Buyer - Womenswear Contemporary

Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS); City Of London; On-site; GBP 35,000 - 50,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading retail organization is seeking a Buyer for Womenswear Contemporary. This role involves overseeing the buying area, managing performance, negotiating terms with suppliers, and collaborating with various teams. Candidates should have strong market knowledge, excellent communication skills, and a strategic commercial approach. The position is based in London and offers an opportunity to work in a dynamic environment.

Qualifications

• Strong market knowledge in Womens Contemporary.
• Ability to build relationships with stakeholders.
• Experience in driving commercial strategies.
• Effective communicator with influencing skills.
• Numerical aptitude with commercial approach.

Responsibilities

• Oversee the Womens Contemporary buying area.
• Manage performance through analysis and recommendations.
• Negotiate terms with suppliers.
• Collaborate with internal teams for brand onboarding.
• Forge partnerships with concession businesses.
• Support key pop-up activations and brand launches.

Skills

Knowledge of Womens Contemporary

Collaborative relationship building

Analytical skills

Communication skills

Commercial awareness

Proficiency in Excel

Job description

Buyer - Womenswear Contemporary

Job Introduction

As a Buyer, you will be responsible for a specific buying area for the business: Womens Contemporary. You will negotiate the best terms for Selfridges, manage existing brands and work with marketing to drive sales and maximise profitability of Womens Contemporary.

As Buyer you will

• Be responsible for overseeing the Womens Contemporary
• Manage the performance of Womens Contemporary through regular meetings with the concession partners and through analysis of their performance, making recommendations to the Director of Buying
• Negotiate the best possible terms with suppliers i.e. margin, minimum guarantees, marketing budgets and exclusivity
• Liaise and work closely with internal teams including but not limited to Digital, Marketing, Retail Operations, Personal Shopping, Legal, Property and Security to ensure effective brand onboarding and execution of projects
• Forge meaningful partnerships with our concession businesses through regular meetings
• Work with concession partners to exploit new opportunities across the regional stores
• Manage existing brands through analysis of performance, taking action when necessary and making decision to keep or discontinue within the business
• Support the Buying Director on key pop-up activations and brand launches

A bit about you

• Highly knowledgeable. You will have a well-developed understanding of the product/market
• Collaborative. Building relationships is one of your strengths, both with internal stakeholders as well as our brand partners
• Strategic and operational. With strong analytical skills and experience driving long-term and profitable commercial strategies, you'll be able to successfully manage projects through to completion.
• Engaging. Able to influence your stakeholders, retail and brands, you know how to use both data and market trends to drive commercial opportunities
• A great communicator. You have excellent influencing skills, building professional, lasting relationships at all levels, both internally and externally
• Customer focused. Combined with exceptional taste and instinct, you are able to push the boundaries to offer new and exciting produce
• All over the numbers. You are numerate with a highly commercial approach, as well as proficient in excel
• Collaborative. Working flexibly as part of the wider Buying team you will support in projects and cross functional meetings as appropriate
• An example of our values, a trusted and respected colleague

This guide represents a summary of the role, however all team members are expected to be flexible in the work they undertake, which may change from time to time, according to the needs of the business.

Selfridges