Fresh Floral Buyer | Inventory & Margin Optimizer

Kennicott Brothers Co; Warren (MI); On-site; USD 60,000 - 85,000; Full time

Job summary

Kennicott Brothers Co is seeking a Buyer to join our purchasing team in Warren, MI. This role focuses on sourcing and purchasing fresh floral products while balancing availability, quality, inventory, cost, margin, and shrink.

The ideal candidate blends strong product knowledge, analytical skills, vendor negotiation, and collaboration with Sales and Operations to ensure timely delivery of the right product, in the right quantity, at the right cost.

Qualifications

• Experience as a Buyer, Purchaser, or in a purchasing role preferred.
• Floral industry or fresh-flower product knowledge strongly preferred.
• Strong negotiation, analytical, organizational, and problem-solving skills.

Responsibilities

• Purchase assigned fresh floral products and manage inventory levels based on sales history, current demand, seasonality, standing orders, and upcoming events.
• Create and manage purchase orders, confirmations, pricing changes, substitutions, and delivery adjustments.
• Develop strong relationships with domestic and international growers, importers, and suppliers.
• Negotiate pricing, programs, product specifications, and terms while maintaining Kennicott’s quality standards.
• Monitor inventory and react quickly to shortages, overstocks, aging product, and changing market conditions.
• Partner closely with Sales to understand customer needs, communicate product availability, and identify purchasing opportunities.
• Support large events, holidays, standing orders, and special customer programs.
• Monitor market pricing, crop conditions, availability, transportation issues, and industry trends.
• Evaluate supplier performance based on quality, price, fill rate, reliability, and responsiveness.
• Work with Operations to resolve quality issues, claims, and supplier performance concerns.
• Participate in holiday and seasonal forecasting, purchasing, and post-season reviews.
• Identify opportunities to improve purchasing costs, inventory turns, gross margin, and product availability.

Skills

Negotiation

Analytical skills

Excel

Vendor relationships

Tools

Purchasing systems

Inventory management systems

Job description

Kennicott Brothers Co is seeking a Buyer to join our purchasing team in Warren, MI. This role focuses on sourcing and purchasing fresh floral products while balancing availability, quality, inventory, cost, margin, and shrink.

The ideal candidate blends strong product knowledge, analytical skills, vendor negotiation, and collaboration with Sales and Operations to ensure timely delivery of the right product, in the right quantity, at the right cost.