Overview
Assistant Buyer - Cleaning
Permanent
Up to £45,000 + Hybrid Working (3 dyas per week in the office)
Southampton, Store Support Office
We believe anyone can improve their home to make life better. From our Southampton Store Support office (SSO) we equip our stores, our people, and our whole business with everything it takes to help our millions of customers create a home they'll love. Join us as a Merchandisng Assistant and you'll be a big part of this.
What's the job?
Work with the Buyer to create and deliver an inspirational product range that meets the needs of our customers. Driving sales, margin (£GM & GM%)
and market share across all channels, delivering vendor contributions, rebate, and retail price index targets through strong vendor partnerships. Be responsible for the
performance of specific subcategories and the relevant vendor relationships.
Work alongside the Buyer to develop and implement a category proposition that meets our customer needs, identifying opportunities and mitigating risk, whilst delivering against sales, margin, and market share targets
Support the sourcing and development of a compelling product range, through developing relationships with new and existing vendors, which reflect the category strategy
Work alongside the Offer & Sourcing (O&S) team to shape and develop an own label proposition that meets the needs of our customers and market
Support the buying process, with an awareness of impact on cross functional teams, allowing for flexibility adhering to a critical path, to ensure stock is ordered and delivered on time
With the Buyer, support end to end vendor strategy management including contract and cost price negotiation, delivery of vendor contributions and annual performance review
Gather insights to support the creation of the category pricing hierarchy in line with framework principles, supporting the Buying Assistant with inputs into the Minderest comparison tool
With the category Merchandising team, support the product lifecycle including range performance, identifying and optimising trading opportunities and the delivery of promotions and range reviews
With the Visual Merchandising and Digital teams, support the creation and continuous improvement of customer journeys within our physical stores and online
With the Buying Assistant, co-ordinate and execute the sampling process for range development, including QA and Lab set up requirements
Work collaboratively with vendors, Marketing and Digital teams to support the acquisition and delivery of marketing assets for range and trading, including leading on brochures for the Category (where required)
With the Buying Assistant, ensure all products and vendors are set up in line with agreed processes, with accurate complete data
Use support tools such as Yammer to share category information and respond to queries
Conduct regular store (digital & physical), competitor and vendor visits, to increase understanding of the market and support the creation of the trading plan and inform decisions
Manage and influence stakeholders across a range of levels, internally and externally, to support the delivery of KPIs
Undertake other duties from time to time as may be reasonably required
What we need:
Required Skills & Experience:
Previous experience of sourcing and buying product ranges
Ability to understand customer insights and market trends
Experience in vendor management and contract negotiation
Strong communication and influencing skills
Ability to build relationships at all levels
Attention to detail to assist with issue resolution and problem solving
Experience of managing projects and holding stakeholders to account
Commercial and financial awareness
Flexible and adaptable
Proactive
Intermediate Microsoft Office skills, in particular Excel and PowerPoint
What's in it for me?
As well as a competitive salary, our benefits package includes:
Award-winning pension scheme
ShareSave options
6.6 weeks holiday
Payroll giving
Employee Assistance Programme
Shopping discounts
Colleague wellbeing benefits …and much more.
Equality and Inclusion
We want to ensure that all employees, future employees, and applicants to all Kingfisher companies are treated equally regardless of age, gender, marital or civil partnership status, colour, ethnic or national origin, culture, religious belief, philosophical belief, political opinion, disability, gender identity, gender expression, or sexual orientation.
Find out more about us, including the benefits we offer and our community, sustainability, and inclusion projects at
If you require any additional support or adjustments to help you make an application, please contact us at:
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