Associate Merchant - (Prepared Foods)

About the role

The Associate Merchant is responsible for the merchandising functions for assigned categories, contributing to the development of business objectives, achieving sales and margin goals, executing the merchandising strategy, and providing analytical support, insights, and recommendations to the merchandise team.

Responsibilities

• Collaborates on the development of sales and margin plans and sales forecasts for assigned categories.
• Manages and controls open-to-buy positioning and buys merchandise for assigned categories.
• Participates in negotiations directly with vendors on merchandise pricing, quantity, delivery and terms.
• Identifies and implements merchandise packaging and presentation techniques that enhance productivity and execution.
• Objectively assesses merchandise mix based on consumer trends and business needs to develop planograms and to provide recommendations on assortments.
• Reviews advertising and promotion analytics to evaluate performance, refine merchandise plans and suggest adjustments to strategy.
• Responsible for the implementation of category pricing strategy and executes exit strategies on slow selling items.
• Affirms pricing based on knowledge of competitive landscape, sales and margin objectives, and price indexing and targets.
• Researches competitive landscape and consumer trends to ensure alignment with strategy.
• Identifies merchandising risks and opportunities and presents recommendations.
• Provides effective and supportive direction and guidance to Merchant Assistants.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in business or operations related field
• 2-5 years of professional merchandising or retail operations experience
• Knowledge of vendor negotiation techniques
• Strong analytical and critical thinking skills
• Excellent written and oral communication skills
• Ability to multi-task and work independently in a fast-paced environment

Pay

At BJ’s Wholesale Club, the Associate Merchant position pays between $69,000.00 - $91,000.00 annually, subject to individual qualifications and performance.