Plant Buyer

Heritage Landscape Supply Group•Lake Zurich, IL

10d•Onsite

About The Position

Fiore Nursery and Landscape Supply is a 110-year-old leader in the Chicagoland wholesale landscape industry. We provide trees, shrubs, evergreens, perennials, ornamental grasses, and other live plant material to landscape contractors, designers, and green-industry professionals throughout the region. As part of Heritage Landscape Supply Group, Fiore is growing while maintaining the relationships, expertise, and customer-focused approach that have made us successful for generations. We are looking for an experienced Plant Buyer to lead live-goods purchasing and inventory planning for our growing operation. This is a hands-on position for someone who knows plants, understands the nursery industry, and knows how to buy. You will work directly with growers and vendors throughout the Midwest and across the country while partnering with sales, branch management, and operations to ensure we have the right material, quality, price, location, and timing.

Requirements

5+ years of experience in nursery, horticulture, landscape, live-goods purchasing, or a related industry.
Strong knowledge of landscape plant material, plant quality, and nursery-industry practices.
Experience purchasing from wholesale growers and nurseries.
Established industry relationships are highly valued.
Strong negotiation, communication, and organizational skills.
Ability to analyze inventory, sales, and market information and make sound purchasing decisions.
Understanding of the seasonality and unique inventory challenges of live goods.
Ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.
Experience with inventory management, freight, replenishment, or multi-branch purchasing is a plus.
Experience with ERP/purchasing systems and Microsoft Excel is preferred.
Horticulture, nursery management, business, supply chain, or related education is preferred; equivalent industry experience will be considered.
Able to pass background and drug screening

Responsibilities

Purchase trees, shrubs, evergreens, perennials, ornamental grasses, and other live plant material.
Develop seasonal purchasing and replenishment plans based on sales, inventory, customer demand, and market conditions.
Manage inventory levels, order points, sell-through, seasonal build-up and drawdown.
Develop and maintain strong relationships with wholesale growers and nurseries.
Negotiate pricing, freight, availability, quantities, and delivery schedules.
Manage pre-book and contract-grow commitments and ship-window calendars.
Source specialty and hard-to-find plant material.
Coordinate inter-branch transfers and inventory rebalancing as needed.
Build efficient truckloads and help manage freight and transportation costs.
Monitor plant quality from purchase through delivery.
Work closely with sales and branch managers to understand customer needs and upcoming demand.
Analyze purchasing, sales, and inventory data to make informed buying decisions.
Track key measures including inventory turns, landed cost, shrink, culls, markdowns, and sell-through.