Martin Gibson
DORE, SHEFFIELD,South Yorkshire
Summary
Commercial leader with track record of transforming multi brand retail businesses through disciplined trading, strong supplier partnerships and end to end operational improvement. Combining strategic clarity with hands on execution, balancing customer, colleague and shareholder needs to deliver results.
Leader of large cross functional teams across Buying, Merchandising, Product development, Supply chain, Operations and Finance, building high- challenge, high- support culture where talent thrives. Known for simplifying complexity , stabilising performance and unlocking growth.
Overview
30
30
years of professional experience
7
7
years of post-secondary education
Work history
Group Commercial Director - JD Outdoors
JD Sports Fashion plc
Bury, Lancashire
2025.03 - Current
- Executive accountability for Buying, Merchandising, Product development, Planning and Operations for JD Outdoors.
- Responsible for Commercial strategy, sales, margin, stock, cash, supplier partnerships and operational execution across multi brand, multi facia, multi channel outdoor portfolio
- Created blueprint for commercial category strategy, plotting 'market attractiveness' against 'right to win' in each segment.
- Closed 25/26 with £20m less inventory through improved planning, stronger intake controls and liquidising residual stock, improving cash and providing enhanced investment pipeline.
- Delivered early margin gains through developing clear and more stable pricing policy and harmonising terms with JD on crossover brands.
- Introduced new brands and products and implemented regional distribution strategy for SS26.
- Reviewed own brand portfolio and provided clear DNA for each brand to improve consistency of execution.
Group Merchandising and Supply chain Director
JD Outdoor Group
Bury, Lancashire
2018.10 - 2025.03
- Executive leadership of Merchandising, Planning and Supply chain for JD Outdoor group, across multi fascia.
- Upon acquisition, closed GO outdoors offices and restructured Group Merchandising function. Integrated GO outdoors onto JD IT infrastructure.
- Opened new JD outdoors warehouse facility, (with GXO as partners) transforming existing ‘vendor direct to store' model to 'warehouse replenishment' model.
- Successfully managed inbound stock throughout global pandemic on skeleton resource, balancing preservation of cash with continuity of service to on-line customers,
- Increased in store availability to record levels in 21/22, whilst reducing warehouse throughput unit cost by 14%, by reducing unnecessary product duplication of ranges.
- Led end to end supply chain review to identify opportunities to remove friction, cost and improve service levels. Productivity gains and re-negotiation of GXO contract realised annual savings of £1.7m
- Opened separate on line fulfilment centre (with GXO) to improve service levels and provide additional capacity to grow.
Senior Director Merchandising
George
Lutterworth, Leicestershire
2013.05 - 2018.10
- May 13 to June 14 - Director GM planning & Change
- June 14 to Oct 2018 Senior Director Merchandising
- Increased school wear sales by 9% in 2015 , enhancing market share by 1.4% pts through range extension and multiple initiatives to grow in store and web size availability.
- Delivered outstanding engagement score through period of internal re-structure, achieving highest score in peer group and recognised by Walmart.
- Led Product lifecycle management (PLM) project, Radio frequency tagging (RFID) project and Assortment Planning system (AMS) successfully through to pilot stage. Final combined capital cost £9m.
Head of Merchandising
Women's Footwear and Accessories, M&S
London, Greater London
2010.02 - 2012.01
- Initiated simplification of footwear sub brands, reducing product duplication and improving customer segmentation, resulting in 8% sales growth and 11% profit growth
- Improved gross margin by 0.9% through increased use of downtime production and influencing suppliers to hold more ‘backed stock'.
Head of Finance
Clothing and Homeware. M&S
London, Greater London
2007.10 - 2010.02
- Accountable for Financial Planning of sales, gross profit, inventory, and operating costs across General Merchandise.
- Led 3/5 year Business planning cycle, modelling P&L scenarios and instigating various work-streams to close profit gap.
- Delivered vendor financing scheme through RBS/HSBC to support cash flow of supply base and to facilitate extension of payment terms
- Received outstanding leadership score in colleague survey
Various
Marks and Spencer
Manchester, London, Lancashire, Greater London
1996.09 - 2007.10
- Early career on M&S graduate scheme, covering key Commercial, Finance and HR roles to gain broad retail foundation.
- Working in stores, managing both clothing and food sections before reaching store manager.
- Between 2002 and 2007 moved into Finance and held numerous finance roles whilst studying for ACMA (CIMA) professional Accounting qualification.
- Roles included Assistant Finance Manager, Retail Analyst, Head of Business Reporting and Head of Planning.
Education
ACMA Chartered Management Accountant - Accounting
BPP
Manchester 2003.09 - 2006.05
BA(Hons) - European Economics with French
Nottingham Trent University
Nottingham, Notts 1992.09 - 1996.06
Certificat en economie d'entreprise - Business Economics
Montpellier University, France
Montpellier, Languedoc Rousillon 1994.09 - 1995.06
Skills
- Team leadership and development
- Good listening skills
- Supplier collaboration
- High challenge, high support environments
- Good communicator
- High integrity and humility
Languages
French
Upper intermediate
Additional Information
Governor of the Fashion Retail Academy (FRA) in London (2008-2021)
Chair of the Fashion Retail Academy (FRA) Audit committee (2011-2021)
Languages
French - Intermediate
Timeline
Group Commercial Director - JD Outdoors
JD Sports Fashion plc
2025.03 - Current
Group Merchandising and Supply chain Director
JD Outdoor Group
2018.10 - 2025.03
Senior Director Merchandising
George
2013.05 - 2018.10
Head of Merchandising
Women's Footwear and Accessories, M&S
2010.02 - 2012.01
Head of Finance
Clothing and Homeware. M&S
2007.10 - 2010.02
ACMA Chartered Management Accountant - Accounting
BPP
2003.09 - 2006.05
Various
Marks and Spencer
1996.09 - 2007.10
Certificat en economie d'entreprise - Business Economics
Montpellier University, France
1994.09 - 1995.06
BA(Hons) - European Economics with French
Nottingham Trent University
1992.09 - 1996.06