Assistant Buyer, Home

Saks Global is the largest multi-brand luxury retailer in the world, comprising Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman and Saks OFF 5TH. Powered by talented colleagues, we are redefining luxury shopping by offering each customer a personalized experience across our store network and e-commerce platforms.

About the role

As the Assistant Buyer, you are a motivated individual who will participate in vendor selections and partnerships. You will assist in monitoring inventory productivity, analyzing vendor profitability, providing data for price changes, and entering price changes online.

Responsibilities

• Order Management
  • Liaise with Buyers, Associate Buyers, and brand partners to gather and confirm order details (e.g., item details, shipping details, delivery schedules, order prioritization), manage updates to buy sheets, and resolve discrepancies.
  • Oversee offshore Merchandise Assistants’ creation and transmission of purchase orders to brand partners, ensuring timely delivery and accuracy of order details, and resolving or escalating any issues raised.
  • Provide allocation direction to the Planning Allocation team and help manage allocations for high-touch categories such as Designer.
  • Manage communication of receipt flow changes to the offshore team and ensure POs are maintained for accurate ship windows, order quantities, and on-order.
• Market Preparation
  • Prepare Buyers for Market by working with Planners to provide insights on historical performance (e.g., best and worst sellers by door), emerging trends, and customer preferences.
  • Coordinate market appointments and periodically attend NY market.
  • Support Buyer in style-out sessions including coordinating logistics and preparing insights to support assortment presentation.
  • Initiate the development of strategic product assortments to drive sales and brand growth.
• Bottoms-Up In-Season Analysis
  • Act as primary point of contact on execution questions and feedback from brand partners, visual merchandising, site merchandising, stores, digital, marketing (including promos), and planning (including pricing).
  • Constantly review business performance in close collaboration with Assistant Planners, communicating bottoms-up style insights to Buyers and recommending in-season actions (e.g., ask the vendor for ATS on sold-out items).
  • Help prepare for monthly OTB (Open-to-Buy).
  • Manage markdown cadence and oversee offshore execution of price changes (frequency varies by category), RTVs, etc., and resolve any escalated issues.
  • Collaborate with offshore reporting team to generate custom Buying reports, maintaining structural changes to views and ensuring timely delivery by offshore teams.

Requirements

• Manages ambiguity well, is a self-starter, and thrives in a fast-paced environment.
• Strong accountability, ability to multitask, and prioritize independently.
• Generates a variety of approaches to problem-solving quickly, including new and novel ideas.
• Strong interpersonal skills; can be both direct but diplomatic and gain trust from others quickly.
• Consistently performs above goals and drives positive outcomes in a large, complex organization.
• Open to new perspectives and willing to try new ways of working in an evolving business.
• Strong knowledge of and ability to apply retail math concepts, including markup, margin planning, open-to-buy, and inventory productivity measures (WOS, T/O, GMROI).
• Strong organizational skills and attention to detail.
• Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written.
• Proficient in MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Google Sheets/Docs/Slides.
• Proficiency in systems (RFS, AMS, PCW, NuOrder).
• 1 - 2 years' experience as an Assistant Buyer, preferably in a major department store.

Benefits

• Comprehensive benefits package for all eligible full-time employees, including medical, vision, and dental insurance.
• 401(k) retirement plan.
• Basic life insurance, supplemental life insurance, and disability insurance.
• A variety of additional voluntary benefits (such as critical illness, hospital, and accident insurance).
• Amazing employee discount.

Pay

Compensation for this role varies by geographic location. The salary range is $54,000 - $72,000, reflecting multiple markets, including higher-cost areas. Actual starting pay will be determined based on work location, experience, and other job-related factors.