Category Buying Assistant

Category Buying Assistant

**Would suit Buying Assistant, Assistant Buyer, Product Developer, Import Merchandiser, etc**

Home Textiles

Oldham - Hybrid Working

Due to their ever-expanding growth our client, a supplier of beautiful home textiles now has an excellent opportunity for a Category Buying Assistant to join their fast-paced team.

Purpose:

Responsible for preparing and analysing commercial data and market trends to support profitable sales growth of our customer and ourselves. Support the Category Manager to deliver a pipeline of new product for customer selection. Maintain required administration accurately and completely.

Responsibilities:

Market / Competitor Understanding

• Understand what the competition are selling / pricing structures / marketing for given product areas.

Product Development

• Spot and development new products sales opportunities.
• Create development diaries and track and push internally and externally with the factories any developments.
• Samples management required for customer meetings.

Pricing

• Costing for new factory designs
• Cross Costing Current designs
• Updating current and new prices on JDE price list

Critical Path Management - New Ranges

• Setting up critical paths with factories for selected products ensuring we can meet the required shipment dates to meet launch.
• Creating and sending out internally packaging forms and photography forms
• Responsible for weekly Intake sheets being updated and sent to our Customer giving overview of approvals and what is outstanding.
• Escalating and tracking any products at risk and agreeing an action plan.
• Work with the Technical team to highlight any potential issues. Track these through development to resolve.
• Communicate across various departments to ensure we are hitting key dates on critical path.
• Creating and sending out internally packaging forms and photography forms

Range Management

• Ensuring all live lines costing sheets is correct and up to date and corresponds with JDE system. Each Season adding new and removing discontinued lines ready for the following seasons negotiations.

• Updating development documents

Customer Meetings

• Creating initial PowerPoints to send out to internally/ customers.

General

• Liaise with Merchandising / Stock Control for on time vs delayed deliveries and updating customer information accordingly.
• Liaise with Technical on new products, new factories, and quality issues.
• General admin support where and when needed based on workflow.
• General housekeeping duties for Data/sample storage/showroom & updating Bars (our system that holds record and imagery off all current/selected and offered lines to the customer)

Key Skills

• Advanced excel skills required and ability to work with mass data.
• Ability to communicate with Customers and Suppliers on Teams calls and face to face meetings.
• Ability and the confidence to produce and present Power points internally and externally.
• Attention to detail is critical as dealing with large amounts of data.
• Understand the specification of the product in more detail to give you greater understanding on developing right products for the customer.

• Able to work on own initiative.

• Enjoys working as part of a wider team and likes to get stuck in.

Apply online or for further information contact one of our specialist consultants quoting reference number: NJR14616