Associate Buyer - Deli

Grocery Outlet Career•Emeryville, CA

18d•$70,000 - $80,000

About The Position

As an Associate Buyer on the Deli team, you will work alongside a buyer to continue to learn and develop your buying/negotiating skills. During this time, your focus will be on assisting the buyer you are teamed up with on all of their categories and key accounts, as well as taking ownership of managing your own categories. The Associate Buyer will report to a Buyer on the Deli Team.

Requirements

Degree and 2+ years of purchasing experience or 4 to 6 years of purchasing experience and/or training; or equivalent combination of education and experience.
Experience negotiating costs and terms with suppliers.
Ability to prioritize, multitask and manage multiple projects with broad workload to meet deadlines in a fast-paced environment.
Strong written & verbal communication skills.
Excellent interpersonal and negotiation skills.
Proven team player, self-motivated, independent thinker.
Highly analytical, resourceful, and problem-solving mentality.
Proficient in the use of Excel, Microsoft Word and Outlook.
Travel 10% of the time.

Responsibilities

Support Buyers on day-to-day functions of the department.
Develop new relationships as well as foster existing relationships to drive the success of your categories.
Responsible for category management for multiple classes and sub-classes.
Monitor future purchase orders and manage weekly receipt flow into the 4 different distribution centers, to insure timely arrival of orders.
Monitor receipts for fulfilment accuracy.
Work closely with the inventory planning team to support buyer forecasting and managing of imports.
Demonstrate ability to successfully sell Grocery Outlet to vendors and foster relationships with our existing supplier base.
Identify category opportunities based on trends within and outside of GOI to help reach and exceed sales and margin plans.
Navigate key metrics by category and SKU to analyze assortment and potential gaps.
Negotiate costs that allow to set retail prices that maximize value to the customer while considering the impact in margin.
Ensure that communication (written/verbal) is complete and thorough with vendor and internal partners.
Establishes and maintains a reputation of credibility and responsiveness; promptly returns vendor and store phone calls, ensures timely follow-up on issues within 24 hours.
Write articles addressed to store managers and operators communicating organic trends, merchandising recommendations and general knowledge of the organic category.