Buyer, Beauty

iHerb • Irvine, CA

51d • Remote

About The Position

The Buyer is responsible for evaluating, curating, pricing, promoting, and growing the brands/products in their assigned category and cultivating strong vendor partnerships that result in mutually beneficial opportunities. In addition, the Buyer position sources new suppliers and manages assortment relevant to category, trend, and team objectives. This role is the second step in the progression of the Merchandising team's buying structure, and it is responsible for making merchandising decisions for mid-volume accounts.

Requirements

• Strong, successful and proven negotiating skills
• Strong analytical, data management and decision-making abilities
• Strong mathematical skills with an understanding of retail pricing concepts
• Ability to communicate written and verbally in a professional manner with people at all levels of the organization and external contacts
• Great attention to detail, highly organized with strong project management skills
• Ability to handle multiple tasks, problem solve and prioritize with an awareness of importance and deadlines
• Experience with Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint)
• Generally, requires a minimum of 7 years of progressive experience in buying or directly related role with equivalent responsibilities, preferably in an e-commerce environment with natural products experience a plus.
• Bachelor’s Degree in Business, Merchandising or related field preferred, or a combination of education and equivalent work experience.
• Able to identify, troubleshoot and resolve problems quickly using sound judgment, poise and diplomacy. Ability to use judgment and reasoning skills, and determine when to escalate issues, as required, in a timely manner.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with Google Business Suite (Gmail, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Forms) preferred
• WMS, EDI, SAP, Asana, Tableau experience a plus
• preferably in an e-commerce environment with natural products experience a plus.

Responsibilities

• The Buyer will work closely with the Category Manager and team to ensure all are aligned on business strategies, short and long-term growth objectives.
• Directly responsible for key category metrics (KPI’s) for new and existing brands, new products, pricing, gross margin, promotions, and product life cycle while seeking opportunities for improvement
• Negotiate with vendors to secure exceptional everyday pricing, marketing & promotional budgets, special opportunity buys, growth incentives including rebates and accruals, delivery, and payment terms for mid-volume accounts
• Foster relationships with mid-volume existing/new vendors to drive sales, product innovation, margin growth, promotional support and maintain regular and consistent communication to ensure a clear understanding of short/long-term goals and capabilities
• Negotiation of contracts, product evaluation, quality issues, customer service questions and create and maintain supplier, product database
• Drive the new product/brand onboarding and maintenance process to ensure timely addition to market
• Calculate, maintain and evaluate cost, pricing, and product adjustments in system to ensure desired mark-ups, margin
• Partner/Coordinate with Inventory Management and Planning Team in managing inventory turns, vendor forecasts, new item projections, service level, order cycles, rebate and marketing programs, special opportunity buys, and general supply chain practices
• Develop promotional co-op activities that are profitable and highly effective in conjunction with Marketing
• Create, review and utilize reports to enable in-depth analysis of category successes/challenges
• Comply with company policies and procedures, including safety, business ethics, and standards of conduct
• The duties and responsibilities described above may provide only a partial description of this position. This is not an exhaustive list of all aspects of the job. Other duties and responsibilities not outlined in this document may be added as necessary or desirable, with or without notice.

Benefits

• Employees (and their families) that meet eligibility criteria as outlined in applicable plan documents are eligible to participate in our medical, dental, vision, and basic life insurance programs and may enroll in our company’s 401(k) plan.
• Employees will also be eligible for Time Off and Paid Sick Leave pursuant to the company’s policies.
• Employees will enjoy paid holidays throughout the calendar year.
• Eligibility requirements for these benefits will be controlled by applicable plan documents.
• Hired applicant may be awarded Restrict Stock Units and receive annual bonuses pursuant to eligibility and performance criteria defined in the respective plan documents and policies.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Number of Employees: 1,001-5,000 employees