BUYER (LEVEL II) Men's and Women's Casual Footwear

NEXCOM•Virginia Beach, VA

About The Position

The Buyer (Level II) for Men’s and Women’s Casual Footwear is responsible for advanced buying across complex or broad merchandise categories. The role develops and implements strategies to maximize sales and profitability for assigned businesses within a worldwide omni-channel retail organization. It provides strategic direction, coaching, and mentorship to Buyers, Associate Buyers, and support staff, and oversees staff development and performance. The Buyer analyzes market trends, plans merchandise assortments and seasonal strategies, negotiates with vendors, manages vendor performance, and may conduct global sourcing for private-label merchandise. The role coordinates merchandise presentation, space allocation, marketing, ordering, replenishment, inventory, and financial planning with internal teams. It also evaluates business performance, takes corrective action when needed, visits stores, attends trade shows and markets, and prepares merchandise information and training materials. The position works under the general supervision of the Divisional Merchandise Manager, operates independently within NEXCOM policies and procedures, and consults the supervisor on policy matters, deviations from normal procedures, or unusual circumstances. The incumbent must file an OGE Form 450 Financial Disclosure Report.

Requirements

A total of 8 years of experience, consisting of 3 years of general experience and 5 years of specialized experience.
General experience must be in administrative, merchandising, technical, or other responsible work that provides knowledge of merchandising and procurement practices, skill in person-to-person work relationships, and the ability to exercise mature judgment.
A year of education above the high school level may substitute for 9 months of general experience, up to a maximum of a four-year bachelor’s degree substituting for 3 years of general experience.
Specialized experience must be progressive and provide a background in procurement practices, methods, and procedures; developing and maintaining open-to-buy; selecting sources of supply; comparison shopping; reviewing merchandise for pricing, markdowns, and stock rotation; planning and developing sales promotions; and other merchandise controls or similar procurement operational work.
Ability to operate independently within NEXCOM policies, procedures, and regulations and exercise independent judgment in routine and non-routine situations.

Responsibilities

Lead the development and implementation of business strategy for assigned complex, specialized, or multiple merchandise categories to meet sales, gross margin, and turnover objectives.
Supervise, lead, and develop Buyers, Associate Buyers, Assistant Buyers, Merchandisers, and other staff as appropriate.
Mentor Associate Buyers in strategic positioning, vendor negotiations, category assortment planning, and marketing strategy.
Analyze market trends and offerings; develop and maintain merchandise assortments, business strategies, goals, and seasonal plans.
Negotiate with vendors to obtain favorable prices and allowances for basic and seasonal merchandise.
Manage vendor performance and conduct global sourcing for private-label seasonal and basic merchandise as appropriate.
Coordinate space allocation, adjacencies, seasonal merchandise visual guidelines, and planograms for store sets and renovations with relevant teams.
Develop and execute marketing plans for assigned departments.
Oversee order placement and tracking to ensure timely merchandise receipt.
Maximize cooperative market development funds.
Partner with the Divisional Merchandise Manager and Inventory and Financial Planning teams to plan seasonal and annual sales, gross profit, stock turn, and monthly in-season forecasts.
Analyze financial performance using tools such as Data Warehouse and Category Scorecard, ensure goals are met, and take corrective action when necessary.
Work with the Divisional Merchandise Manager and Inventory Planning teams to determine and execute automated replenishment methods.
Work with Financial and Inventory Planning teams to determine optimal order sizes, inventory levels, and allocations.
Prepare merchandise information and training materials for communications and directives, including weekly retail focus, seasonal trends, merchandise adjacency and presentation guides, promotions, product and vendor launches, pricing and flyer corrections, in-stock issues, inventory holds, and return-to-vendor directives.
Conduct store visits as appropriate to evaluate presentation, customer demographics, assortments, and inventory levels; partner with store management to address and maximize business opportunities.
Provide associate training seminars as appropriate.
Attend trade shows and markets as appropriate.
Maintain collaborative partnerships with vendors and internal and external colleagues.
Consult the supervisor on policy matters, deviations from normal procedures, or unusual circumstances.
Perform other related duties as assigned.
File an OGE Form 450 Financial Disclosure Report as required.