As an Assistant Buyer, you’ll be responsible for supporting the Lead Buyer & GMM administratively. This person should feel confident in working through details and logistics. This role demands a demonstration of attention to detail in terms of written and verbal communication skills, comfortability and accuracy working with numbers and have comprehensive understanding of adhering to dates and deadlines.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities:
- Maintain and update the buy tracker regularly to ensure accurate records of all purchases and inventory levels
- Logistics point on vendor shipments sent to HQ and/or back to vendors; owns making sure that domestic purchases are being shipped properly according to our guidelines & follows tracking
- Manage the return process, track return authorizations, and ensure compliance with specific company policies of vendors
- Manage the submissions inbox by reviewing incoming communications, prioritize based on urgency, and direct them to the appropriate teams or individuals and ensuring that all requests are processed in a timely manner
- Provide administrative support to the Ready-to-Wear (RTW) Buying Team, including data entry, compiling reports, tracking product performance, and other tasks as needed to ensure smooth operations
- Build knowledge & understanding of WGACA’s brand positioning, best-selling styles & price point
- Demonstrate confidence during complex negotiations, so as to win advantageous product for WGACA to sell. This product must fit within WGACA’s brand, style & margin parameters. This will be taught but the idea Is that this person is eager to evolve into buying.
- Work closely with lead buyer to build & scale the domestic buying based on strategy outlined by the GMM
- Partner with other departments such as Wholesale, Retail, E-Commerce, etc. on buying needs as directed
- Support buying team as needed with any Input for IT projects as we evolve our systems
- Liaise as directed with the International buying teams - this can Include email or messaging App communications. Needs to be open to communication on all mediums.
Qualifications:
- A bachelor’s degree in a relevant field such as: Business Administration, Fashion Merchandising, Retail Management, Supply Chain Management
- 1-2 years of experience in: Retail, Merchandising, Inventory management or Sales
- Understanding sales data, identifying trends, and forecasting inventory needs.
- Strong interpersonal skills for vendor negotiations and internal team collaboration.
- Prioritizing tasks and meeting deadlines in a fast-paced environment.
- Ensuring accuracy in orders, pricing, and product descriptions.
- Familiarity with Microsoft Excel (advanced functions like pivot tables, VLOOKUP),
- Awareness of customer preferences and competitive pricing
