Junior Fashion Buyer

Join our team to achieve your full career potential! We are proactive, outside the box thinkers and doers who stop at nothing to make the iconic Laura and Melanie Lyne brands shine! Privately owned and based in Laval, Quebec, with a strong vision for innovation and optimizing the employee and client experiences, we continue to help generations of Canadian women to look and feel their best.

Reporting directly to the Category Manager/Buyer, the Associate Category Manager/Buyer will collaborate with the Category Manager/Buyer in the merchandising activities of assigned categories, managing product aligned to the brand and ensuring compliance with product standards. The Associate Category Manager/Buyer will contribute to achievement of key financial objectives for the categories, by partnering with the Design, Fit, Production and Planning Teams, in line with the overall brand vision in both private label programs and line-vendor product selection.

How you will support the team:

1. Financial Objectives

•  Works under the supervision of the Category Manager/Buyer to achieve key financial objectives established in the annual category budget.

1. Merchandise Management

• Works with the Category Manager/Buyer to develop strategies for the brand including the general merchandising plan, assortment planning and pricing strategy for the category.
• Reviews V-listings on a weekly basis and suggests repeats to Category Manager/Buyer for best-sellers.
• Communicates with vendor for possible repeats of best-sellers and availability of ATS.
• Works with the Category Manager/Buyer to ensure the assortment is balanced, cohesive and markups are within company’s requirements.
• Participates in fit, concept, and collection review meetings.
• Partners with Production team to ensure timely delivery of goods and targeted GM by providing seasonal architecture, identifying target retail prices at the beginning of the seasonal development process.
• Makes recommendations to the Category Manager/Buyer on the development of brand-appropriate product.
• Under the supervision of the Category Manager/Buyer, negotiates best cost to ensure optimal value for our customer.

Business Management

• With the supervision of the Category Manager/Buyer, the Associate delegates required tasks to Assistant Buyers.
• Partners with Planning to ensure assortment plan and OTB are within forecast and advises any changes and discrepancies.
• Takes appropriate action with regards to quality issues or inadequately performing merchandise, requests for markdown allowance, etc.
• Assists the Marketing, eCommerce and Visual Teams with the development of editorial content as requested.
• Responsible for quarterly marketing document handoffs and product knowledge information for store use.

Additional Responsibilities

• Performs monthly store visits regularly, including periodic visits to alternate markets within the chain. Visits our stores as well as competition stores to collect store operations and customers’ feedback on fabrics, colours, trends, pricing, sales promotions, visual displays, and reports back other relevant information to the Category Manager/Buyer.
• Reviews cost sheets with approval of the Category Manager/Buyer to ensure targets are met.
• Preparation of custom reports as required by the Category Manager/Buyer.
• Preparation for post-mortem meetings under the guidance of the Category Manager/Buyer. 
• Participates and attends handoff meetings if required based on the category.
• Adheres to all new and existing Company policies and procedures (i.e. Loss Prevention, Health & Safety and Human Resources).

Those who thrive with us have:

• 3-5 years’ experience in a similar position
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience
• Knowledge of merchandising systems
• Intermediate knowledge of Microsoft Excel
• Experience in product development
• Excellent communication skills
• Excellent attention to detail and analytical skills
• Strong sense of urgency and the ability to prioritize
• Strong fashion flair
• Strong negotiation skills
• Team Player
• Eligible to travel

Laura Canada is a family-owned retailer housing two iconic women’s fashion apparel brands, Laura and Melanie Lyne. Based in Laval, Quebec, we design, produce, market and sell our fashion collections across Canada. We proudly employ over 2,000 dedicated team members and operate more than 140 retail store locations as well as operating laura.ca and melanielyne.com. We attribute our success to the unwavering commitment of our teams to delivering outstanding customer experiences while embodying our shared values of integrity, respect, teamwork, performance, and passion. We believe that delivering an outstanding customer experience is driven by our commitment to an outstanding employee experience.