What are the responsibilities and job description for the Associate Buyer - General License position at Marshall Retail Group?
About Us:
WH Smith is a leading global travel retailer with over 1,700 stores across 30 countries worldwide. WHSmith North America, incorporating Marshall Retail Group (MRG) and InMotion, represents over half of the Company’s international store estate, with a collection of attractive, successful specialty retail stores located in airports and resorts across North America.
Marshall Retail Group prides itself on creating unique experiences for customers by developing distinctive retail store concepts that feature and highlight the local culture, community, and lifestyle of the cities in which they are located. InMotion Entertainment Group is the largest airport-based electronics retailer in travel locations globally, with access and insight into the latest technologies for business and leisure travelers, InMotion offers lifestyle products and electronics that include a wide breadth of headphones, mobile power, Bluetooth speakers and travel accessories.
Job Summary: The Associate Buyer is responsible for curating and managing the optimum assortment for our customers with responsibility for specific department(s) within a larger buying complex. The Associate Buyer will work to create the appropriate merchandise mix based on emerging market trends, along with working with the supplier base and supervisory Buyer to develop category and supplier strategies. They are responsible to achieve the sales, margin, and turnover targets for his/her respective buying areas and they will provide assistant support to the Buyer for other department needs.
Essential Responsibilities:
- Develop and execute merchandise assortment strategies in order to meet or exceed the financial goals for General License Softlines & Hardlines
- Product development as needed in accordance with the respective property brands, departments, and concepts.
- Initiate purchase orders and manage store assortments.
- Work with vendors to resolve purchase order discrepancies and compliance issues.
- Partner with Planner to manage and adhere to Open-to-Buy (OTB) budget.
- Create and maintain open lines of communication & partnership with Buyer, Planner, Store Managers, Regional Managers and other co-workers.
- Negotiate with vendors to secure the best terms for maximum margin results, including supplier income, and best pricing as well as markdown and/or RTV agreements.
- Analyze business at division, department, class, subclass, attribute, and store level.
- Prepare for and participate in regular Merchandising meetings such as Weekly Performance Meetings, Month End Review / OTB meetings, Collaboration meetings, New Store Review meetings, etc.
- Visit our stores to evaluate assortments, presentations, stock levels, marketing, customers, and obtain feedback from store personnel. Visit competitors to evaluate pricing, assortments, and market trends for possible opportunities.
- Work closely with Planner to manage allocation, reorder flow, and product lifecycle including promos, markdowns, transfers and RTVs.
- Regularly attend industry tradeshows to source new vendors, meet with existing vendor partners, and identify emerging trends.
