Associate Vendor Manager

Ashley Furniture Industries•Tampa, FL

2d•Onsite

About The Position

The Associate Vendor Manager (AVM) is responsible for driving revenue growth across a portfolio of third-party (3P) vendors and categories on AshleyFurniture.com, all while balancing profitability and presenting value to the Ashley e-commerce customer. The AVM is accountable for building an assortment that ultimately ladders up to the category level business strategy laid out by Vendor Management leadership and Ashley Merchandising. The ideal candidate for this role identifies as a persistent self-starter who thrives with a high degree of autonomy and isn't shy about rolling up their sleeves to get things done. A strong sense of ownership and a willingness to take on any task - no matter how small or manual - will go a very long way as we continue to look for ways to continuously improve our processes and enable automation.

Requirements

3-5 years of experience in a vendor management, category management, merchandising or retail buyer role (required)
Strong attention to detail
A high level of comfort synthesizing distinct analyses and data sources into actionable business insights
Excellent written communication skills
Excellent interpersonal skills and an enthusiasm for working in a highly collaborative, cross-functional environment
Proficient with Microsoft Office suite, including Microsoft Excel

Nice To Haves

E-commerce experience (preferred)
Bachelor's Degree in business administration, merchandising, marketing or a related field (preferred)

Responsibilities

Vendor Relationship Management: The AVM owns relationships with a portion of our 3P vendor-base, collaborating with vendor sales counterparts on a regular basis, sourcing strategic selection and intervening on operations issues as needed.
Assortment Planning and Product Set-up: The AVM reviews all vendor product proposals and selects products that will best serve our curation strategy. Product set-up activities are conducted in collaboration with our offshore team, with whom the AVM will collaborate extensively, as well as various other cross-functional partners.
Analyzing the Business: The AVM contributes to Weekly Business Reviews (WBR), deep diving week-over-week, year-over-year, and seasonal changes to the business, ultimately providing recommendations on how to "change the news" and deliver stronger results.
Promotions Sourcing: The AVM sources funding from vendors to support Ashley's various promotional events and ensures that all agreed upon vendor support is collected in a timely manner.
Vendor Negotiations: The AVM owns contract negotiations with vendors, including establishing initial marketing, damage and payment terms at vendor set-up, and ongoing agreement maintenance and renegotiation as the business matures.
Market Preparation: The AVM supports preparation for the major home furnishing and furniture markets the VM team attends. The AVM should anticipate traveling for market attendance 4-6 times annually.
Trend and Seasonal Support: The AVM will be responsible for supporting our overarching trend and seasonal strategy, including staying on top of trends in the home furnishings industry through research and regular competitive shopping analysis (both in person and online).