Footwear Product Specialist

Job Title: Footwear Category Manager

A seasoned professional is required to lead the footwear category, offering a compelling assortment aligned with customer preferences and market trends.

Key Responsibilities:

• Elevate category performance by crafting a competitive and customer-centric footwear range.
• Drive product launches ahead of seasons, ensuring timely execution of collections in line with footwear trends and seasonal demands.
• Collaborate with planning teams to develop assortments balancing style, price, and functionality for diverse consumer segments.
• Incorporate feedback from planning, retail operations, and customer insights to refine the range continuously.
• Maintain strict adherence to the buying calendar and pre-defined category milestones.
• Select product lines considering materials, design elements, comfort features, price points, and value propositions.
• Finalize the product assortment and approve commercial selling prices to ensure competitiveness and profitability.

Market Focus and Strategy:

• Understand customer behavior, aspirations, activity-based requirements, and lifestyle trends to translate them into category offerings.
• Conduct regular competitor analysis to stay informed of market pricing, offers, and assortment strategies.
• Bridge customer needs with product development by collaborating with designers and influencing the creative process with data-driven insights.
• Lead post-launch performance analysis, identify gaps, and implement corrective measures swiftly.
• Work with marketing teams to highlight footwear launches through campaigns, influencer tie-ups, and digital platforms.
• Lead market visits with the team to study competitor offerings, customer footfall, and retail execution.

Vendor Management:

• Build and nurture long-term partnerships with footwear vendors and manufacturers, ensuring a consistent supply chain.
• Develop a pipeline of alternative vendors to safeguard supply and enable category scalability.
• Orient vendors about company expectations regarding design, quality, sustainability, and delivery schedules.
• Provide inputs for vendor evaluation based on quality, pricing, capacity, and reliability.
• Oversee order placement and approval of materials, styles, molds, and pre-production samples.
• Ensure on-time delivery and resolve escalations related to vendor delays, quality issues, or material shortages.
• Support vendors with order consolidation, cost optimization, and bulk buying strategies.
• Strengthen vendor relationships by building a collaborative and solution-oriented support system.

Financial Planning:

• Manage and optimize the Open-to-Buy (OTB) budget for the Footwear category ensuring maximum ROI.
• Analyze costing structures, pricing strategies, and margin behavior to guide commercial decision-making.
• Lead vendor negotiations to achieve favorable commercial terms without compromising product quality.
• Monitor category performance to ensure budget discipline and profitability.

Product Presentation:

• Collaborate with marketing and visual merchandising teams to ensure impactful footwear displays across all stores.
• Plan new product launches, effective space utilization, and suggest fixture improvements to enhance product visibility.
• Work with retail teams to develop and review Planograms, ensuring consistent brand presentation.
• Drive initiatives to enhance in-store experience, making footwear displays attractive, accessible, and customer-friendly.

People Management:

• Build, coach, and mentor a high-performing team to achieve category goals and develop footwear-specific expertise.
• Foster engagement, motivation, and ownership within the team.
• Identify and groom emerging leaders with footwear product knowledge, attention to detail, and merchandising insights.
• Encourage cross-functional collaboration to enhance learning and execution.