Manager Buying (Basketball and Teamsports)

Position Title: Manager Buying (Basketball and Teamsports)

Reports to: Senior Manager Buying (Sporstyle, Baksteball and Teamsport)

Location: Bangalore

Position Summary: To build the most profitable and customer-focused BU range that reflects the Key Brand strategies and product direction, driving maximum sales, margin, and stock efficiency for PUMA India.

Key responsibilities include but are not limited to:

• Overall assortment planning for the BU in sync with key brand initiatives for the season, target customers for each format (product and pricing), and strategic objectives for the season/year.
• Maximizing gross profit through the right pricing strategy and cost optimization with local sourcing teams.
• Range building from the global inline range and plugging gaps for the Indian market through local sourcing.

Key Objectives

• Range planning and assortment building: Global inline and non-inline (India-specific developments).
• Analyzing gaps in the range from Global and filling them through developments locally for the Indian market.
• Right pricing strategy to maximize ASPs, margin, and sell-throughs.
• Cost negotiations with sourcing teams to maximize input COGs and drive the right pricing.
• Managing the end-to-end process of order placement, tracking, and delivery monitoring to ensure timely launches in alignment with channel-level launch targets.
• Maximizing option and sales efficiency.
• Briefing RCC teams on range/product gaps.
• Closely coordinating with channel merchandising, sales, customers, and other internal departments to deliver on all objectives.
• Coordinating with marketing, VM, training, and other demand and awareness-building teams to translate credible product stories across channels.
• Providing leadership, development, and guidance to the team to execute BU goals.
• Maintaining updated knowledge of key competitor products, distribution, and pricing strategies.
• Actively tracking fashion and consumer trends to continuously look for opportunities to stay ahead of the market, grow the business, and plug gaps.

KPIs and Qualitative Measures

• Net Sales
• Gross Profit
• Inventory Turnover
• Cost Negotiation
• Project Management

Organizational Relationships

• Internal: Global BU & GTM Teams, Merchandising & Planning, RCC, Sales, Sales Ops & SCM, Sourcing, Finance, Marketing & Demand
• External: Customers and sourcing vendors

Qualifications and Functional Competencies

• MBA/Degree in business studies (related education in Fashion Management is an added advantage).
• 5+ years of relevant experience.
• Experience in working with a retail/fashion/branded environment.
• Team management skills.
• Strategic decision-making skills.
• Strong stakeholder management, influencing, and communication skills.
• General knowledge of go-to-market processes.
• Strong analytical skills.
• Technical product knowledge.
• Presentation skills.
• Fluency in the English language (speaking, reading, writing) at a business level.