In-Season Trader - Sports Brands

In-Season Trader

Role Purpose:

To drive and optimise in-season trading performance across banners and countries by aligning sales, stock, and assortment decisions with real-time data insights. The role acts as the central trading link between Buying, Planning, VM, Logistics, and Retail Operations to maximise sell-through, ensure optimal product availability, and improve profitability through effective inventory management, allocation, and cross-functional collaboration.

What you will do:

Building an In-Season Trading community

- Act as the key point of contact for trading across multiple departments, including buying, planning, marketing, logistics, and retail operations.

- Drive collaboration and ensure that trading strategies are integrated into broader business objectives.

- Assist the Planning Manager to test and scale new tools/WoW across different banners.

- Stay updated with industry best practices, new technologies, and trading methodologies.

- Continuously identify opportunities to improve trading processes, tools, and systems for more efficient and effective trading operations.

- Drive cross-functional projects aimed at improving processes and delivering improved business outcomes.

- Develop and lead the in-season trading strategy for the assigned banners, ensuring that the strategy aligns with the company’s business goals.

Sales and Inventory Strategy

- Oversee sales performance and inventory management across multiple banners/countries, ensuring optimal stock levels and maximising profitability

Inventory Management:

- Work closely with the buying and planning teams to ensure optimal inventory levels across stores

- Make recommendations for markdowns to optimize stock levels and minimize stockouts or excess inventory

- Work on new replenishment tools to ensure accurate stock allocation and replenishment across countries

Assortment Optimisation

- Collaborate with the buying and planning teams to analyse the performance of individual products and categories

- Recommend assortment adjustments, product substitutions, or exit strategies to optimize sales and meet customer demand

Manage Inventory Intake

- Work closely with Supply chain administration, to monitor & manage inventory intake from Suppliers

- Collaborate with logistics to ensure timely product delivery and stock availability

Advanced Reporting and Insights

- Lead the preparation of detailed reports for senior managers, providing actionable insights and long-term recommendations based on sales, stock, and profitability analysis.

- Analyse sales data, customer insights, and product performance metrics to provide actionable recommendations for assortment adjustments and promotional activities.

- Implements inter-store transfers and Never Out of Stock (NOS) coverage tracking.

How you will be measured:

Business Targets

- Allocation accuracy (based on store grading/profiles)

- Inter-store transfer effectiveness (volume moved vs sell-through impact)

- Weeks of stock by store/channel/category

- Sell-through uplift from reallocations

- Product availability (minimize out-of-stocks / overstocks)

- Coverage of NOS lines

Stakeholder Engagement

- Effective collaboration with Visual Merchandisers to ensure VM strategies are effectively rolled out in each store in a timely manner.

- Effective collaboration with Buyers and Planners to ensure accuracy of OTB.

Competencies required:

- Strategic planning

- Analytical mindset

- Problem solving skills

- Self-motivated

- Strong collaboration skills / Team player

- Effective communication skills

- Business acumen

What you will bring to the role:

- Degree/Diploma in business administrator or engineering is a plus.

- Previous experience (1-2 years) in a trading, merchandising, or inventory management role.

- Ability to interpret data and trends.

- Proficiency in planning and inventory management systems. Knowledge of pricing tools and analytics software is a plus.

- Ability to work in a fast-paced, dynamic environment.

- Familiarity with retail planning, product lifecycle, and fashion retail processes is a plus.

- Valid Maltese Drivers License