Job Description
JUNIOR BUYER - 1 Year Fixed Term Contract
Pour Moi Ltd
Reports to: Commercial Director
Location: Brighton – Hybrid working
THE ROLE
This is an exciting opportunity to join Pour Moi on a 1 year fixed term contract (FTC) as a Junior Buyer on the Holiday Shop department.
ABOUT US From when we sold our very first bra way back in 2005, to today when we sell one approximately every 30 seconds, passion and playfulness is at the heart of everything we do. Our direct-to-consumer operation is growing by over 50%, but that’s not the only thing about Pour Moi that’s expanding! Our range has grown along with us to include lingerie, swimwear, beachwear, clothing, sportswear, nightwear and hosiery, with exciting new developments planned for future seasons. With our buying, design, technical, merchandising, marketing and sales departments based in our sunny Brighton offices, we have a blue-chip wholesale partner portfolio that includes M&S, Next, Very, and Bare Necessities. Our predicted annual turnover is £36 million, making us one of the leading brands in lingerie and swimwear. With sales increasing year on year it means we need more brilliant people who share our passion, to join in the next part of our story.
Mission: to make our customers feel confident and sexy in their own skin, by delivering a wardrobe full of fun, fizz and feel-good vibes. With an uplifting personality weaved into every garment, we’ll take care of the fashion, you just feel your fabulous
What you’ll be doing: Main responsibilities…
Deliver collections that exceed customer’s expectations and achieves sales & profit targets through the development and sourcing of products in line with Pour Moi vision and strategy.
Working with Merchandising, Design & Technical teams to manage the whole buying lifecycle from initial concept through to trading and monitoring sales and identifying risks and opportunities.
Manage the product development of new collections, working with Design & Technical to achieve innovative and on trend products. Identify new categories to target, source and develop new factories to meet these requirements.
Line management & development of Student Buyers Admin Assistant.
Position Requirements :
• Work with Merchandising, Design and Technical teams to ensure Holiday shop product range excites & meets our target customers demands; balancing trends, newness, key drivers and commerciality.
• Display an in-depth, customer focused knowledge of Pour Moi and Holiday shop market & use this to influence your approach.
• Working with Merchandising, Technical & Design teams to ensure all critical path milestones / meetings are completed in line with the buying critical path and aligned to the required sampling lead times.
• Working with Merchandising, Technical & Design create the departmental seasonal strategy and align to the overall business strategy. (Key buying elements include: Competitor analysis, Market analysis, SWOT, Price architecture based on competitors and the market, Sourcing / supply base planning, Range planning, Mark up target delivery.)
• Working closely with the Merchandiser to analyse and understand seasons lessons learnt, identifying risks, opportunities & actions.
• Analyse weekly / monthly sales for the department. Identifying risks, opportunities and solutions to drive sales and profitability. Presenting & communicating findings to management / team.
• Responsible for conducting competitor shops, market research, and product and price analysis. To present insights, findings & actions to management / the team.
• Creative flair with good understanding of the Pour Moi brand handwriting and knowledge of trends & product.
• With support Merchandiser & Design, create product ranges which excites & meets target customers demands, balancing trends, newness, key drivers and commerciality.
• Combines strong product knowledge, a commercial view of trends and how they translate to the brand to build ranges across all channels, considering:
– Long term brand strategy
– Customer knowledge and changing habits
– Strategies and needs for all routes to market (Pour Moi website, Next, M&S, wholesale etc)
– Up and coming trends
– Sales history across department
– Most and least profitable product – (considers both return rate and mark up)
– Previous markdown
– Fit and shape
– Pricing and value of product
– Margin
– Competitor knowledge
– Lead times
– Newness vs. continuity buys
– Global calendar of events and factors
– Department building blocks and key direction
– Ways to drive department/brand market share
• Present ranges for sign off by management. Operate an effective / timely product sign off process, appropriate for all product lead-times
• Ensure all products are costed and negotiated to meet and exceed department mark-up targets. Develop good understanding of product costings and able to suggest amends where needed to improve cost prices.
• Possesses good garment construction knowledge and works with the Senior Design & Technical team to understand and minimise cost implications of product changes
• Establish productive working relationships with all suppliers. Communicate with and respond to supplier queries in a timely manner and communicate information as required.
• Ensure that all ranges are delivered on time.
• Manage and develop the Student Buyers Admin Assistant on the team. Managing their day-to-day responsibilities, helping prioritise workload and delegating effectively in line with business needs.
• Encouraging and overseeing the BAA in managing weekly supplier critical path. Supporting them in following up with difficult suppliers and attending weekly critical path meetings with the wider team to feed back any risks.
• Be aware of and take responsibility for part of our wholesale strategy and understand the requirements for each of our wholesale partners individually, as well as ability to analyse sales and how they differ across a number of channels.
• Working with & supporting BAA on sample management; Approval, fit & photo shoot sample organisation & sample preparation for internal and external meetings.
• Work with all external and internal teams to build effective cross functional relationships
Tools of the trade:
• Experience of looking after your own department/category and delivering to KPIs, ideally 3-5 years of experience in Fashion Buying
• Ability to balance commerciality and first to market opportunities whilst always keeping the Pour Moi customer at the heart of all decisions.
• Numerical competency & negotiation skills are essential as well as being able to analyse information quickly and use these skills to communicate risks and opportunities.
• Awareness of current and future trends, knowledge of brands appropriate to target market and understanding of what is happening in retail
• Ability to demonstrate pro-activity in sourcing new ideas and inspiration
• Possess a commercial eye for product, print, fabric and colour.
• Keen attention to detail
• Adaptable, with the ability to prioritise and multi task
• Ability to perform under pressure and in a fast paced environment
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills with the ability to communicate clearly, effectively, and appropriately with colleagues, suppliers and others at all levels.
• Ability to work autonomously as well as part of a team, with strong organisational skills and a positive can do attitude
• A confident and professional approach to the role, taking appropriate action to influence the achievement of business goals
• Proactively seeks self-development opportunities.
• Uses sound judgment to make good decisions based on information gathered and analysed
• Computer literate - proficient in excel and word applications and experience in working on internal systems.
• Continues to build respectful business relationships based on trust and fairness, enabling conversations on new products and business opportunities
In return, we offer excellent benefits, including:
• A competitive salary (Salary from £33k P.A)
• A warm, friendly team environment
• Central offices in Brighton
• 25 days holiday per annum (plus bank holidays)
• Annual bonus scheme
• Exclusive discounts
• Flexible working
Job type
• Full Time – 9am – 5pm Mon – Fri
• 1 Year Fixed Term Contract
• With flexible working option 2 days WFH per week