Established in 1981 with a single store in the Northwest of England, the JD Group is a leading omni-channel retailer of Sports Fashion, Outdoors and Gyms with over 60,000 colleagues and over 3,400 stores across several retail fascias in over 30 markets around the world.

JD Sports Fashion Plc was listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1996 and has been a FTSE100 publicly quoted company since 2019 and continues to grow in the UK and internationally.

We want to be the leading global omnichannel retailer in the sports and outdoor industry. To be a part of this successful company and help us to achieve this you will have the desire to ingrain our strategic goals of being a people-led, innovative and customer-focused organisation which provides operational excellence whilst identifying new areas of growth as part of our day to day objectives.

Key Duties/Responsibilities:

Planning

• Review previous quarter performance and highlight strategic lessons learned to support brand/market strategy for future seasons

• Propose and agree actions to recover risk and maximise opportunities with the Trading Manager at market level

• Forecast replenishment levels in line with sales plan & store capacities
• Plan all key trading events considering stock & sales targets & event planning calendar
• Manage the seasonal entry & exit of stock with a view to minimising markdown & terminal stock
• Management of new store openings including:
  • Direction on market strategies & lead times
  • Working with retail & space planning to ensure store splits are accurate
  • Forecast of opening stock volumes reflective of turnover/size & trade period
  • Overseeing of deadlines to ensure packages are delivered on time
• Review & re-forecast quarterly forecast for IBTs signing off any amendments with Trading Manager
• Be aware of all future market sales plans & brand strategies that impact store planning

Trading

• Review weekly trade performance and KPI's, identifying Issues and the course of action in preparation for the weekly trading meetings
• Review stores who are over/under achieving their sales plan, work across functions to challenge performance & drive trade
• Identify market opportunities & threats in season, working with core merchandisers to mitigate risk/enhance store performance
• Review of in season sales, stock and density performance identifying any space optimisation opportunities, ensuring in line with brand & stock strategy
• Deliver all key trading events, guiding & co-ordinating across all functions ensuring stock targets and stock flow is manageable for both retail and logistics
• Give direction on priority stock movements including IBTS & store to store fast tracks
• Work closely with retail, visual merchandising & logistics to ensure stakeholders are up to date with key messages relating to stock movements
• First point of contact in Merchandising for retail, develop & manage relationships through:
  • Regular Conference Calls
  • Strategic store visits
  • Presentations on key trading periods
  • Ad-Hoc queries

Teamwork

• Reporting to the Trading Manager
• Collaborate with core merchandising & buying department
• Establish working relationships with Store Operations, Visuals, Marketing, Finance DC etc.
• Team development

• Drive Merchandising best practice and ongoing improvements and developments of processes to be used with in Branch Merchandising team

Skills/Experience/Knowledge Needed:

• Experience within a similar role is advantageous
• Experience within a sports/fashion retailer is advantageous
• Highly numerate and strong commercial focus
• Computer literate and ability to learn new systems
• Highly organised, good prioritisation and time management skills
• Self-motivated and a proactive worker

We know our employees work tirelessly to make JD Sports the success it is today and in turn, we offer them some amazing benefits:

• Free parking
• Holiday Allowance
• Discretionary Bonus Scheme
• Staff Discount On JD Group and other brands within the organisation, depending on level of role
• Pension Scheme
• Flexible Working Hours
• Health plans – Depending on level of role
• Personal development opportunities to learn and develop at work.

Due to the high volumes of applications our opportunities attract, it takes time to review them all. If you don't hear back within two weeks of you applying, please consider your application to have been unsuccessful on this occasion

Applications that meet the skills criteria will be contacted for a 1st stage meeting with the talent team. Shortlisted candidates will then be invited to interview with the hiring manager.

Thank you again for your time.