Retail Buying & Strategy Manager

Crisp Community•Norwich, CT

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

At CRISP CANNABIS, we operate at the intersection of commercial strategy, quality, and market leadership. As Connecticut's cannabis industry continues to expand, we are looking for an analytical, forward-thinking Retail Buying & Strategy Manager to own our product assortment, vendor relationships, and purchasing execution across all retail locations. Your Impact The Retail Buying & Strategy Manager owns the retail buying and product assortment process across Crisp Cannabis locations. This is a hands-on role responsible for evaluating what our customers are buying, determining what products and brands we should carry, negotiating and executing purchases within established budgets, and planning ahead to maintain the right product variety, inventory depth, pricing, and promotional opportunities. This position is responsible for more than placing orders. The Retail Buying & Strategy Manager follows purchasing decisions from initial opportunity through retail execution and sell-through, using internal sales performance, Trendz and other available market data, vendor relationships, customer demand, competitive activity, promotional calendars, and future company plans to continuously improve what we buy and how it performs. The position works closely with the Purchasing & Inventory Manager, Retail Operations Manager, Wholesale Sales Manager, Marketing Manager, store leadership, and other departments to ensure buying strategies are properly planned, communicated, supported, and ultimately successful with the customer.

Requirements

Experience in retail buying, purchasing, merchandising, category management, or comparable retail operations.
Must be at least 21 years of age.
Strong understanding of retail product assortment, pricing, margin, sales velocity, and inventory performance.
Demonstrated vendor negotiation and relationship-management skills.
Strong analytical ability and comfort making recommendations from sales and market data.
Strong Excel or Google Sheets skills.
Strong communication, organization, judgment, and follow-through.
Ability to work independently while coordinating effectively across multiple departments.
Ability to manage a significant purchasing process and budget without requiring direct personnel supervision.
Must pass all state-mandated background checks and obtain required credentialing.

Nice To Haves

Cannabis retail or Connecticut cannabis market experience preferred.
Experience with Dutchie, BioTrack, Trendz, or similar systems preferred.

Responsibilities

Perform and manage retail purchasing across all Crisp Cannabis retail locations within established budgets and company strategy.
Maintain appropriate product variety across brands, categories, formats, price points, potency ranges, and customer preferences.
Use sales velocity, inventory position, margin, historical performance, customer demand, and market data to determine what to purchase and in what quantity.
Regularly evaluate SKU and category performance and identify products that should be expanded, reduced, replaced, or discontinued.
Maintain sufficient product depth without overbuying, unnecessary SKU duplication, excessive aging inventory, or avoidable markdowns.
Balance third-party purchasing with Crisp Cannabis house-brand availability and company vertical-integration goals.
Develop forward purchasing plans based on upcoming promotions, seasonal demand, product launches, internal production, market trends, store needs, and company growth plans.
Utilize Trendz, Dutchie, internal reporting, vendor information, and other available tools to identify developing customer and market trends.
Identify products, brands, categories, and purchasing opportunities before demand or availability changes.
Negotiate advance buys, product commitments, promotional opportunities, pricing, and other favorable terms when they support company goals.
Work within defined purchasing budgets and provide visibility into significant planned purchases and future commitments.
Maintain strong working relationships with Connecticut cannabis suppliers and serve as Crisp's primary retail buying contact.
Negotiate product cost, volume opportunities, promotional support, payment terms, launch support, and other purchasing benefits.
Maintain current knowledge of new products, vendor activity, competitor assortments, pricing trends, and broader Connecticut cannabis market conditions.
Evaluate vendors based on product performance, reliability, pricing, customer demand, service, and overall value.
Bring meaningful market opportunities, risks, and recommendations forward to leadership.
Work with Retail Operations and Marketing to plan purchasing around the promotional calendar and broader retail strategy.
Ensure adequate inventory is available to properly support promotions, product launches, featured brands, and other retail initiatives.
Coordinate vendor-supported promotions and purchasing opportunities in advance.
Monitor performance after launch or promotion and determine whether the expected sales velocity, margin, and inventory movement were achieved.
Identify underperforming products early and work with Retail Operations and Marketing on pricing, promotional, merchandising, education, or other corrective strategies.
Apply previous sales and promotional results to future purchasing decisions.
Work closely with the Purchasing & Inventory Manager to understand inventory position, aging, transfers, product flow, receiving needs, and purchasing requirements while maintaining clear ownership of the commercial buying function.
Work closely with the Retail Operations Manager to understand store performance, customer behavior, operational needs, product opportunities, and execution.
Work closely with the Marketing Manager to coordinate product launches, promotions, campaigns, vendor support, and customer communication.
Work closely with the Wholesale Sales Manager to exchange market intelligence, vendor information, competitive pricing, product trends, and broader Connecticut market feedback.
Communicate significant purchasing plans, new products, promotions, and category strategies early enough for affected departments and stores to properly prepare and execute.
Maintain responsibility for following major purchasing initiatives through the organization rather than considering the process complete once inventory is purchased.
Monitor purchasing performance, including sales velocity, sell-through, days on hand, inventory aging, margin, category performance, promotional results, and vendor performance.
Maintain purchasing forecasts and budget visibility.
Provide regular reporting and recommendations to leadership regarding assortment, purchasing opportunities, inventory risks, category trends, and market conditions.
Measure the results of significant purchasing decisions and use those results to continuously improve future buying strategy.
Maintain organized purchasing, vendor, pricing, promotional, and commitment records.