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Category Manager - EM South (Maternity Cover)
Purpose & Overall Relevance for the Organisation:
The purpose of the Category Management team is to develop product ranges by category to best meet the needs of the local consumers, profitably.
For this role specifically:
- Deliver a globally aligned and locally relevant product range for EMS, focused on delivering the company sales growth aspirations per sales channel.
- Sustainably grow profitability and market share for the Sportswear apparel category.
- Build the seasonal go-to-market (GTM) process for Sportswear to build the optimal product offering, considering the local consumer and channel requirements.
- Be the product expert and provide the relevant support for all functions locally.
Key Responsibilities:
- Work closely with the CTC Director to develop and define the Sportwear product strategy (including lifecycle management) for the local market. This include the localized product development strategy.
- Deliver a compelling range/concept selection for EMS by balancing local consumer, global brand and commercial considerations and supporting the overall business strategy of the channels.
- Support GTM process to engage channels and customers and collaboratively build the strongest viable product mix.
- Deliver net sales and profitability (GIM) by managing pricing, margin, and the product mix.
- Ownership of product demand forecasting which most accurately reflects the customer and consumer demand in the market.
- Seasonal analysis of 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 marketplace where required. Work closely with the Sportswear Hub team to deliver these.
- 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 pricing matrix.
- Conduct monthly analysis of sell-through performance, sell out, of the relevant categories and make adjustments to the range where necessary.
- Support seasonal Brand Activations by aligning with BA/Omni team on Marketing plans; communication tools; activation tools; and by providing sports marketing support to ensure our partners get access to the best of adidas.
Key Relationships:
- EMS Cluster Category Management Team.
- Cluster Demand Planning team
- EMS commercial channel Teams (DTC, Ecom, WHS)
- EM BU’s
- Net Sales and GIM%
- Range efficiency targets; range size and efficiency
- Market Sales vs Plan
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:
- Merchandising, category management/planning, assortment planning crucial
- Product development experience beneficial
- Commercial experience crucial
- Deep understanding of the lifestyle market in Sub-Saharan Africa
- Strong presentation/communication and influencing skills
- Strong numerical / analytical skills
- Intermediate to advanced skills in MS Office – Excel and PowerPoint key
- Structured, organized and process orientated
- Ability to work effectively within a team environment under pressure
Education and Experience / Minimum Qualifications:
- University degree (Fashion/ Consumer Science/ Marketing)
- 5- 7 years experience in category management/range building preferably in a sport/lifestyle/fashion retail industry
- Fluent in English
At adidas, we strongly believe that embedding diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) into our culture and talent processes gives our employees a sense of belonging and our brand a real competitive advantage.
– Culture Starts With People, It Starts With You –
By recruiting talent and developing our people to reflect the rich diversity of our consumers and communities, we foster a culture of inclusion that engages our employees and authentically connects our brand with our consumers.