Associate, Buying (Allocations) - Value Channel

JobsCloseBy Editorial Insights

adidas is seeking an Associate, Buying (Allocations) for the Value Channel in Melbourne, onsite, to manage store inventory flow and create distribution strategies to maximise sales and SKU productivity. The role requires proactive planning to meet or exceed sales and margin budgets, working with buying and store teams to implement assortments, and weekly analysis of item performance and inventory to minimise stockouts. You will provide quantitative pre-season and in-season insights, monitor open to ship by department, and adjust allocations by door as trends and capacity shift. Strong Excel, retail math, and data manipulation skills are essential; bachelor’s degree and merchandising experience preferred. Apply with a tailored resume and cover letter addressing the requirements and showcasing results.

Purpose & Overall Relevance for the Organisation:

Manage retail inventory flow and create store-specific distribution strategies to maximise store sales and SKU productivity.

Key Responsibilities: 

• Manage inventory flow by brand, district, store, and assortment group to budget taking store size, climate, seasonality, capacity, etc. into consideration when making decisions.
• Proactively plan, react, communicate, and take appropriate action to meet and exceed sales and margin budgets.
• Assist with the implementation and management of store assortments through a strong partnership with buying team, using store clusters (to include store size, climate, seasonality, capacity, etc.) to maximize full price sell thru and turns. 

• Analyse, monitor and recap core item performance and inventory levels on a weekly basis, to minimize out of stocks.

• Provide quantitative analysis to support planning, buying and store planning decisions both pre-season and in-season.
• Analyse and monitor open to ship by department for each store.
• Ensure all product is shipped in compliance with product launch dates and new store opening dates.

• Monitor and update store capacity models according to sell thru trends and requirements.
• Evaluate adjustments to plans and allocations for performance trends and inventory levels.
• Create and maintain smooth product flows by development of outbound flow from the DC on specific timelines.

• Consolidate, analyse and communicate size and location-based performance, including sales/inventory comparisons, seasonality and marketing impacts. Utilize analysis to identify profit opportunities.
• Collaborate with operations, DC, planning and the BU to support strategy that aligns future financial and product opportunities.
• React to in season trends by door to ensure that the models are being adjusted appropriately based on each store’s performance.

Key Relationships: 

•    Market Retail team including:

• Retail Back Office (RBO) team
• District Managers
• Store Managers and Store teams 
• Logistics
• Finance
• Go To Market (GTM) teams
• Supply Chain
   

Knowledge Skills and Abilities:

• Knowledge of and familiarity with Retail KPI’s.
• Strong analytical skills and a thorough understanding of retail math.
• Proficiency with MS Office Suite and familiarity with merchandising systems/applications. 

• Advanced Excel skills, and a thorough understanding of macros, pivot tables, lookup formulas, formatting, etc.

• Familiarity accessing data from a database structure.
• SAP experience a plus
• Strong oral and written communication skills 

• Ability to understand and use financial data, such as fractions, percentages, ratios, gross margin, net sales, etc., to make decisions and influence outcomes.
• Ability to manipulate large amounts of data and create reporting tools from data.
• Define problems, collect data, establish facts, and draw valid conclusions.

• Think strategically, synthesize data, identify trends and recommend viable solutions.
• Work on a cross functional team and be a part of a team atmosphere.

Requisite Education and Experience / Minimum Qualifications: 

•    Bachelor's degree (B. A.) from four-year college or university.
•    Experience with Merchandising preferred.

What's on offer? 

A competitive base salary, bonus scheme and adidas employee benefits are also on offer to the successful candidate, these may include: 

• Remote Working Options
• Employee Assistance Programs
• Parental Benefits 
• Generous Employee Discount

How do I apply? 

• Press the "Apply" button and follow the instructions
• You will be required to fill out the online applications forms, and attach a copy of your resume and cover letter which addresses all of the above candidate requirements
• Please note that due to high volume of applications adidas receives, we will be unable to respond to all individual enquiries.