Sporting Fashion & Goods
Senior Specialist Category Management- Training and Specialist Sport - EM South
Mid Level
Cape Town, South Africa
in office
Full time
Job description
About the Role
The Category Management team develops product ranges by category to best meet local consumer needs profitably. This role delivers a globally aligned and locally relevant product range for EM South (EMS) that supports sales growth aspirations by sales channel, sustainably grows profitability and market share for the category, and acts as the product expert for local functions. The role works closely with the Manager Category Management – Running and collaborates with EMS Category Management and MOPS, Cluster Demand Planning, EMS commercial channel teams, EM BUs, and Global SpoMa/Events.
Key Responsibilities
- Work closely with the Manager Category Management – Running to develop and define the Training + Specialist Sport product strategy, including lifecycle management, for the local market and for all events and partnerships.
- Deliver a compelling range and concept selection for EMS by balancing local consumer, global brand and commercial considerations and supporting the overall business strategy of channels and events/partnerships.
- Support the GTM process to engage channels, customers and events/partners in order to collaboratively build the strongest viable product mix.
- Deliver net sales and profitability (GIM) by managing pricing, margin and the product mix.
- Own product demand forecasting to most accurately reflect customer and consumer demand in the market.
- Conduct seasonal analysis of the marketplace to understand trends, competitor product assortments and pricing.
- Proactively drive cluster range enhancements, including product development, that meet local needs and reflect differentiation in the marketplace where required, working closely with the Hub team.
- Own the range architecture for the cluster, considering range guidance, brand focus and local pricing requirements.
- Monitor and maintain the accuracy of product data available to the business via the required systems, and conduct monthly analysis of sell-through and sell-out performance for the relevant categories, adjusting the range where necessary.
- Support seasonal Brand Activations by aligning with the BA/Omni team on marketing plans, communication tools and activation tools, and by providing sports marketing support to ensure partners get access to the best of adidas.
Required Experience & Qualifications
- Merchandising, category management/planning and assortment planning experience.
- Commercial experience.
- Deep understanding of the Sport + Lifestyle market in Sub-Saharan Africa.
- Strong presentation, communication and influencing skills.
- Strong numerical and analytical skills.
- Intermediate to advanced skills in MS Office, particularly Excel and PowerPoint.
- Structured, organised and process-orientated approach.
- Ability to work effectively within a team environment under pressure.
- Exposure to commercial channels (DTC, Ecom, WHS) and partnership management.
- University degree in Fashion, Consumer Science or Marketing.
- 5+ years of experience in category management or range building.
- Fluent in English.
Preferred Skills
- Product development experience.
- Experience in sport, lifestyle or fashion retail or brand.
About the Company
The company believes that through sport it has the power to change lives.
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