Allocation Manager

About Our Company

Lids Sports Group is the largest licensed sports retailer in North America, selling fan and fashion-oriented headwear and apparel across the US, Canada, Mexico, Europe, and Australia. Operating out of Indianapolis, IN, our retail stores offer officially licensed headwear and apparel from collegiate and professional sports teams, plus top brands like Nike, New Era, Adidas, and Mitchell & Ness.

We currently operate 1,200+ locations domestically and 50+ internationally, including specialty concept stores for the NBA, NHL, Paris Saint-Germain, and numerous MLB teams. In recent years, Lids has built partnerships with iconic global brands including Marvel, Playboy, and the Harlem Globetrotters, and gained ambassadors like Justin Jefferson, Quavo, and Josephine Skriver – creating a community for both sports fans and fashion lovers.

The company is currently expanding with the goal of becoming the largest licensed brick-and-mortar sports retailer across the globe.

General Position Summary

The Allocation Manager will work to cultivate a solid knowledge of replenishment practices, alignment with merchandising strategies and analytical skill sets to ensure that the right product is at the right stores at the right time. Develop and implement store distribution strategies to support sales and inventory objectives and to ensure department financial goals are met. Partner with buying and planning teams in executing item/program/category strategies to support financial plans. The Allocation Manager will also be responsible for leading a group of Merchandise Analysts. The position will require a commitment to the support, training, development, and daily management of the Merchandise Analysts.  Allocation Managers are responsible for ensuring in-store merchandise presentations objectives are delivered, coordinating & prioritizing all replenishment activities for their areas of responsibility.

Principle Duties and Responsibilities

• Build, develop, execute, and maintain allocation strategies to ensure maximum sell through and profitability on product while minimizing markdowns.
• Analyze sales trends to ensure stores are in stock on core items, promotional product, new programs, and seasonal merchandise.
• Identify and rectify stock imbalances in individual stores through the allocation of new receipts and replenishment inventory to maximize the ability of each store to generate sales and margin.
• Analyze SKU and program productivity to ensure store turn and weeks of supply goals are met; create and develop tiered assortment strategies.
• Ensure all stores have appropriate inventory levels to support presentation and sales while collaborating with cross functional team.
• Develop optimal store ranking to ensure proper distribution of merchandise
• Develop knowledge of geographic and store-attribute performance and trends through analysis and drive results by transferring knowledge into allocation strategies
• Build forward-looking inventory forecasts necessary to coordinate optimal inventory decisions & actions.

Additional Principal Duties and Responsibilities

• Analyze merchandise performance at the department, team, vendor, item and location level; including analyzing store performance and stock-to-sales ratios on a weekly basis to identify location-specific opportunities and bottlenecks.
• Communicate / make recommendations regarding store needs, distribution concerns, sizing, team and new store opportunities.
• Ensure new stores have appropriate inventory levels to support presentation and sales.
• Accountable for the direct supervision and leadership of a group of Merchandise Analysts
• Lead discussions on product trends with regard to team, brand, and category performance to drive inventory management strategy.
• Assist in identification and selection of key items to drive daily and weekly replenishment activity.
• Oversee & synchronize all movement of merchandise including DC to store replenishment, inventory transfers, and new-store inventory distribution.
• Participate in the design & implementation of future location-specific inventory planning
• Other duties as assigned

Job Required Knowledge & Skills

• Bachelor's Degree in Marketing, Business, Fashion Merchandising or other related field and/or 2-4 years of applicable retail work experience; prior allocation experience is required.
• Strong Retail Math skills and Analytical skills.
• Ability to research and analyze large amounts of data.
• Computer skills to include navigational ability in a networked environment and proficiency in Microsoft Word and email applications; intermediate to advanced skills in Microsoft Excel.
• Allocation experience required.
• Demonstrated ability to communicate effectively both verbally and in writing.
• Results-oriented, willingness to follow through, make informed decisions, complete tasks and problem-solve.
• Uses rigorous logic and thoughtful thinking to effectively identify, address and resolve challenges.
• Demonstrated abilities in learning new skills, change/variety in work and creativity; exhibit attention to detail with high degree of accuracy. 

Reports To

Director of Allocation

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