Assistant Buyer, Home, Tech & Activity

Reporting to the Manager, Home, Tech & Activity Buying, the Assistant Buyer, Home, Tech & Activity is responsible for supporting the Buyer in a portion of their managed portfolio, ensuring orders and relevant reports are delivered in a timely and precise manner, while simultaneously actioning the department strategy into their defined portfolio. They will collaborate and execute on all buying functions to maximize the effectiveness of their portfolio and achieve the sales, profits and market share objectives of the Home, Tech & Activity department. The ideal candidate has an exceptional eye for the latest industry trends in Home, Tech & Activity, solid ability to build lasting vendor relationships, develop and source new products through the precise execution of the department product strategy and thrive in a data driven fast paced environment.

Responsibilities

Reporting 10%

• Generate accurate weekly inter and cross-departmental sales data reports for the Home, Tech & Activity Buying team as well as vendor facing reports (ex. sell through reports) to gage year-to-date sales against plan and ensure the business is on track against its key metrics

Po Creation and Maintenance 25%

• Ensure purchase orders are entered in a timely manner and in accordance with department standards
• Review order confirmations and resolve any discrepancies in a timely manner with the support of the Buyer or Senior Buyer that oversees the brand or the Manager, Home, Tech & Activity
• Work closely with Buying Coordinators to oversee and prioritise administrative tasks to ensure pre-determined deadlines are met

Operations Support 45%

• Achieve pre-set seasonal budgets, margins and sell-through goals for a small defined portfolio of managed brands, whilst maintaining support of the Buyer portfolio
• Execute on the day to day operations and in-season business (repeats, RTVs/waps, etc) of the specifically assigned brands working in partnership with the Buyer to effectively execute on the business deliverables
• Perform competitive research and price benchmarking to ensure that the assortment is optimized and competitive
• Provide support and training to new members of the merchandising team on specific systems and processes
• Build and develop cross departmental relationships to ensure optimal presentation and performance of portfolio
• Liaise with the Studio and Marketing teams to ensure product is accurately represented from a vendor and SSENSE point of view across all channels
• Liaise with the Logistic teams to ensure seamless and on-time delivery of merchandise
• Recommend key product and brand knowledge to the Personal Shopping and Marketing teams that result in driving overall sales for the Home, Tech & Activity category
• Align with the planning team and work with the Buyer to execute on the seasonal budget targets and identify opportune areas for growth
• Support and deliver to all additional operational responsibilities including, but not limited to, quantification, sizing, and pricing

Vendor Relationships 20%

• Learn best practices to ensure alignment of the seasonal purchasing budget and collaborate to understand the selection and strategy process for a specific set of assigned brands
• Gain exposure to selecting products to create a consistent buying message that aligns to the SSENSE brand and department strategy for a specific set of assigned brands
• Practice and develop negotiation skills with suppliers in order to onboard desirable new brands
• Actively work with the Buyer to provide the marketing and creative teams with product content in order to create marketing campaigns that garner strong results based on the campaign key performance indicators
• Act as a brand ambassador participating in building strong long-term relationships with suppliers to attain early delivery times, exclusive launches, and preferential end of season terms (swaps, RTVs, margin agreements) in order to achieve portfolio sales and profitability goals with the support and guidance of the Buyer, in order to achieve portfolio sales goals

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field
• A minimum of 1-2 years experience in a buying role, preferably in a multi-brand Home, Tech & Activity environment
• Must be able to leverage an existing network within the industry
• Highly analytical with a strong understanding of retail math
• Excellent skills using Microsoft Excel
• Developed training skills and knowledge sharing capabilities
• Good written and verbal communication skills in both French and English

Skills

• Developed understanding of SSENSE perspective
• Well spoken and articulate with excellent verbal communication skills
• Credible with a solid track record building relationships internally and externally
• Entrepreneurial spirit and comfortable with hyper growth in a fast paced environment
• Resourceful and solution-oriented
• Demonstrated ability as a strong internal collaborator