out millions of food road miles and reduced our costs of food by using our empty lorries to collect stock from our suppliers. A simple idea turned into reality!

I'm now the Buying Manager for ASDA mobile, ASDA's very own mobile phone network. My role was to negotiate the deal and then launch ASDA mobile for our customers - I now manage the day to day running of the UK's newest mobile phone network. Which? magazine (2008) quoted us as "the UK's cheapest mobile pay as you go network" - we are delivering great products at great value to our customers, something my team are really proud of!

The way of working at ASDA is really infectious - we have the freedom to make our own decisions, we do take calculated risks and when we make mistakes we make sure we learn from them. It you thrive on pressure and enjoy hard work, then it’s a great place to work - my career gives me the personal stretch I need and so many different challenges every day of the week!

Recently my wife and I had our first son James, so I'm now balancing a new family and work, making sure I get home to bath James in the evening. I also love anything IT and any type of technology as I'm a real gadget freak. I particularly enjoy photography and I'm a keen amateur photographer - so I guess working in the ASDA mobile team plays to my strengths and my passions too.