Urban Outfitters Temporary Buyer

Urban Outfitters•Philadelphia, PA

About The Position

Urban Outfitters is seeking a Temporary Buyer for Women's Pants. The Buyer creates an exciting, timely product assortment that meets or exceeds sales-volume and profit goals for assigned departments. The role delivers sales and profit plans through precise execution of a merchandise strategy, responding to customer feedback and market trends, and developing action plans to drive category growth and profitability. The Buyer develops assortments for store and direct channels, expands product lines, evaluates trends and sales velocity, manages inventory flow, develops resources and design collaborations, negotiates pricing, and partners with merchandising teams on product stories and presentations. The role also oversees business analysis and planning, product information and development processes, and creative trend research. The Buyer trains and manages the buying team and helps develop its capabilities.

Requirements

At least 5 years of buying experience; preferably in pants and/or denim.
Entrepreneurial risk mentality.
Demonstrated ability to lead a business.
Lead by example, maintain a positive approach, support company initiatives, mentor others, and contribute to solutions.
Ability to own, articulate, and execute a clear vision.

Nice To Haves

Buying experience in pants and/or denim.

Responsibilities

Develop compelling assortments based on store and direct strategies to meet or exceed sales-volume and profit goals.
Expand product lines to appeal to the target market.
Analyze velocity reports and respond to current trends.
Represent key fashion trends in assortments and test emerging trends for selling viability.
Finalize and merchandise product assortments for all channels.
Shop domestic and international markets to fill assortment gaps, check trends, and identify chase opportunities.
Adjust classifications to ensure appropriate market positioning.
Manage inventory levels and flow.
Develop new resources and design collaborations, and manage artist relationships.
Negotiate prices to achieve markup goals.
Maintain a clear understanding of store and direct customers and their needs, and develop the buying team in this area.
Work with the Merchandising team to develop storylines for the website, emails, and store presentations.
Analyze weekly velocity, attributes, and TY/LY; manage OTB, markdowns, and inventory flow.
Analyze monthly returns and markdowns across channels and develop profitability strategies with cross-functional teams.
Conduct in-season and post-season analyses to evaluate and control the business.
Communicate current trends, opportunities, successes, and failures at best/worst meetings.
Maintain the merchandising calendar relevant to Home.
Manage daily sample handling and product-information collection for style-outs, meetings, and photo shoots.
Train, manage, and delegate daily activities to the Buying team.
Oversee product information before turnover and develop storylines to increase productivity across channels.
Drive and understand the private-label product-development process and contribute to improvements in efficiency, execution, brand and product positioning, timing, and quality.
Shop competitors and inspirational stores.
Read relevant trade, trend, and consumer publications and stay connected to industry trends, fashion shows, design fairs, art exhibitions, and influential cultural events.
Challenge the Buying team to interpret seasonal trends for all channels.