Associate Buyer

Job description

Country: United States
Job Function: Retail (Back Office)

State / Province: Massachusetts
Position Type: Full time

City / Location: Boston
Brand: Reebok

Relocation: Yes

Reebok is the original fitness brand. Fitness is who we are.

We pioneered a fitness movement and we are still pioneering today. Every day we are creating products for those who love fitness as much as we do; products that allow you to get every ounce out of your work-out, run, walk, yoga, step or dance class.

We believe fitness is a way of life… that as humans we were made to move. Movement not only makes your body stronger, it makes you the best possible you…body, mind and spirit.

At Reebok, our employees embrace this mission and are encouraged to reach for their fitness goals – as well as their career and personal goals. It’s part of the fabric of who we are and what we stand for.

Purpose:

To meet and/or exceed budgeted divisional sales and profitability goals within Reebok Retail channels by establishing assortments, merchandising strategy, sell-through Management sales and inventory levels by category on a seasonal basis.

Key Accountabilities:

· Drive seasonal strategy for area of responsibility and create best in class channel relevant assortments specific to our consumer and on trend that drive top line sales and profitability to achieve targets.
· Build and leverage relationships with cross-functional teams (i.e. buying, planning, marketing and distribution) and our Global and BU partners to obtain information necessary to create and execute merchandising strategies
· Identify and develop sales, marketing and promotional opportunities at the category, concept, collection and article level to maximize sales for both pre-season and in season for all tiers and regions.
· Manage receipts and markdowns against open-to-buy targets to optimize on-floor and online presentations and inventory turn. Drive changes with planning partners to maximize key performance indicators (KPI’s)
· Analyze seasonal assortment of products, use the data to create strategy for future seasons, and recommend courses of action with cross functional team
· Present complete seasonal strategy with Planning, validating assortment choices, financial roll up, marketing and promotional direction
· Drive space planning and capacity management of floor space for upcoming assortments
· Partner with Visual Merchandising Manager to merchandise assortments and buys within the stores to ensure the store has clear communication of the vision of the buy and their flow of product.
· Responsible for weekly product decisions that react to the consumer trends including chasing of product, markdown decisions and presenting these recommendations at weekly meetings.
· Maximizing trend moments and commercial retail events by offering compelling localized product for our consumer.

Knowledge Skills and Abilities:

· Ability to identify and quantify sales opportunities and market trends
· Excellent analytical skills and a through understanding of retail math
· Ability to define problems, collect data, establish facts and draw valid conclusions
· Ability to understand and translate financial data to make recommendations and decisions
· Strong communication and presentation skills, written and verbal
· Ability to think strategically, synthesize complex data and develop innovative solutions
· Ability to delivery effective and persuasive presentations that support business decisions
· Ability to influence decisions and outcomes cross functionally
· Ability to accept and meet critical deadlines with good planning and organization skills
· Experience with, and a thorough understanding of, managing and influencing Open to Buy metrics
· Proficiency with MS Office Suite and working with systems/application
· Advanced Excel skills
· Travel required domestically and internationally up to 10% of time

Qualifications:

· Bachelor's degree (B. A.) from four-year college or university.
· A minimum two years of related experience.

The Reebok brand has moved theirHQ to a 220,000 square-foot section of the Innovation and Design Building in Boston’s Seaport District. This move has brought community fitness to a next generation design and innovation space; the all new workplacefosters a vibrant collaborative culture andallows the brand to be closely connected to the community in Boston. Alongside state-of-the-art office spaces, the headquarters is equipped with an employee fitness center anda retail store.