Buyer - Toys

Avolta•East Rutherford, NJ

5d•$82,500 - $100,000

About The Position

The Buyer – Toys is responsible for sourcing, selecting, and purchasing toy merchandise for Duty Free and Duty Paid locations. The role develops assortments that align with company objectives, customer demographics, market trends, and location-specific opportunities to ensure products are available to drive sales and maximize profitability. The position is based at the North America Support Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey, and requires travel up to 15% of the time for meetings, vendor and industry events, and branch visits. The Buyer reports to the Category Director, Non-Luxury, and works with the Global Category Team, Supply Chain, Master Data, Revenue Generation, Planning, Space Planning, Marketing, and Operations.

Requirements

The combination of education and professional experience must exceed five years.
For a technical role, five years of retail experience engaged in delivering buying programs is required.
A bachelor’s degree in a program related to the functional area may count for three years of the five-year requirement.
Three to five years of retail experience in the industry.
Specialized training leading to an in-depth understanding of buying and merchandising.
Strong knowledge of financial tools and category profitability, and ability to use market research, consumer insights, and trend information to maximize performance.
Strong product sense and ability to identify emerging toy trends, brands, licenses, and commercially viable products.
Ability to balance trend-driven merchandise with proven core products and location-specific assortment needs.
Versatility, flexibility, and willingness to work enthusiastically and independently amid changing priorities.
Strong organizational skills and attention to detail.
Excellent written, interpersonal, and vendor communication skills.
Proficiency in Microsoft Office, particularly Excel.
Strong business acumen and ability to understand the long-term implications of buying and assortment decisions.
Ability to understand the needs of the business, stakeholders, and individual locations.
Demonstrated ability to build collaborative relationships and work cross-functionally toward common goals.
Ability to travel up to 15% of the time.

Nice To Haves

Experience in toys, gifts, specialty retail, licensed merchandise, or related categories.
Experience with SAP.

Responsibilities

Source, develop, and curate toy brands, products, and assortments in line with company objectives, customer preferences, market trends, and location needs.
Monitor toy industry trends, consumer preferences, emerging brands, licensed products, and competitor activity to identify opportunities and assortment gaps.
Develop assortments across relevant toy segments, including plush, collectibles, games, activities, licensed products, novelty, travel-friendly toys, and destination or local products.
Manage supplier and vendor relationships, negotiate pricing and terms, and coordinate with partners to support optimal delivery schedules.
Analyze sales, margin, inventory, and product performance to inform assortment and replenishment decisions.
Maintain an understanding of target customers, including traveling families and gift purchasers, and adjust assortments as needs and trends evolve.
Tailor assortments to airport, market, store format, available space, and customer profile.
Address aged and slow-moving inventory through strategies for markdowns, promotions, vendor support, and inventory disposition.
Execute SKU rationalization to maximize productivity and profitability based on available space and assortment strategy.
Partner with Planning using OTB to manage inventory levels and support sales and financial targets.
Develop exit strategies for non-go-forward items, including negotiating returns to vendor (RTVs) and implementing markdowns, promotions, and price changes.
Partner cross-functionally to support new store openings, resets, seasonal programs, promotional events, and major commercial initiatives.
Ensure assortments are commercially relevant while considering product quality, age appropriateness, packaging, and applicable product requirements.