Buyer - Athleisure, Swim & Intimates

VICI•Los Angeles, CA

3d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Buyer develops, executes, and communicates an assortment architecture that reflects VICI customers’ tastes and needs through relevant trends and strong price value. The role contributes to sales and profit plans and brings the company’s creative vision to life through product execution and concepting key category drops with the Director of Merchandising and Chief Merchandising Officer. The position is product-development intensive and partners with vendors on exclusive product development as well as in-line buying. The Buyer develops assortment and pricing strategies, manages open-to-buy goals and in-season performance, and uses business results to inform current and future assortments. The role also works closely with Site Merchandising and other cross-functional teams, builds vendor relationships, negotiates product and delivery terms, and leads junior buying team members. This is a full-time hybrid position, with three days per week in the office, Tuesday through Thursday. Travel may be required as needed. The stated salary range is $100,000–$115,000 per year.

Requirements

Deep experience in women’s apparel and a proven track record of delivering company KPIs, particularly in several categories such as intimate apparel, sleep and lounge, activewear, athleisure, swim, and cover-ups.
Passion for and understanding of the VICI customer and how to serve her.
High taste level, broad market and fashion knowledge, and ability to translate trends into commercially viable revenue streams.
Excellent analytical, time-management, and organizational skills, with meticulous attention to detail.
High degree of personal and professional integrity.
Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, agile environment with shifting priorities and manage vendor and product-development details to meet target launch dates.
Ability to work collaboratively across groups to advance company objectives.
Clear verbal and written communication and negotiation skills.
Strong problem-solving skills and willingness to think creatively to resolve issues.
Strong analytical skills and demonstrated proficiency working with large data sets.
Comfort working with systems such as NetSuite and Shopify.
Fluent English-language reading, writing, speaking, and comprehension, with professional verbal and written communication.
Demonstrated knowledge of Microsoft Office, especially Excel, Mac and Google products, and standard applications such as Slack, Office 365, and Chrome.
Bachelor’s degree in a related field or equivalent work experience.
4–6+ years of prior retail or ecommerce merchandising and buying experience.
Previous management of an assistant or associate.

Responsibilities

Develop and execute a commercially sound product strategy and assortment plan aligned with VICI customers’ tastes and needs.
Maintain expert knowledge of the VICI customer, competitor activity, current trends, and the fashion zeitgeist.
Partner with vendors on product development for an exclusive assortment and buy vendor in-line products, ensuring detail-oriented execution from concept to market.
Develop seasonal merchandise assortment plans supporting financial, merchandising, and marketing objectives, including product concepts, key items, promotional strategies, and assortment mix.
Set product- and category-level pricing recommendations and strategies aligned with financial plans.
Deliver open-to-buy goals for sales, inventory, cost, SKU, and margin objectives.
Make vendor appointments proactively to fill assortment gaps and support open-to-buy targets.
Review weekly business and in-season performance, recommend markdowns, and develop forward-looking action plans.
Use performance and customer trends to inform in-season and future-season actions, including reorders, assortment cancellations, edits, discounts, swaps, and adds; negotiate with vendors as needed.
Review post-season performance to identify successes and misses and inform future-season strategy.
Partner with Site Merchandising on featured categories and products that support sales, inventory initiatives, and customer experience.
Communicate and influence cross-functional teams to achieve category goals at weekly, monthly, and quarterly meetings.
Build and maintain vendor relationships; source and propose new vendors to executive leadership when applicable.
Negotiate product quality, purchase quantities, landed costs, delivery, and returns to vendor while maintaining positive vendor relationships.
Educate vendors on VICI processes to support efficient appointments and order writing.
Lead and develop junior buying team members, communicate priorities, and manage workflow to deadlines.
Maintain operational excellence and on-time assortments by completing workstreams and proactively troubleshooting.
Travel as needed.