Assistant Buyer

Lululemon Athletica; London; On-site; GBP 30,000 - 40,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading athletic apparel company in London is looking for an Assistant Buyer to manage product categories and support strategic planning. The ideal candidate has retail experience, strong analytical abilities, and a passion for fashion trends. This role includes leading category management and collaborating with various teams to ensure product excellence. Applicants should be energetic and ready to enhance the guest experience.

Qualifications

• Experience as an assistant buyer, merchant or in a buying role.
• Mastery of retail mathematics.
• Willingness to travel and work on the retail floor.

Responsibilities

• Lead the in-season management of product category.
• Formulate and define local pricing strategies.
• Act as primary point of contact for product feedback.

Skills

Strong analytical skills

Excellent sense of style and color trends

Proven ability to work with a cross-functional team

Entrepreneurship

Education

1-2 years' experience in retail

Tools

MS Office (Word, Excel, Outlook)

Job description

Business Unit: Store Support Centre (SSC)

Time Type: Full-time

Description & Requirements

Overview

Who we are

lululemon is an innovative performance apparel company for yoga, running, training, and other athletic pursuits. Setting the bar in technical fabrics and functional design, we create transformational products and experiences that support people in moving, growing, connecting, and being well. We owe our success to our innovative product, emphasis on stores, commitment to our people, and the incredible connections we make in every community we’re in. As a company, we focus on creating positive change to build a healthier, thriving future. In particular, that includes creating an equitable, inclusive and growth-focused environment for our people.

About this team

Reporting to the Buying Manager, the Assistant Buyer is responsible for the assortment, execution and depth of the buy of their specific product category across all channels. The Assistant Buyer is responsible for supporting the team with strategic assortment planning, determining locally relevant assortments and being a competitive market expert for their particular region. This person will lead effective partnerships with Planning, Allocations, Visual Merchandising, Digital and Retail Operations to deliver "right product, right stores, right time". The Assistant Buyer role is the stepping stone to Buyer through experience and time in role

Core responsibilities

• Working with the Buyer - you lead the in-season management of your product category, through sales analysis, flow management, product education, chase, cancellations, markdowns and exit
• You work with the Buyer to formulate and define local pricing strategies
• You act as the primary point of contact for product feedback from your region's product category
• You support the quarterly product reviews ("meltdown") for your product category, delivering on timely, measurable, and actionable feedback
• You proactively gather, analyse and drive insight from local market knowledge and competitive landscape across all channels
• Using the preliminary Global Assortment to support buyer, create a compelling, locally relevant product assortment for the region's store clusters
• You are a "market expert" in your product category and region for all channels and can effectively communicate key data points with the buyer, including merchandising strategies, athletic and fashion trends, pricing and competition that inform the global product strategy
• You contribute to the financial success of the region by meeting and exceeding sales, gross margin and inventory productivity goals through all channels (stores, ecommerce) through the effective partnership with Planning team.

Qualifications

• Min. 1-2 years' experience in retail in an assistant buyer, merchant or buying role
• Vertical retail and omni-channel experience highly desirable
• Mastery of retail mathematics and Open to Buy
• Strong analytical skills, including the ability to interpret multiple data points across numerous channels and market segments
• Proven ability to work with a cross functional team
• Excellent sense of style and color trends; athletically minded
• Entrepreneurship - an ability to make decisions and take calculated risks
• Focus on creating an extraordinary guest experience, organizational and time management skills
• Strong knowledge of MS Office (Word, Excel and Outlook)
• Self-awareness, with a desire for constant self-improvement (goal-oriented)
• Willingness to travel and work on the retail floor

Must haves

• Acknowledges the presence of choice in every moment and takes personal responsibility for their life.
• Possesses an entrepreneurial spirit and continuously innovates to achieve great results.
• Communicates with honesty and kindness and creates the space for others to do the same.
• Leads with courage, knowing the possibility of greatness is bigger than the fear of failure.
• Fosters connection by putting people first and building trusting relationships.
• Integrates fun and joy as a way of being and working, a doesn't take themselves too seriously.

Only those applicants under consideration will be contacted. Please accept our utmost appreciation for your interest. lululemon is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. Employment decisions are based on merit and business needs, and not on race, color, creed, age, sex, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, marital status, medical condition, physical or mental disability, military service, pregnancy, childbirth and related medical conditions or any other classification protected by federal, state or provincial and local laws and ordinances. Reasonable accommodation is available for qualified individuals with disabilities, upon request. This Equal Employment Opportunity policy applies to all practices relating to recruitment and hiring, compensation, benefits, discipline, transfer, termination and all other terms and conditions of employment. While management is primarily responsible for seeing that lululemon equal employment opportunity policies are implemented, you share in the responsibility for assuring that, by your personal actions, the policies are effective.

lululemon is committed to providing reasonable accommodation to applicants with disabilities. If you would like someone from our team to contact you for individualized support, email us. In your email, please include the position title, the location of the position and the nature of your request.