Buyer - Paper, Chemicals & Pet

Essential Duties and Responsibilities 

• Develops new and existing vendor relationships. 

• Collaborates in developing the merchandise strategies that define which categories will grow, stabilize and decline while still achieving financial metrics. Provides recommendations regarding close-out, opportunistic, and everyday businesses. 

• Collaborates with Planning to develop a merchandise plan to support the strategy and achieve goals. 

• Identifies opportunities to exploit sales and margin opportunities and partners with Planning and Allocation to develop execution tactics. 

• Collaborates with Planning, Allocation, Advertising, Merchandise Presentation, Distribution and Transportation Services, and Field Management to understand and improve upon internal company processes. 

• Travels to stores weekly to understand merchandise packaging and presentation requirements, customer requirements and customer trends. Shops competitor stores weekly to assess direction of competition and understand competitive pricing structures. 

• Travels to trade shows and vendor locations to develop a network of contacts, to stay informed on industry and competitor direction, and to source deals. Travel may involve overseas in selected buying positions. 

• Develops a collaborative team atmosphere through an open exchange of ideas and positive feedback between Buying, Planning, Allocation, and Store Marketing team members. 

• Responsible for achieving annual sales dollar, margin dollar, Average Unit Retail (AUR), and inventory turn target goals for assigned categories. 

• Trains and mentors others, as requested. 

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities  

• College degree, required. 
• Minimum of three years of retail buying experience, preferred. 
• Excellent negotiation and marketing skills required. 
• Excellent verbal and written communication and organization skills. 
• Motivated and self-starter, willing to take on new challenges and learn every aspect of merchandising. 
• Excellent interpersonal, collaboration, and relationship building skills with the ability to thrive in a team environment required. 
• Strong computer skills including proficiency in spreadsheet, word processing and data analysis tools required. 
• Must be able to travel domestically and/or internationally as needed. 
• Ability to manage a complex business model that may include close-outs, opportunistic, and everyday businesses.