Çiğdem Göçer

Academy aims at developing the Turkish textile and apparel industry. Istanbul Moda Academy (İMA) was founded as part of the Fashion and Textile Cluster Project, organized and financed by the European Union, Undersecretariat of Foreign Trade and Istanbul Textile and Apparel Exporters’ Associations (İTKİB). İMA commenced its educational programs at the beginning of 2008 with courses in fashion design, fashion product development and technology, fashion photography and media, fashion management and marketing in collaboration with the world’s leading fashion schools: London College of Fashion, Domus Academy (Italy), and IFM (France).

-Managed active sports portfolio across all stores, aligning with customer preferences & profitability targets -Delivered +12% YoY sales growth in the active sports category -Partnered with 30+ global brands (Adidas, Nike, Puma, New Balance, Converse, Under Armour) to execute 360° strategies -Directed seasonal visual merchandising & store layout optimization Integrated store, e-commerce, outlet & wholesale channels into unified growth plans -Partnered with global HQ executives to align business plans with brand strategy -Led & developed a team of 7 (including 3 senior buyers), fostering a high-performance culture

-Oversaw 40% of company operations, optimizing purchasing & profitability -Managed category portfolio of 10 brands (Puma, New Balance, Vans, Converse, Under Armour, -Birkenstock) -Drove category growth through sales tracking, margin improvement & action plans -Led e-commerce & digital marketing initiatives supporting omnichannel expansion -Developed outlet pricing & markdown strategies to improve sell-through -Collaborated with cross-functional teams (finance, retail, marketing, VM) -Supervised 2 team members, fostering collaboration & accountability -Organized showroom preparations for Puma subdistribution wholesale meetings

-Planned and managed seasonal budgets, ensuring profitability across Turkey and international markets -Analyzed sales performance & customer insights, identifying root causes and growth opportunities -Collaborated with design & buying teams on product R&D, ensuring cost-effective yet fashionable assortments -Partnered with factories on fabric sourcing, cost negotiations, and delivery schedules, optimizing margin and profitability -Executed weekly e-commerce campaigns with digital marketing and allocation teams, boosting online sales performance -Conducted market research for products and campaigns, shaping pricing & promotional strategies -Performed cluster-based consumer analysis across 1,000+ stores in 50 countries, supporting global assortment and allocation decisions

*Demonstrated exceptional performance as the Category Buyer responsible for overseeing all textile categories for the esteemed Mothercare brand *Regularly visited the UK Head Office each season to carefully curate and select products for the Turkish market *Developed and executed comprehensive budget plans, range plans, and meticulously identified suitable products for Mothercare stores in Turkey, while effectively implementing price architecture strategies *Proficiently coordinated and managed the successful establishment of a local production brand for licensed products within Turkey stores, assuming full responsibility for design, range planning, and production processes

*Sourcing products from good manufactures from all over the world , making sure products delivery on time with good quality and best prices *Follow up new trends and put into collection according to customer profile *Sourcing plan ( vendor evaluation and selection, improving purchase process by making benchmarking) *Identify, evaluate and determining on best vendor mix to achieve business objectives *Ensuring profit targets by ensuring timely procurement of the category , follow up costing&production steps, negotiation / renegotiation *Build and maintain relationships with vendors and suppliers and negotiate the best deals with them for merchandising &buying *Track the merchandise transportation from supplier to the stores and ensure smooth flow of goods *Develop Branch Buying process to deliver the store stock plan in line with the Planning and Trading Calendar *Review historical performance and determine future product strategy, working closely with the Design, Retail Operations team. *Managing wholesalers *Visiting stores, offering commercial solutions and follow up to ensure all feedback from store visits is reviewed and any required action is taken *Visit competitor’s store to review styles, prices, store’s visual , reporting to the buying director *Having strong & collaborative relationships with colleagues and other departments**

*Negotiating prices overseas & local suppliers to reach target profit margin and agreeing delivery terms *Sorting out production and supply problems *Making researches and get familiar with target customer expectations,competitors store, supplier, fair; *Ensuring that the products comply with testing standards *Visiting domestic &overseas supplier for following production & negotiate prices & solve problems *Cooperating with design team to prepare product range according to trends and consumer needs *Making sure goods arrıve on tıme and meet quality standarts *Talking toother departments (desing, planning, import&export, allocation etc.) *Helping with promotions and advertising campaigns *Attends customer meetings; reports customers’ expectations/complaints; applies lessons learnt to collections. *Organizing Sample/S.Sign Off meetings,making timely presentations with samples which are as accurate as possible and ensures critical comments are sent to suppliers.