Director Merchandising adidas Group Dubai

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Job Description:
This role is responsible for maximising the sales, profitability & brand equity of the EM Central (MENA) organisation by building and driving commercial strategies for a defined business unit. The scope of this role covers Own Retail, Franchise and eCOM channels across all store formats. The Direct to Consumer channels (DTC) (Own Retail, Franchise, eCOM) are growth levers for the MENA business for brand adidas. Responsible to drive and deliver key strategic business and category goals and overall financial objectives.

Key Responsibilities:

•  Work with the Senior Director Retail in shaping the MENA Merchandising strategy for all the DTC channels.
•  Be responsible for ‘what product the consumer sees’ for his/her categories on our DTC portfolio
•  Deliver financial targets for his/her categories including Net sales, Sell through, Std. margin.
•  Drive to create a point of difference for both eCom and Concept stores by collaborating with the MENA CTC / BU teams.
•  Share accountability with the marketing teams for the overall business objectives of his/her categories
•  Own, lead and implement the end-to-end planning, buying, range management and GTM strategy for all categories with MENA BU team direction.
•  Accountable for end to end category responsibility (including Open-To-Buy (OTB) plan pre-season product planning, option planning, range planning, forecasting, including handover to Demand Planning)
•  Maximize new & in season business opportunities by understanding and executing on respective channel potentials
•  Constantly monitor Industry developments in their category and cascade intelligence to the organisation.
•  Interface with key stakeholders including Marketing, Visual Merchandising (VM), Store Operations, Supply Chain, Logistics, on-site merchandising, CRM and eCom acquisition team
•  Drive innovation across the function in terms of process automation and optimisation to improve availability across channels
•  Provide fact-based category input and feedback for internal/external stakeholders.
•  Execute the continuous improvement of all merchandising systems and tools to suit world class merchandising practise.
•  Market visits as needed and advised by the business

People Management:

•  Build a team of highly skilled professionals (ideally with exposure to both Retail and Digital)
•  Takes ownership for Talent and skill Management to grow, develop future DTC talents.
•  Promote a high performance culture by setting clear expectations and individual goals.

Key Relationships:

•  BU Directors (category merchandising), CTC (Concept-to-Consumer), Director Franchise, Director eCOM & Business Development.
•  Director Marketing activation eCom and Own Retail Stores.
•  Retail Directors
•  Demand Planning, Supply Chain, Procurement and Logistics team
•  Finance/Controlling
•  Relevant Global Teams – Merchandising, CTC.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

•  Leadership and influencing skills
•  Detailed knowledge of Merchandising, ranging, forecasting & budget planning.
•  Ability to work effectively within a team environment and under pressure
•  Strong analytical and communication skills
•  Good knowledge of range segmentation and merchandising plan for eCOM channels.
•  Strong trading mindset, with an entrepreneurial flair to maximize business opportunities.
•  Fluent in English and other language(s) is an advantage

Requisite Education and Experience / Minimum Qualifications:

•  University degree, ideally in business with marketing and sales focus- MBA a plus
•  Total of 8 years experience with minimum 5+ years’ leadership / directorial / head of department experience of core buying &merchandising function preferably in a retail organization, with broad-based experience working with fashion franchises, vertical and multichannel retailers. Experience working with a Sporting Goods retailer is preferred.
•  Multi-store and eCom experience essential
•  Functional awareness of store operations, Visual Merchandising, Marketing Activation, Human Resources, Finance, Supply Chain and Logistics
•  Experienced in working with internal stakeholders and external agencies to establish efficient and scalable processes
•  Experienced in working cross-functional within international organization

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