Position Title: Buyer
Department: Central Buying Office - Fashion
Reports To: (Deputy) General Merchandising Manager
Location: Hong Kong (Visa Sponsorship Available)
Job Purpose:
The Buyer is responsible for the strategic selection, buying, and performance
management of assigned portfolio of brands. This role ensures a curated, trend-
relevant, and commercially successful assortment that reflects the distinctive Lane
Crawford point of view and meets the expectations of our high-end clientele.
Key Responsibilities:
1. Buying Strategy & Assortment Planning
* Develop and execute seasonal buying strategies for the assigned portfolio of brands/categories.
* Curated a well-balanced assortment of the assigned portfolio.
* Attend buying trips, showroom appointments and trade shows to select collections and identify new opportunities.
* Ensure product selection reflects current fashion and market trends while maintaining commercial viability and alignment with Lane Crawford direction.
2. Vendor & Brand Management
* Build and maintain strong relationships with brand partners.
* Negotiate the best trade terms to serve the company’s best interest in pricing, trade discount, delivery schedules, favorable payment terms to maximize sales and gross profit dollar (GP$) potential, company cashflow position, and exclusive brand/product distribution.
* Secure exclusive capsules and collaborations to create market-competitive edge, customer desirability and excitement to differentiate store offering.
* Nurture potential brands over seasons and eventually build into company’s key pillar brands.
3. Sales & Inventory Management
* Manage OTB and range planning to ensure optimal stock mix allocation (width and depth range planning) in conjunction with Merchandise Planning & Allocation team (MPA).
* React appropriately in terms of the buy and OTB planning; respond to in-season performance with timely reorders, markdowns, or assortment adjustments.
* Monitor and manage brand/ category/product performance in sell-through, product deliveries, and inventory levels to all vendors, and take decisive action.
* Accountable for the assigned portfolio management through working collaboratively with the rest of the Department/Division to achieve seasonal sales and profit targets against the seasonal business plan.
* Develop solid business plans and brand/product strategies for the assigned portfolio to achieve the agreed KPIs. Leverage our strengths and give feedback and follow actions to improve our business performance.
4. Market & Trend Analysis
* Conduct regular local and international market research in trends and behavior, macroeconomics environment and competitor benchmarking.
* Stay informed on global fashion trends and shifts in luxury retail consumer
* behaviour.
* Provide insights and recommendations to inform future buying decisions.
5. Cross-Functional Collaboration
* Work closely with cross-department functions such as Retail, Marketing &; Digital, E-commerce, Visual Merchandising and Learning & Development teams to support seasonal launches, in-store activations, popups, VM setup, product and trend training.
* Collaborate with Logistics & Warehouse to ensure timely delivery of merchandise to stores.
Requirements:
* Bachelor’s degree in Fashion, Business, or a related field.
* Minimum 5 years of buying experience in luxury retail.
* Strong knowledge of the global luxury retail landscape and consumer behavior.
* Proven ability to manage vendor relationships and negotiate effectively.
* Proficiency in Excel and retail systems; experience with ERP platforms is advantageous.
* Willingness to travel internationally/regional for buying trips typically twice per year to Europe and Mainland China.