Associate Buyer, Licensed Apparel - Champs Sports

Foot Locker•Saint Petersburg, FL

6d•Hybrid

About The Position

Champs Sports is hiring an Associate Buyer, Licensed Apparel to support the overall merchandising direction of this department with the goal of meeting, and when possible, exceeding sales and margin targets. This role is ideal for someone with a passion for sports who actively keeps a pulse on teams, leagues, and players, enabling them to act quickly and deliver compelling, relevant assortments for our customers. The Associate Buyer will assist the Licensed Buyer by providing trend-setting insights through the use of competitive intelligence, consumer behavior, and business analysis. Success in this role requires the ability to translate real-time sports and cultural moments into commercially strong assortments. The Associate Buyer will support vendor negotiations and purchasing licensed merchandise while partnering closely with Merchandise Planners to develop strategies that maximize business opportunities. You will also collaborate cross-functionally with planning, merchandising, marketing, and store optimization teams, with a focused understanding of our target consumer, to ensure timely, exciting, and profitable assortments that resonate with our customer base. This hybrid position will be located at our Corporate Office in St. Petersburg, Florida. Expectations for hybrid in-office schedule is three days a week; Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

Requirements

A minimum of 2 years’ experience in retail and/or e-commerce merchandising is required.
Proficiency in software applications: Excel, Access, Word and PowerPoint
Demonstrates understanding of our product, customer, and fashion trends.
Ability to communicate clearly with Buyer, peers, and cross-functional teams.
Strong financial acumen and naturally analytical.
Ability to be detailed and organized while prioritizing tight deadlines.
Creative and strategic thinker.

Nice To Haves

Bachelor’s degree preferred in an applicable field.
Prior experience with licensed apparel buying preferred
Knowledge of Power BI or similar systems preferred.
Knowledge of Oracle PeopleSoft or similar assortment tools preferred.

Responsibilities

Analyze market trends to establish a pattern of projected sales.
Stay abreast of real-time changes with team/leagues/players and make recommendations to the Buyer as necessary
Work with Merchandisers to review and analyze reports for opportunities and liabilities.
Work with the Buyer to plan product lines, and review sales and reports to help build a product assortment for a given season.
Attend product meetings and keep up to date on current and future trends.
Assist Buyer with preparing financial data for budget and sales meetings.
Work closely with the Buyer and Planner to ensure that buys are analyzed for maximum results.
Manage multiple tasks and meet deadlines while remaining flexible to change priorities.
Effectively assist Buyer with negotiating the best terms to maximize sales and profits.
Assist Buyer with developing product selection to maximize sales, profit, and gross margin.
Tracking product delivery dates from Vendors and communicating status updates on high-priority shipments.