Inventory and Merchandising Manager – Specialist Sports
Specialist Sports Group is a well-established and expanding sporting goods agency offering Sales, Marketing, Distribution and Creative solutions to several performance sports brands including a more than 30 year working relationship with world leading brand adidas. Specialist Sports is based on the western edge of Southampton, England currently employing 70 personnel across the group of companies.
Specialist Sports have multi-brand distribution responsibility for numerous product categories across UK, Ireland, Europe and several other territories around the world. The category portfolio includes Rugby, Hockey, Cricket, Tennis, Padel, Netball, Running, Track & Field, Olympic Sports, Golf, Teamwear and Athleisure featuring a range of products used by many of the world’s best athletes and grassroots enthusiasts. Specialist Sports act as brand custodians in these categories and hold Sports Marketing contracts with strategically relevant clubs and athletes. Additionally, sister company Specialist Sports Creation holds the global license to manufacture adidas apparel, accessories and hardgoods across several categories including Rugby, Hockey and Cricket in support of the wider commercial strategy.
The group holds ambitious growth plans and is looking to recruit an Inventory & Merchandising Manager to join the team and play a critical role in shaping inventory strategy and merchandising insights across all categories and channels. This role goes beyond reporting and will work cross-functionally to translate data into actionable business strategies that drive revenue, optimise inventory productivity and improve profitability, all of which is crucial for driving ongoing growth and success. The role will ensure inventory planning, pricing and product strategies are informed by clear, data-driven insights.
The Role
The Merchandiser will play a central role in supporting the full product lifecycle across all Specialist Sports categories. Working closely with category managers, this role will bring a data-driven lens to the buying process, maintain high standards of product data quality throughout the in-line period, and monitor sell-through performance to support timely commercial decisions.
Key Responsibilities
Buying Support & Range Planning
- Work alongside category managers to support the buying process across all product categories, providing data-led insight to inform range decisions, intake timing, and depth of buy.
- Partner with the rest of the Business Intelligence team to develop buying tools that give category managers clear visibility of stock positions, sales forecasts, and category performance – with a view to implementing an open-to-buy adjacent framework over time.
- Monitor forward order commitments and provide analysis to support supplier negotiations and buying reviews.
- Partner with category managers and operations team to optimise product delivery schedules to reduce stock holding time.
In-Line Product Management
- Support the category managers to maintain high standards of product data quality for all active products throughout the in-line period, particularly highlighting where gaps or errors might be impacting a product’s sales rate.
- Monitor sell-through rates across categories and channels, surfacing underperformance early and working with category managers to identify appropriate responses, including promotional activity or reorder decisions.
- Produce regular trading reports and performance analysis to keep category managers and senior stakeholders informed on product performance against plan.
- Take full ownership of the exit strategy for all products from an agreed date after their in-line exit date, developing category-level clearance plans with clear financial recovery targets.
- Manage the clearance P&L for all exiting stock, tracking markdown spend and recovery performance and reporting outcomes to the Head of Business Intelligence.
- Build and manage trading relationships with clearance house partners, negotiating terms to maximise recovery value on discontinued lines.
- Manage D2C clearance channels, ensuring an effective and brand-appropriate approach to stock reduction through owned digital and physical channels.
- Collaborate with finance and operations to align clearance activity with cash flow planning and warehouse capacity.
Data & Systems
- Contribute to the development of merchandising dashboards and analytical tools that support ongoing commercial decision-making across the product lifecycle.
This role will be based at the Southampton office. Working hours to be agreed and may be varied depending on the requirements of the candidate and the role.
Measures of Success
- Sell-through rates across in-line categories meeting or exceeding commercial targets.
- Clearance P&L performance: recovery targets met or exceeded on exiting stock.
- Inventory days reducing across the distribution business.
- Product data quality maintained to a high standard across all active and exiting ranges.
- Positive feedback from category managers on the quality and timeliness of merchandising support and analysis.
- Clearance house and D2C channel relationships delivering competitive recovery outcomes.
Package
A commercially meaningful role with real influence over product lifecycle decisions across a £30m group. The opportunity to build merchandising processes and tools from the ground up, with the support of an established Business Intelligence function. Exposure to industry-leading data infrastructure, including Microsoft Fabric and Power BI. A collaborative environment with a flat structure and clear progression pathways as the function grows.
Reports to: Head of Business Intelligence
Location: Southampton – onsite (hybrid working available)
Contract: Full time, permanent
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