Manager - Category Merchandising Management Teamwear &Local Emerging Markets Central

Purpose & Overall Relevance for the Organization:

Support the Senior Manager Concept to Consumer Football & Motorsport, in the definition of Emerging Markets Central short and medium-term objectives for the Football Apparel business, with a focus on Teamwear and Apparel Generic.

Implement global Go-to-Market strategies in a regionally relevant way, working closely with EM hub and cluster’s Category Management teams, considering different consumer needs and distribution channels.

Assemble a product range for the dedicated Category that fulfils the needs of Emerging Markets Central which is complete and competitive in terms of structure, price and margin.

Key Responsibilities:

• Support the creation and execution of a 3-5 year category plan for the assigned business segment, based on overall EMC SBP and balanced with the needs of the adidas brand horizontally.
• Provide support to the Senior Concept to Consumer  Manager in aligning net sales objectives, margins, pricing, range architecture for EMC.
• Build a compelling, commercial, viable range/concept selection for the assigned business segment, to support the overall brand strategy, purpose and business direction for each country within Emerging Markets Central.
• Oversee and coordinate the Teamwear customization ecosystem, connecting all functions involved (Demand Planning, Supply Chain, Sales, Sports Marketing, Marketing Ops), identifying solutions for the fulfilment of business opportunities, and steering the development of all platforms supporting growth in this space.
• Coordinate and drive SMU brief submissions from Clusters to EM HUB/Global BU.
• Work closely with B2B & Sport Marketing team to secure the right assortment, availability and service to expand teamwear business in EMC aligned with our objective vision of Moonshot 2.0 plan and brand targets.
• Provide clear inputs and substantive insights (future trends and incremental business opportunities) to EM BU & Global to support the development of key concepts and category activation plans. 
• Maintain and deliver regular analyses on the category business performance, ensuring it meets the financial expectations set in the short and mid-term across all channels and EMC countries.
• Range maintenance across various system tools Internal Range List, RMA, M3
• Seasonal RMA (Range maintenance across) system uploads, maintenance, and validation checks on pricing, forecasting and retail planning for EMC range.
• Forecast data review and analysis preparation to support the CTC Manager for RMA review’s and IBP forecasting.
• Support sales meetings: sample tracking, showroom set- up,  x-category product portfolio and present key seasonal concept to internal and external stakeholder
• Assist in all aspects of the day-to-day operations for the CTC merchandising function in line with the GTM calendar.

KPIs:

• Net Sales, Category growth, Key Franchise growth/share of NS and Go-in Margin
• Business segment market share vs plan in each country/channel within EMC
• Direct business segment contribution vs strategic business plan
• Category range efficiency, costing and pricing targets

Key Relationships:

• Cluster Category Management
• EM/Global Football BU
• EMC Marketing Operations
• Supply Chain and Demand Planning
• Emerging Markets Central Sales channels
• B2B & Sport Marketing team
• Brand Activation

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Passionate about sports, preferably Football with product-ranging specific knowledge.
• Consumer-focused with deep product and range understanding with an excellent ability to balance brand and commercial aspects and build channel-specific GTM solutions.
• Cross-functional marketing knowledge and market experience; preferably familiar with B2B environments and dynamics in the sporting goods/professional sports ecosystem.
• Ability to guide optimal range building in accordance to overarching strategies and specific local market contexts (product types, distribution landscapes, price points).
• Proactive mindset (engaging & impact-oriented), ability to think end-to-end.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced environment with different international cultures.
• Ability to work effectively within a team environment and under pressure
• Good organizational and time management skills.
• Commercial acumen: numerical and analytical skills.
• Excellent communication (both written and verbal), presentation and facilitation skills.
• Ability and willingness to travel as required, domestically or internationally.

Requisite Education and Experience / Minimum Qualifications:

• University degree in business, ideally with Marketing and Sales focus or equivalent professional experience.
• 5 years Merchandising experience including Sales and Retail exposure, ideally in sporting goods, fashion or other youth culture brands.
• Fluent English (verbal and written) – other languages as a plus (especially French & Arabic)
• Full proficiency with MS Office across key applications (Excel, PowerPoint, Power BI).