Commercial Market Builder

About the role

Hopebow is developing a new B2B children’s wear business for independent retailers. The model is designed to help retailers lower inventory and sourcing risk through smaller starting quantities, well-planned product capsules, dependable quality, quicker replenishment, improved size availability, and tighter supplier coordination. The company is looking for someone to create this commercial channel from the ground up.

This is not a standard sales position. There is no existing distributor setup to step into, no ready-made sales force to manage, and no large book of accounts to maintain. The person in this role must be comfortable entering a messy market, learning how retailers really buy, turning market evidence into a commercial proposition, winning paid pilot orders, and converting them into repeat business.

Location and working pattern

The operating base is Regent International Haat, Ankurhati, Howrah, West Bengal. The role is field-led and will involve regular retailer visits and market work across Kolkata and Howrah, with future expansion into selected cities in Eastern India. The usual pattern is one or two fixed days at Ankurhati for product, sample, production, and strategy reviews, along with three or four days devoted to retailer meetings, market coverage, and account development. Remote reporting will be used where suitable, along with occasional supplier or institutional visits.

This is not a desk-only or factory-attendance job. Regular time at Ankurhati is essential because the hire must understand the products, samples, quality standards, lead times, and production limits before making commitments to customers. Candidates should think carefully about commuting. Preference may be given to people who live within practical reach of Ankurhati, can travel efficiently from Howrah, Santragachi, western Kolkata, or nearby areas, or are willing to relocate closer. Transport support or a structured travel arrangement may be considered for an exceptional candidate.

First 90 days

In the initial three months, the expectation is to map and qualify independent children’s wear retailers in Kolkata and Howrah, run discovery meetings backed by evidence, understand existing suppliers, buying patterns, margins, stock ageing, size gaps, and replenishment issues, and shortlist retailers suitable for a paid pilot. You will be expected to present controlled product capsules and commercial terms, negotiate without leaning on heavy discounting or unsecured credit, secure 10 to 15 paid pilot accounts, collect advances or deposits, maintain a disciplined pipeline, document follow-ups clearly, gather store-level insights that can improve product and pricing decisions, support repeat ordering, and establish the first repeatable account-acquisition process for the business.

Role growth after pilot validation

If the model proves viable, the role will expand to help build the commercial system across Kolkata and later into selected Eastern Indian cities. Future responsibilities may include managing a regional retailer network, creating account segmentation, planning territories, training account executives, improving repeat-order frequency, protecting collections and contribution margins, developing private-label and institutional opportunities, and using retailer insights to inform broader commercial strategy.

Candidate profile

Suitable experience may come from children’s wear, apparel or textile distribution, multi-brand retail, school uniforms, institutional supply, FMCG general trade, beauty or eyewear distribution, B2B commerce, private-label supply, or any other setting where a fragmented retailer base had to be built and expanded. The company cares less about the exact industry and more about whether you have personally created something commercially meaningful.

The ideal candidate can show that they have opened a territory, channel, or account base from zero; acquired paying B2B customers directly; turned first orders into repeat business; negotiated commercial terms; managed collections or credit risk; worked in the field rather than only in an office; built a process where none existed; protected margin instead of chasing sales at any cost; and shared bad news honestly and early.

You should clearly understand the difference between a meeting and a qualified opportunity, between verbal interest and a paid pilot, between invoiced revenue and collected revenue, between gross margin and contribution margin, between a contact list and a real commercial channel, and between one-time buying and repeat demand.

Not a fit if...

This opportunity is unlikely to suit candidates whose strength lies mainly in managing inherited key accounts, who need a major brand name to secure meetings, who expect leads to be handed over, who depend heavily on discounts, credit, or promotional schemes to close business, who describe retailer contacts as their main qualification, who have managed sales teams without personally building a channel, who are uncomfortable visiting neighbourhood retailers, who do not want structured account tracking, who want a fully office-based setup, who are unwilling to travel regularly to Ankurhati, or who see data collection as beneath a senior sales role.

Performance focus

Success will be judged by evidence-quality retailer meetings, paid pilot accounts, advances and collections, collected gross contribution, repeat orders, full-price account retention, payment discipline, discount discipline, account concentration, and the quality of commercial information gathered. Incentives will not be tied simply to invoiced revenue. Variable compensation is expected to depend mainly on collected contribution, qualified new accounts, repeat orders, and account quality. Orders with unauthorized discounts, overdue receivables, avoidable returns, or poor-credit customers will not be eligible for full incentives.

Working conditions

The role is full-time, field-based across Kolkata and Howrah, with regular presence at Regent International Haat, Ankurhati. It includes significant retailer travel, structured weekly commercial and product reviews, disciplined reporting of account activity, a six-month probation period, separate reimbursement of approved travel and business expenses, and authority over commercial execution within defined pricing, discount, and credit limits.

Hiring process

The selection process includes a structured experience interview, a practical commercial case, a paid and time-bound work sample, a visit to Regent International Haat in Ankurhati, and reference checks with former managers, colleagues, customers, or distributors. The site visit is important, and final candidates are expected to evaluate commute and working conditions before accepting an offer.

The paid work sample may ask you to identify 25 relevant retailers, shortlist 10, prepare an approach plan, conduct selected real or simulated discovery conversations, design a commercial offer, handle buyer objections, assess basic credit risk, and present a 30-day market-entry plan. The assignment is paid and is not intended as free commercial labour.

Application details

Applicants are asked to share their CV, current and expected fixed compensation, notice period, present residential location, how they would travel to Ankurhati, the territories or channels they have personally built, the number of accounts they personally opened, one example of a customer or opportunity they declined and why, and a short explanation of what existed when they began their most important commercial assignment and what existed when they left. Applications that only mention a “strong retailer network” or “excellent industry contacts” without measurable proof are unlikely to be shortlisted.

Compensation

The fixed monthly pay is ₹55,000 to ₹1,10,000, depending on demonstrated ability, plus performance-linked variable pay.