Specialist, Buying

adidas; Singapore; On-site; SGD 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A global sportswear brand is seeking a merchandising manager in Singapore to support their Own Retail business. This role involves implementing trading activities, managing buying strategies, and driving KPIs for product range mix. The ideal candidate will have 4-5 years of retail planning experience and strong analytical skills. Fluency in English is essential, and exposure to the apparel industry will be advantageous. This is an opportunity to contribute to a diverse and inclusive workplace.

Qualifications

• Minimum 4-5 years in retail planning and operations.
• Fluency in English is required.
• Experience in managing multiple markets is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Support implementation of strategic priorities in ORT.
• Prepare Forecast and place Final Orders based on OTB budget.
• Build the right product mix for ORT.
• Ensure timely product launches and accurate order placement.

Skills

Datamining & Presentation skills

Strong analytical mindset

Advanced Excel/computer skills

Business Acumen

Collaboration & Influencing skills

Ability to multitask

Education

University degree in business

Job description

Purpose & Overall Relevance For The Organization

This role is responsible for supporting Own Retail (ORT) business by implementing all day-to-day trading activities of the department, reviewing buy decisions and working closely with In-season Trading (IST) team to focus on delivering planned sales, margin and terminal stock objectives.

This Includes

• Implementation of Merchandising Country Strategy
• Execution of the Merchandising End-to-End (E2E) process
• Planning the right buying strategy & buy volume for ORT
• Monitoring all in season activities for Franchise BLR
• Finalize assortment planning for ORT
• Providing feedback to SEA DTC Buying Department

Abbreviations

• DTC: Direct to Consumer
• ORT: Own Retail
• FRS: Franchise
• BLR: Brand Led Retail
• OTB: Open to Buy
• A&R: Allocation & Replenishment
• EOS: End of Season
• PLC: Product Lifecycle
• E2E: End to End

Key Responsibilities

• Support the implementation of key strategic priorities in the country across ORT within the SEA DTC Buying Department framework.
• Responsible for the Buy in the country for ORT.
• Prepare Forecast and place Final Orders at an article level based on the given Open-To-Buy (OTB) budget for ORT.
• Drive and achieve Benchmarks and KPIs on productivity and sell-through which are aligned with SEA DTC Buying Department.
• Build the right product mix based on the share of business of store formats, product categories, store types, age and gender mix for ORT.
• Review and implement the right buying analysis by categories for ORT.
• Support our ORT to ensure their sell-in buy is appropriate by giving them the right range recommendation per store based on SEA DTC Buying seasonal strategies
• Provide guidance to ORT to ensure that all merchandising strategies and principles are executed timely and correctly.
• Review and apply correct size ratios for order placement for ORT.
• Ensure orders are placed accurately and on-time for ORT.
• Carry out and ensure products are launched on time with adequate stock for ORT.
• Work closely with In-season Trading (IST)/ Store Operations to ensure product grading and product option plan are in line with space management guideline (pre-season) for ORT.
• Work closely with IST key person in monitoring and ensure that the Best Sellers are fully replenished on a weekly basis.
• Compile each store’s capacity plan for reference during the Buying process.
• Generate and analyze ORT’s Key Buy, Sales and Inventory reports.
• Ensure in-season chase models (SPEED, In-Season-Creation and Planned-Responsiveness) are well managed to make sure inventory is optimal for ORT.
• Follow ORT store-visit schedule to achieve an expected amount of time spent in the stores. Ratio of time to be spent in office versus stores is recommended as 60%/40% respectively.
• Analyze ORT (SVP) Store Visits Pack prior to store visits.

Key Relationships

• Internal: Own retail stores, Country Retail Operation Team, Country Category Marketing, Country Finance, SEA DTC Buying team.

Knowledge, Skills And Abilities

• Datamining & Presentation skills
• Strong analytical mindset — detail and numbers oriented
• Advanced Excel/computer skills
• Business Acumen & problem solving skills
• Category know‑how — products, ranges, market trends
• Big picture thinking
• Process and system understanding
• Collaboration & Influencing skills
• Ability to multitask

Requisite Education and Experience / Minimum Qualifications

• University degree in business, ideally with marketing and sales focus or equivalent professional experience
• Merchandising/Retail Finance/ Business Analytics Experience: 4‑5 years
• Management Experience: 0‑2 years

Functional

• Merchandising skills with a minimum 4‑5 years’ experience in retail planning and operations
• Fluency in English
• Exposure in managing multiple markets will be a plus
• Industry: Preferably in apparel/ fashion/ FW or FMCG Retail
• Exposure: Sports, Fashion

Adidas celebrates diversity, supports inclusiveness and encourages individual expression in our workplace. We do not tolerate harassment or discrimination toward any of our applicants or employees. We are an equal opportunity employer.