Assistant Buyer

Hobbycraft; Christchurch; Hybrid; GBP 26,000 - 27,000; Full time

Job summary

A creative retail company in Bournemouth is seeking an Assistant Buyer to support the Buying team. In this full-time role, you will assist in driving sales through effective product sourcing and vendor management. The ideal candidate has a background in buying and strong communication skills. Benefits include a competitive salary, 25 days holiday, and a 25% store discount.

Benefits

25% Discount Card

25 days holiday plus 8 Bank Holidays

Birthday Day Off

Company pension contribution

Cycle to Work Scheme

Colleague Social Events

Qualifications

• Experience within a buying or sourcing background is advantageous.
• Ability to build relationships at all levels.
• Commercial and financial awareness.

Responsibilities

• Assist the Buyer in generating new ideas to grow sales.
• Support vendor management and product sourcing.
• Conduct competitor store visits to identify opportunities.

Skills

Strong communication skills

Ability to understand customer insights

Vendor management experience

Organizational skills

Commercial awareness

Intermediate Excel skills

Job description

The vacancy

Role: Assistant Buyer

Location: Bournemouth

Reference: HOB1127730

Closing Date: 15/08/2025 23:59

Creativity is Hobbycraft’s reason for being, so when you join our fantastic team, you will be surrounded by like-minded imaginative people. We believe that working together and embracing new and innovative ideas are the best way to make our colleagues feel part of something.

Salary - £26k - 27k dependent on experience - Pension with a 4% contribution, 25 days holiday increasing every year, 25% discount in our stores

This is a full-time role, working 37.5 hours. Our core business hours are Monday to Friday – 10am to 3pm with a flexible approach to start and finish times

Our hybrid working model is 3 days in the office, 2 days working from home

Key Purpose of Role

In this role, you’ll be working alongside the Buyer and wider Trading team, supporting the management and delivery of the strategy for the category, providing data insight and analysis on the range performance, helping to shape product ranges, execute promotions, and bring innovative retail strategies to life — all while playing a key part in driving sales and hitting margin targets. You will be working with large well known branded suppliers, new innovative brands and our own brand sourcing offices in the far east to deliver inspirational product ranges that meet the needs of our customers.

Working at pace you will need to be adaptive, accurate and efficient in your approach to handling multiple projects at once, whilst prioritising your workload.

What's the job?

• Assisting the Buyer in generating new ideas on how to grow sales, margin and supplier income.
• Support the Buyer when sourcing and developing compelling product ranges, through developing relationships with new and existing vendors, which reflect the category strategy
• Support the buying process, with an awareness of impact on cross functional teams, allowing for flexibility adhering to a critical path, that ensures projects are delivered on time.
• With the Buyer, support end to end vendor strategy management including contract and cost price negotiation.
• Assist the Buyer in providing sales analysis on a weekly basis as directed
• Gather insights to support the category pricing hierarchy system via comp shops & online comparisons.
• Within the category Buying team, support the product lifecycle including range performance, identifying and optimising trading opportunities and the delivery of promotions and range reviews.
• Co-ordinate and execute the sampling process for range development, including management and approval of packaging.
• Ensure all products and vendors are set up in line with agreed processes, with accurate complete data.
• Conduct regular (digital & physical) competitor store visits to help identify new opportunities as well as changes to our existing offering.
• Undertake wider administrative duties from time to time as may be reasonably required.
  
  

What skills do I need?

• Previous experience of working within a buying and or sourcing background is advantageous.
• Ability to understand customer insights and market trends
• Experience in vendor management
• Strong communication and influencing skills
• Ability to build relationships at all levels
• A highly organised multitasker, with a keen eye for detail, accuracy and achieving deadlines
• Commercial and financial awareness
• Flexible and adaptable
• Proactive
• Intermediate Microsoft Office skills, in particular Excel and PowerPoint
  
  

What’s in it for me?

25% Discount Card for Hobbycraft Stores

25 days holiday plus 8 Bank Holidays with an increase each holiday year

Birthday Day Off

A creative working environment

Company pension contribution

Cycle to Work Scheme

Retail Trust - Employee Support Programme

Colleague Social Events

We are completely committed to supporting anyone with a disability in applying for our vacancies. If you have a disability and require support throughout our recruitment process, you can contact us at [e-mail] and let us know what adjustments you may need.

At Hobbycraft we celebrate the joy of crafting, and we celebrate all of our colleagues and customers. As a retailer we have a diverse Colleague base from a broad range of all communities. Our colleagues are recruited for their skill, passion, love of craft and customer service, which is also reflected in our customer base. It is this skill and love of crafting which defines them. Hobbycraft, is an equal opportunity employer who takes equality, diversity, inclusion and belonging very seriously, we regularly review our policies and practices to ensure not only compliance, but also best practise from an employment perspective.

Hobbycraft are proud to be an equal opportunities employer, and we are committed to equal and fair treatment for all colleagues or potential colleagues irrespective of race, sexual orientation, nationality, ethnic origins, religion or belief, disability, age, gender, marital or family status.

About Us

We’re here to help you create

Our passion for craft is at the centre of everything we do. This is reflected in our creative and knowledgeable Hobbycraft store colleagues, who are always on hand to help, and our vast, carefully selected range of quality products. Throughout the year, we also host a variety of workshops and demos in stores and online, designed to give everyone the opportunity to master a new craft or refine a beloved one.

We're here to support everyone on their crafting journey, from parents looking to encourage their creative kids, to student artists, expert knitters, model making hobbyists and more! Why not come into your local Hobbycraft store today and find the perfect craft for you?

What's Needed

Customer service

Creative

Knowledgeable

Documents