Senior Specialist Concept To Consumer Speciality Sports at adidas Group

Purpose & Overall Relevance for the Organisation

• The purpose of the Concept to Consumer (CTC) team is to develop profitable, locally-relevant product ranges by category to best meet the needs of the local consumers.  

For this role specifically: 

• Deliver a globally aligned and locally relevant product range for EMS, focusing on delivering the company sales growth aspirations per sales channel   
• Sustainably grow profitability and market share for each sport within the Specialist Sports (SPSP) category/ Business Unit. 
• Support line manager in building the seasonal go-to-market (GTM) process for SPSP to build the optimal product offering, considering the unique local consumer and channel requirements. 
• Be the product expert for SPSP, and provide the relevant support for all Marketing GTM plans 

Key Responsibilities

• 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 that meet local needs and reflect differentiation in marketplace where required. Work closely with the SPSP 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 integrity available to the business via the pricing matrix.  
• Conduct monthly analysis of sell-through performance, sell out, of the relevant sport within SPSP categories and adjust the range where necessary. 
• Support seasonal Brand Activations by aligning with BA/Omni team on Marketing plans; communication tools; activation tools; and providing sports marketing support to ensure our partners get access to the best of adidas. 

Key Relationships

• Manager CTC EM South (line manager) 
• Director CTC EM South 
• EMS Cluster CTC Team.
• Cluster Demand Planning team
• EMS commercial channel Teams (DTC, Ecom, WHS)
• EM SPSP HUB team  

KPIs

• Net Sales and GIM% 
• Range efficiency targets; range size and efficiency (incl. overlap) 
• Market Sales vs Plan 

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Merchandising, category management/planning, assortment planning and retail/sales experience beneficial 
• Understanding of the Specialty Sports market within South Africa 
• Strong presentation/communications and influencing skills 
• Strong numerical/analytical skills and attention to detail 
• Intermediate to advanced skills in MS Office- Excel & Powerpoint key 
• Structured, organised and process-orientated 
• Ability to work effectively within a team environment under pressure 

Requisite Education and Experience / Minimum Qualifications

• University degree  
• 5+ years buying/FMCG experience 
• Industry: Preferably in sport retail or brand  
• Exposure: Retail/FMCG/Sport