Assistant Buyer, VMS

Job Summary: 

The Assistant Buyer is responsible for collaborating with their category team on evaluating, curating, promoting and growing the brands/products in their assigned category and ensuring a strong vendor partnership. In addition, the Assistant Buyer position partners with Buyers in sourcing and onboarding new suppliers and products relevant to category, trend, and team objectives. This role is the first step in the progression of the Merchandising Team buying structure; and is responsible for making merchandising decisions for low/mid volume accounts in addition to supporting category teams. 

Job Expectations: 

• Collaborate and work closely with Buyers, Managers and team to ensure all are aligned on business strategies, short and long-term growth objectives.

• Collaborate with Buyers to build, edit and maintain assortment to create market advantage while reflecting customer needs/requests

• Negotiate with vendors to secure exceptional everyday pricing, marketing & promotional budgets, special opportunity buys, growth incentives including rebates and accruals, delivery, and payment terms for low/mid volume accounts

• Facilitate relationships with low/mid volume existing/new vendors to drive sales, product innovation, margin growth, promotional support and maintain regular and consistent communication to ensure a clear understanding of short/long-term goals and capabilities

• Coordinate with the buyers on negotiation of contracts, product evaluation, quality issues, customer service questions and create and maintain supplier, product database

• Drive the new product/brand onboarding and maintenance process to ensure timely addition to market

• Update and maintain cost, pricing, and product adjustments in system to ensure desired mark-ups, margin 

• Coordinate with Inventory Management and Planning Team in managing inventory turns, service level, order cycles, deal implementation and general supply chain practices

• Collaborate with Buyers to support promotional co-op activities that are profitable and highly effective in conjunction with Marketing

• Create, review and utilize reports to enable in-depth analysis of category successes/challenges

• Provide support to Category Managers and other Buyers on projects and day-to-day activities

• Comply with company policies and procedures, including safety, business ethics, and standards of conduct

The duties and responsibilities described above may provide only a partial description of this position. This is not an exhaustive list of all aspects of the job.  Other duties and responsibilities not outlined in this document may be added as necessary or desirable, with or without notice.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

Required:

• Developing negotiating skills

• Developing analytical, data management, and decision-making abilities

• Strong mathematical skills with an understanding of retail pricing concepts

• Ability to communicate professionally with people at all levels of the organization and external contacts

• Great attention to detail, highly organized with strong project management skills  

• Ability to handle multiple tasks, problem solve, and prioritize with awareness of importance and deadlines

Equipment Knowledge: 

• Experience with Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint)

• Experience with Google Business Suite (Gmail, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Forms) preferred

• WMS, EDI, SAP, Asana, Tableau experience a plus

Experience Requirements:

Generally, requires a minimum of two (2) to five (5) of progressive experience in buying or directly related role with equivalent responsibilities, preferably in an e-commerce environment with Supplements, Beauty/Personal Care, or Natural Products experience a plus.

Education Requirements: 

Bachelor’s Degree in Business, Merchandising or related field preferred, or a combination of education and equivalent work experience.

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