Whitney McLaughlin
Los Angeles,CA
Summary
I’m an experienced, driven, and accomplished Corporate Retail Professional and Leader, with a wealth of knowledge in Retail Merchandising, Product Marketing, and Buying working for high-profile companies. Known for high productivity, specialized skills in product lifecycle management and market analysis. Excel in leadership, communication, and problem-solving to drive projects to successful completion. Committed to leveraging these abilities to contribute significantly to any team's success.
Overview
13
13
years of professional experience
Work History
Product Manager, NCAA, Partnerships, & Grassroots
ADIDAS
Los Angeles, California
06.2023 - Current
- Drive the creation process while managing relationships with cross-functional teams to build the best product.
- In partnership with cross-functional team; design, development, costing and materials, we collaborate to build innovative & quality on-court apparel for elite athletes and ensure deadlines are met.
- Influence and implement category direction for 14 top NCAA basketball programs (men and women), Partnerships (Overtime Elite, McDonald's All American), international leagues, and grassroots.
- Successfully manage the full creation process for approximately 400 models each season.
- Understanding of NCAA, high school, and international branding guidelines and regulations.
- Analyze the business to identify new opportunities and drive profitability.
- Collected and analyzed market research data for use in forecasting.
- Increased sales in 2024 for licensed and team product from $5M to $8M.
- Conduct quarterly focus groups with athletes and coaches to gather consumer insights and validate product.
- Built strong relationships with sports marketing, athletes, and coaches.
- Manage three direct reports.
- Collaborate with other sports (football and baseball) to expand Black History Month stories in the NCAA in 2025 and 2026 for our top 14 programs and HBCU schools.
- Successfully present product assortment to global markets quarterly, resulting in a 5% increase in units booked each season, starting in FW24-FW26.
- Created processes and procedures that ensure high quality products are delivered on time. For example, utilizing Smartsheet to track communications between internal and external teams.
- Key market management and merchandising focus: North America, Latin America, Emerging Markets, Asia, and Europe.
Category Manager, Originals Footwear
ADIDAS
Portland, Oregon
06.2021 - 06.2023
- Manage 600+ articles in North America market (NAM) across Classics lifestyle footwear and performance Skate footwear for Men, Women’s, and Kids with key focuses on positioning and strategy
- Implement end to end merchandising process with consumer and business impact across my Classics and Skate performance footwear range
- Build and present the seasonal strategy for North America Market based on global priorities, historical data, market trends and deep understanding of the consumer needs to all key cross-functional teams
- Seasonally brief in new product opportunities with local creation teams to capture key trends, enhance moments and build seasonal excitement
- Daily communication with Global, to present current market performance, key changes in consumer behavior and trends, key competitor offerings and seasonal market strategy
- Consistently analyze consumer and marketplace trends to ensure strategy and product are viable in the market and obtain market share from our competitors
- Involved in in-depth consumer insight research to help formulate key questions and observations to better understand consumer behavior
- Liaison between market and Global HQ as key point of contact for identifying delivering and communicating market business gaps and advising on future seasons’ Global range
Assistant Project Manager
ADIDAS
Portland, Oregon
09.2018 - 06.2021
- Support Senior Leadership in several large-scale projects; 2020-2025 Strategic Business Plans for Sports Marketing, Soccer and Basketball, Go to Market product sell-in, product operation ordering & management for grassroots basketball teams
- Responsible for assisting with daily projects and adHoc needs for senior leaders such as Top to top meetings, Key account strategic alignments, create and manage product sell-in presentations, product sample management, generating monthly business newsletters (highlighting sell-through, YTD sales, marketplace updates, and top account sales), planning team workshops and market travel, and other project management-related functions
- Working with Apparel Product Manager, to build Women’s FW20 – SS21 inline apparel collection and product assortment management and maintenance
- Lead product brief for ‘21’ Honoring Black Excellence Basketball Apparel Capsule highlight influential Black leaders
- Serve as the lead stylist for a Basketball commercial by preparing garments and dressing models
Assistant Store Manager
ADIDAS
Santa Monica, California
10.2016 - 09.2018
- Responsible for day-to-day store management, staff training and supervision, managing KPI’s, employee scheduling, monitoring store shrinkage, providing specialized training on key store initiatives, staff performance evaluation, key staff recruitment, customer relations, and other leadership functions
- Provided training, incentives, mentoring and feedback to associates to meet or exceed sales goals
- Established and optimized schedules to keep coverage and service in line with forecasted demands
- Increase customer satisfaction and bottom-line revenue by expanding product lines, promotions, and building relationships with the consumers
- Managed inventory control processes to restore back stock, control cost, and maintain sales floor expectations to meet customer needs
Merchandise Buying Assistant
TJX (California Buying Office)
Los Angeles, California
01.2012 - 01.2016
- Responsible for supporting a team of buyers in multiple departments (Gardening, Decorative Accessories, Men’s Contemporary Apparel, Candles, and Stationary) in management of portfolio businesses, managing purchase order entry, managing the flow of goods, tracking orders, accounts payable, dealing with chargeback issues, vendor relations, analyzing seller reports, preparing merchandising recaps and grids, and other related assignments
- Support a team of buyers across multiple departments in management of profitable businesses, combined exceeding $100M+ in annual sales
- Management of purchase order process within SKU intensive departments including re-orders, modifications, and PO follow-up; weekly buys support’s store base of 2000+ domestic locations
- Analyze selling reports weekly to identify sales drivers, new trends and areas of opportunity within a growing category of business
- Communicate daily with internal and external partners including planning and logistics teams
- Ability to assess the market through competitive shopping with analysis of product mix, price-points, brands, merchandising strategies and seasonality of merchandise within my department
- Completed market analysis identifying strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for decorative accessories, garden, candles, and stationary; and presenting finds to the Market Manager
Education
Bachelor of Arts - Business Administration and Marketing
CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, FULLERTON
FullertonSkills
- Merchandising
- Business Strategy
- Product Innovation
- Public speaking
- Project Management
- Competitive analysis
- Vendor management
- Teamwork and collaboration
- Staff management
- Product development
Timeline
Product Manager, NCAA, Partnerships, & Grassroots
ADIDAS
06.2023 - Current
Category Manager, Originals Footwear
ADIDAS
06.2021 - 06.2023
Assistant Project Manager
ADIDAS
09.2018 - 06.2021
Assistant Store Manager
ADIDAS
10.2016 - 09.2018
Merchandise Buying Assistant
TJX (California Buying Office)
01.2012 - 01.2016
Bachelor of Arts - Business Administration and Marketing
CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, FULLERTON
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