Associate Buyer

Responsibilities

• Manages purchasing and inventory for specific departments, driving sales and profitability through collaboration with internal teams and external partners.
• Assists in curating assortments, ensuring timely deliveries, and analyzing sales performance.
• Identifies new products and trends through research and competitive shopping.
• Guides and trains Assistant Buyers and Senior Assistant Buyers.
• Builds, creates, and manages merchandise assortments that align with market and consumer trends, to be presented to the Buyer.
• Analyzes weekly sales and item performance to find opportunities and strategies to drive sales and margin.
• Prepares merchandise and reports for weekly team meetings.
• Manages the entire product lifecycle from creation, tracking of the purchase orders, samples, merchandising in store, to markdowns and discards.
• Makes purchasing decisions independently that satisfy the customer demand and achieve sales, turn and margin plan.
• Travel to store locations to review product mix, gather feedback, and share information with the merchant team.
• Attend trade shows and travel to vendor locations to grow and maintain professional relationships with external partners, as well as gain insight on new trends and opportunities.
• Maintain and grow professional relationships with external suppliers and internal partners via telephone, email, and face-to-face meetings.
• Partner with leadership and planning counterparts to manage the OTB and to identify opportunities in style count, sales goals, and inventory flow.
• Manage markdowns and promotion strategies.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree (B. A.) from four-year college or university; and 5+ years experience and/or training; or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Proven ability to develop and implement strategies that drive business growth.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication abilities, facilitating clear and effective dialogue with stakeholders.
• Strong aptitude for partnering with cross-functional teams to achieve shared goals and enhance organizational effectiveness.
• Skilled in developing, planning, presenting, and executing strategic initiatives that align with business objectives.

Pay

The pay range reflects the potential base salary range for this role. Individual base pay is determined by various factors such as relevant experience and skills, and the scope and responsibilities of the position. Pay Range: $70,000 - $80,000.