About the Role
This position is responsible for driving the sales and market share of an assigned category by providing an effective and efficient product portfolio with proper pricing and channel segmentation. The goal is to improve profitability and growth while developing the Business Unit’s overall consumer, category, and marketplace strategy. A key aspect of this role includes partnering with and maintaining relationships with all stakeholders to maximize sales and profitability across various channels.
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Role Responsibilities
- Create assortments based on Marketplace capacity and insights that enhance the integrated marketplace, seasonal strategies, and inspirational consumer experience.
- Drive sales from the assigned category by developing comprehensive business plans and long-term strategy.
- Ensure overall category profitability across all channels by leading the decision-making process on product pricing and intake profitability benchmarks, utilizing quantitatively driven insights for accurate planning.
- Develop assortment frameworks and module grids that align Category, Consumer, and Channel mapping to enhance brand/category presence, segmentation, differentiation, and revenue growth across the Marketplace.
- Lead the seasonal forecasting process to secure product access and allocations from the brand, enabling growth while managing inventory, stock-on-hand, and sell-through considerations.
- Ensure data-driven insights guide brand/category management decisions, including new product introductions, channel assortments driven by consumer mindset, and product pricing across all regions.
- Access market intelligence through various sources to benchmark and evaluate competition pricing, new product releases, and category trends that may impact profitability.
- Collaborate with the Wholesale channel to understand account-specific requirements, investment trends, growth plans, and product sell-through to formulate the channel business strategy.
- Ensure achievement of Wholesale KPIs and Sales with the appropriate channel, account, and product strategy.
- Work with Retail Merchandising and Category Management to gain insights on consumer trends, store sales, category contributions, growth opportunities, and product gaps to develop the category business strategy for retail channels.
- Monitor and analyze business performance of category sales, Gross Margins, and sell-out performance, ensuring KPIs such as Inventory Turn Ratio (ITR) and Gross Margin Return on Investment (GMROI) are achieved.
- Apply retail fundamentals like inventory turn, gross margin, markup, and sell-through to drive informed and profitable pre-season and in-season decisions focused on assortment mix and depth.
- Monitor pricing from brands and coordinate with suppliers on product launches, in-store dates, stock availability for product campaigns, marketing launches, and events.
- Evaluate local market-specific product gaps or opportunities within the category and engage with brand principals to plan and forecast future product provisions.
- Lead the Go-to-Market process and Seasonal Product Presentations, creating clear communication of category, brand, and product strategy with partners and stakeholders.
- Collaborate closely with Consumer and Marketplace Operations to ensure quantitative, insight-driven forecasting with brand principals and decision-making on seasonal allocations and account access.
- Work with the Visual Merchandising function, Retail Brand Marketing, and GTM Manager to ensure seasonal sell-in tools, showrooms, and catalogs are up-to-date and aligned with the seasonal calendar.
- Align with Brand Marketing to maximize visibility of the category through online and offline channels.
- Partner with the retail marketing function to ensure optimal visibility of the category through retail and digital marketing.
People Management
- Establish clear objectives and performance targets in collaboration with team members, ensuring alignment with overall organizational goals.
- Mentor, guide, and direct the team to foster skill development, operational efficiency, and continuous improvement.
- Apply structured performance management practices to monitor progress, troubleshoot issues, and drive the team toward achieving periodic KPIs.
- Foster a results-oriented environment through strategic oversight and regular feedback, empowering the team to meet and exceed established benchmarks while supporting both individual and collective growth.
Technical / Functional Competencies
- Product, Category, Brand, and Industry Knowledge
- Experience with presentations to large audiences
- Strong analytical skills to drive insights
Experience / Qualifications
- Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Business Management/Marketing or equivalent, or Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Buying and Merchandising
- A minimum of 4-5 years of relevant experience with at least 2 years in managing brand/category products.
