Buyer

Merchandising team – Maple location

The Buyer will utilize their existing food retail product knowledge and manage an assigned category of products including purchasing, sales, profitability, planning, vendor relationships, negotiations, SKU assortment;  They will coordinate activities involved with procurement of goods and review purchase orders and confirm with vendors on pricing, availability and delivery of products.

Responsibilities:

• Purchase and manage store inventory to achieve service level goals and store inventory level turns on promotional items in assigned categories
  
• Manage and review reports to identify issues on late deliveries, manufacturer outs, and taking appropriate action to maintain high service levels
  
• Manage pricing accuracy for frontline and promotional prices, insuring price integrity while achieving gross profit objectives
  
• Identify in -bound purchase order cost discrepancies and perform accounting reconciliation on in -bound shipments for assigned categories
  
• Develop strategic plans for categories, including category positioning, in -store promotions, plan -o -guides, pricing, service and inventory levels
  
• Complete regular reviews with stores with selected categories using various inputs, including consumer insights
  
• Oversee the implementation of Grocery initiatives including merchandising strategies, promotions, events, advertising, flyers
  
• Build relationships with vendors and negotiate an optimal merchandising mix
  
• Develop strong relationships with our store team members to move the company’s strategic initiatives forward. Work in conjunction with store teams regarding merchandising products to optimize sales
  
• Develop sales and promotional strategies including advertising, theme events, seasonal opportunities in order to achieve category targets.
  
• Responsible for defining product assortment, negotiating terms and conditions of purchase orders.
  
• Monitor all competitive and industry activities (including trends, opportunities etc.) regarding merchandising, marketing, assortment, pricing and promotions and use findings to support continuous improvement and innovation in the category.
  
• Identify consumer requirements and develop merchandising plans to meet those requirements.
  
• Provide feedback on performance reviews for office administrative assistant and/or assistant buyer(s) that indirectly report into you.
  

Qualifications

• 5+ years of merchandising/management experience within the grocery retail industry
  
• University degree in a business related field or equivalent
  
• Ability to develop and implement tactical plans
  
• Excellent understanding of vendor and customer relationship management
  
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills; ability to collaborate with others as well as work independently
  
• Strong financial acumen (P&L)
  
• Strong computer skills (Microsoft Office Products)
  
• Strong customer service orientation
  
• Strong negotiation & problem solving skills
  
• Strong forecasting experience
  
• Strong analytical, and presentation skills
  
• Occasional travel will be required