Associate Buyer – Hard Goods

Associate Buyer – Hard Goods

Requirements

• 1-3 years of relevant Industry Merchandising and Buying experience
• Solid foundation of Retail Math and Buying Fundamentals
• Proficient in Microsoft Office (proficiency in Excel a must)
• Excellent organizational skills and extreme attention to detail
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Strong analytical skills
• Outstanding time management skills
• Ability to perform under pressure and prioritize competing tasks/initiatives

Responsibilities

• Assortment Selection: pricing, category/brand mix, and seasonal selection of inventory for the category
• Vendor Management and Negotiations: discounts, terms, pricing policies, promotional periods, PO compliance and issues management, image use, price-matching, and special/exclusive buys
• PO Management: marks vendor catalogs for SKU/PO worksheet creation, building POs (Qty/Dollar/Style Allocation, Size/Color Breakout) and ensures on time submission to vendors, timely management of PO edits, past dues and carries out all PO type builds and maintenance (Pre-season, ASAP)
• Promotions: Works with Marketing to brainstorm/hindsight Promo concepts and performance and helps to set up the promotional cadence for the category. Picks SKU’s/links and reviews all rules pages. QA promo functionality, review and react to performance, and identify risks in promotional calendar.
• Pricing: Works with the Planner to set the Pre-season pricing strategy, in-line/in-Season pricing (promo periods, price matching, promotional calendar management), manage end of season price-break dates, communicate all in-season and end of season price breaks to marketing team and is responsible for assignment to the promotional calendar.
• Inventory Management: Works with the Planner to establish Preseason PO Receipt Flow, Preseason inventory allocation, set in season sell-through targets, pricing strategy for slow movers, moving aged and toxic inventory, manages Return to Vendor (RTV) and mark-down dollar requests with vendor, and ensures inventory management strategy aligned with company-wide financial goals
• Online Merchandising: reviews/optimizes color thumbnail displayed on PLP and Search pages, oversees the boosting/sort order for responsible brands/categories, sets up Cross Sell/Up Sells tools, manages Backorders, review and optimizes site taxonomy and facets, and utilized Kit Calculator as required per category

Preferred Qualifications

• Expertise in outdoor brands and merchandising preferred
• Experience with Camping, Fishing and Water Sports Merchandise preferred
• Willingness and ability to travel as needed