Reference code: JR128450
Reporting to the Regional Head of Marketing & Merchandising, the Regional Product Category Manager is the expert guardian for a specific product category across the SEAO region.
This pivotal role drives transversal efforts to achieve category ambitions, serving as a key contact point between HQ and markets for the category.
Leveraging strong merchandising expertise and analytical rigor, the Category Manager develops product launch plans and go-to-market strategies, translating global guidelines into actionable regional strategies. The core focus is on owning category insights, shaping strategic recommendations, and orchestrating execution to ensure optimal assortment efficiency, commercial performance, and value creation, while ensuring clarity, consistency, and alignment in deploying category priorities.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:
Category Strategy & Business Ownership:
- Support the definition and deployment of the regional product strategy for the assigned category, in line with global directions and local market dynamics.
- Act as the category performance owner, with clear accountability on sales, growth drivers, and product mix optimization.
- Identify business opportunities and risks, leveraging detailed category knowledge and market intelligence.
- Contribute to the development of category-specific action plans to drive turnover and productivity across the network.
Merchandising Excellence & Assortment Optimization:
- Lead the merchandising strategy at regional level for the category, ensuring optimal assortment across markets and networks.
- Support stock efficiency and allocation logic, in close coordination with Supply Chain team and markets.
- Monitor and optimize stock levels, rotations, and aging, ensuring a shift from passive to active merchandising management.
- Support key cycles such as novelties forecasting, buy-in sessions, and allocation recommendations.
Product launch & Go-to-market strategy:
- Align the go-to-market strategy for new product introductions, ensuring 360-degree execution across all touchpoints and markets.
- Coordinate cross-market optimized product launches for the Category, based on local agendas and needs, evaluating consolidated launch opportunities.
Performance Analysis & Insights
- Act as the category data expert, delivering in-depth performance analysis translating insights into actionable strategies.
- Track, consolidate, and report on category-specific KPIs and dashboards across markets, identifying performance drivers and providing data-driven recommendations.
- Regularly analyze category performance against targets, developing and implementing corrective action plans in collaboration with Markets and relevant stakeholders.
- Monitor pricing positioning and sell-through analysis.
- Liaise with Commercial & Supply Chain team for qualitative insights on sales & stock performance assessments.
- Support the regional data ecosystem by contributing to streamlined, relevant, and decision-oriented reporting.
- Contribute to key transformation projects including Sales Forecasting, Pricing Intelligence, Smart Allocation, Launch KPI Framework, and Real-Time Dashboards.
Regional & Cross-functional Collaboration
- Work collaboratively with other departments, including Supply Chain, Commercial but also Communication, Client & Strategic Planning teams, within SEAO and at HQ.
KEY COMPETENCIES:
- Minimum 6 years of experience in Merchandising, with a proven track record of developing and integrating product and merchandising strategies across multiple markets, coupled with a solid understanding of stock management, assortment strategy, and retail performance levers.
- Highly analytical, detail-oriented, and structured, with a strong execution mindset and the ability to translate complex data into clear, actionable insights (experience in Looker is an advantage).
- Autonomous and proactive, able to own a category and drive initiatives end-to-end.
- Collaborative and influential, with strong communication, interpersonal, and stakeholder management skills to effectively work within a matrix organization, negotiating & building consensus across diverse teams.
- Travel required (up to 10%), subject to annual event calendar.
