Associate Buyer

Job Title: Associate Buyer

Department: Procurement

Location: Remote

Reports to: Director of Operations & Partnerships

Compensation: $45,000 to $55,000 per year, depending on experience

Position Summary: Bring your merchandise buying experience to a growing business in the university campus store space where we drive customer engagement by delivering high-quality branded merchandise with passionate, world-class service. This fully remote role suits a self-starter who takes initiative and owns their workload without day to day oversight. The successful Associate Buyer will lead apparel buying for assigned store locations and support other product categories as business needs require, creating opportunities to drive steady growth in store and online sales. In this role you will work with our Director of Operations & Partnerships, the wider buying team, store managers, and retail operations group to procure merchandise, ensuring product availability to support forecasted demand and budgeted goals.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

· Collaborate with the Director of Operations & Partnerships and executive team members to create effective and innovative merchandising strategies to drive total category sales and profitability

· Own apparel buying for assigned store locations, including assortment planning, open to buy management, purchase order placement, and vendor follow up

· Support buying across additional categories as assigned, which may include gifts and accessories, school and office supplies, regalia, food and beverage, and technology

· Work independently in a remote environment, taking full ownership of assigned accounts and proactively bringing forward ideas, risks, and solutions rather than waiting for direction

· Research and select items that meet the needs of our in-store and online customers keeping within budgetary and quality standards to achieve sales, margin, and gross profit goals

· Remain focused on current trends, sales opportunities, assortment variation, competition and merchant vision by category and apply knowledge to drive growth

· Collaborate with our store managers to understand the unique needs of the faculty, administration and students for course supplies, uniforms, specialty program items, gift cards, and other relevant items

· Identify unique, underdeveloped, emerging or new, products or categories, based on statistical analysis, competitive landscape, customer feedback and trends

· Partner with major external and internal vendor partners to ensure their brands are well positioned to deliver against customer and brand expectations

· Work with vendor partners to negotiate cost of goods, approve artwork proofs, determine delivery timing, and alleviate production and shipping issues

· Monitor status of open purchase orders to ensure on-time delivery of all products, including timely resolution, communication, and mitigation of future potential problems

· Expedite or defer orders as required based on schedule/inventory changes

· Work with the analytics team to measure the effectiveness of all merchandising activities against financial KPI’s

· Analyze reports to identify sales trends and/or recurring production or shipping issues and share findings with the Director of Operations & Partnerships

· Potential for travel to include buying trips, industry trade shows, and stores

Other Duties

· Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties, or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change at any time with or without notice.

Knowledge and Experience:

· 1 to 2 years of experience in a buyer role, preferably in a university or collegiate retail setting

· 1 to 2 years working directly with vendors and/or decorator

· Apparel buying experience required; experience across other categories a plus

· Solid applied knowledge of forecasting, transportation, supply chain, inventory management and warehousing disciplines

· Proficient in all other Microsoft Office products including Outlook, Excel, Word, Teams and SharePoint

· Familiarity with product decorating techniques a plus

Core Competencies:

· Strong time management skills including prioritizing, organizing, and tracking details as well as meeting deadlines of multiple projects with varying completion dates

· Strong problem identification and solving skills and recommends solutions

· Active listening and outstanding interpersonal skills, focused on customer service excellence

· Excellent verbal, written and presentation skills

· Technologically proficient with a willingness to learn and use new software applications

· Experience establishing and maintaining relationships with individuals at all levels of the organization, including the executive level.

· Self-starter with a high sense of urgency who takes initiative and ownership without needing to be prompted

· Independently motivated and comfortable working remotely, with the ability to contribute to a collaborative team

· Adapts to changing work environments, work priorities and organizational needs

· Deadline and results driven

Education

Bachelor’s degree in business administration, merchandising, economics, or related field preferred. Experience may be considered in lieu of degree.

Pay: $45,000.00 - $55,000.00 per year

Benefits:

• 401(k)
• 401(k) matching
• Dental insurance
• Health insurance
• Paid time off
• Vision insurance

Work Location: Remote