Assistant Buyer

Tesco PLC; Digswell; On-site; GBP 38,000 - 52,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Annual bonus up to 10%

Holiday 25 days + personal day

Maternity & Adoption leave (26 weeks)

Paternity leave

24/7 virtual GP

Employee Assistance Programme (EAP)

Job summary

Tesco PLC in the Women's Socks & Hosiery team is seeking a Senior Assistant Buyer. You will help build trend-led, high-quality ranges, partner with the Buying Manager, and drive supplier relationships from concept to store.

You will manage Buying Administrators, support product development and sourcing, monitor trading performance, and work across marketing and VM to deliver on time, profitable ranges.

Qualifications

• Clothing retail experience.
• Product development and sourcing experience.
• Range building experience.
• Report preparation and analysis skills.
• Ideally line management responsibility.
• Data analysis and numeracy skills.
• MS Office.

Responsibilities

• Provide support to keep the function running smoothly.
• Day-to-Day management of Buying Administrators within the team, developing both their technical and leadership skills.
• Manage part of product category independently under guidance of Buying Manager.
• Identifying new product opportunities and developing from concept to production.
• Communicate with factories on costing, lead times and specs; act as point of contact for queries.
• Analyse costing options, support margin improvements and track cost changes.
• Contribute to range planning and monitor weekly trading; identify best/worst sellers.

Skills

Clothing retail experience

Product development

Sourcing

Range building

Report preparation

Data analysis

MS Office

Leadership

Tools

MS Office

Job description

As a the Senior Assistant Buyer in our Women's Socks & Hosiery team, you'll be at the heart of delivering trend-led, commercially successful ranges that offer great quality and value for our customers. Partnering with the Buying Manager, you'll play a key role in range building, product development, competitor analysis, supplier management and trade performance, helping to bring exciting products to life from concept through to store. This opportunity is ideal for an experienced Assistant Buyer who thrives in a fast-paced environment, has a strong commercial mindset and is looking to grow their career within a dynamic and collaborative team. You will be responsible for Core Responsibilities

Core Responsibilities

• Providing support to keep the function running smoothly
• Day-to-Day management of Buying Administrators within the team, developing both their technical and leadership skills

Product Development Support

• Manage part of product category independently under guidance of Buying Manager
• Identifying new product opportunities and understanding from concept to production to bring new products to the ranges. Ensuring alignment with trend direction and brand handwriting.
• Understanding and supporting the departmental sourcing strategy.

Supplier & Factory Liaison

• Communicate directly with factories on costing, lead times, sample revisions, and product specifications.
• Point of contact and problem solving on adhoc queries

Costing & Margin Management

• Analyse costing options, propose margin improvement solutions, and track cost changes during development, supplier negotiation.
• MPD/ MPP management

Range Building & Trading

• Contribute to range planning: propose new ideas, identify gaps based on sales performance, and support buying decisions with data.
• Preparing information, product or analysis - monitor weekly trading: identify best/worst sellers, recommend repeats, and highlight risks.
• Prepare comp shops as required, utilise the Edited platform

Cross Functional Coordination

• Liaising with HUBs and Suppliers to monitor critical path taking actions to ensure on time delivery
• Work with marketing/online/packaging on product briefs for shoots, descriptions, and launch priorities.
• Support Technical - understanding product components, technical requirements, sourcing and supply chain issues and commercial margin parameters.
• Work with VM with store visual guidelines
• Following our Business Code of Conduct and always acting with integrity and due diligence

Requirements

• Clothing retail experience
• Product development and sourcing experience
• Range building skills
• Report preparation and analysis skills
• Ideally line management responsibility
• Data analysis and numeracy skills
• MS Office

You might know us as a supermarket, technology company or even for our award-winning mobile network. Truth is, we're all of those things, and much more. Our colleagues work with one goal in mind, helping to make every day a little better for our customers, colleagues and communities all over the world. No two customers are the same, neither are our colleagues., Tesco has become a market leader by doing the little things that really matter for our customers and colleagues.

It's part of what makes Tesco such a great place to work, and we're proud to have been accredited as one of Britain's Top Employers again this year. We're the UK's number one retailer and we pride ourselves on offering a great shopping experience. We are passionate about our food, merchandise and services and will always try to get things right for our customers. But did you know we also offer great job opportunities? With stores, distribution centres and offices across the UK, and a vast variety of roles, we are always looking for people who have a hunger to work with customers and colleagues across our exciting business. We believe in treating each other with respect and giving everyone an equal opportunity to get on. It's our people that make the difference every day - helping us make a difference for our customers

Benefits

• Annual bonus scheme of up to 10% of base salary.
• Holiday starting at 25 days plus a personal day (plus Bank holidays).
• 26 weeks maternity and adoption leave (12 months service required at the qualifying date) at full pay, followed by 13 weeks of Statutory Maternity Pay or Statutory Adoption Pay, we also offer 6 weeks fully paid paternity leave.
• Free 24/7 virtual GP service, Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) for you and your family, free access to a range of experts to support your mental wellbeing.