We're looking for a Buyer who has managed a Food & Drink retail category to join our commercial team. Based at our Customer Support Centre in Walsall, the role will work on a hybrid basis.
As a Buyer, you’ll support our Senior Buyer to drive performance across a food retail based category - ensuring the right products land in store at the right time and the right price. You’ll manage everything from building category strategies, supplier negotiations and management, sales analysis, range planning to managing critical path.
You'll take the lead on your assigned category, ensuring it's success through effective planning, budgeting and negotiating. Taking an essential role in our key product journey, without you, our customers wouldn't be able to shop the ranges they love.
With autonomy and trust to make an impact from day one, key responsibilities will include:
- Maximising the success of the category performance, driving growth, maximizing margins and ensuring availability.
- Working collaboratively with the wider commercial team, retail operations and supplier to ensure critical path deadlines are achieved.
- Identifying, creating, and developing new range opportunities, taking the lead on constructing a robust and successful plan.
- Seeking out category range and promotional opportunities, resolving supply issues and making recommendations for action for any threats identified.
- Understanding and interpreting key customer insights and data to identify and react to market trends and shopping habits.
- Meeting suppliers and attending trade fairs to build relationships, negotiate the cost of goods, and explore new opportunities.
- Leading the development of category strategies, including research and analysis (spend analysis, cost benchmarking, etc).
For this role we need someone who is an experienced Buyer
from a Retail background, is an expert negotiator, builds great working
relationships and knows their way around a spreadsheet. Along with:
- Previous experience of leading an FMCG based
category is preferred but not essential.
- Keeps one step ahead of the market, through calculated
risks.
- Experience of delivering strategies and plans with
associated targets, KPIs and performance monitoring, along with reporting,
budgeting and forecasting.
- Comfortable with being agile to changing priorities.
- Strong understanding of the sector and competitor.
- Thorough understanding of the Supply Chain Process.
We offer rewards that go beyond the payslip, including:
- 10% employee discount card with increased discount events over the year.
- Celebrate your birthday, you’ll get an extra day off for your birthday.
- Holidays, 33 days a year inc banks.
- Single private medical cover.
- Annual bonus scheme, with the opportunity to earn up to 15% of your base salary.
- Car allowance of £500 per month
- Free parking onsite
- Pension scheme for your future, with up to 5% employer matched contributions.
- We put wellbeing first through our partnership with Retail Trust which gives you and your family access to a fantastic range of resources.
- My Staff Shop, giving you an amazing number of discounts and shopping vouchers.
- For those unexpected moments, our partnership with stream enables you to access up to 50% of your monthly earned wages early, along with savings and financial advice.
- Training and development opportunities, we want you to grow your career with us, be that through one of the qualifications we offer or internal programmes, this role can be just the first step.
- Plus, life assurance, loyalty service awards and more.
Bring your leadership, energy, and positive approach — and we’ll help you build your career with us!
We’re committed and proud to our inclusive culture, and that starts with the recruitment and selection process. If you require a reasonable adjustment during the recruitment process, please do share this with us on your application form and we’ll make every effort to meet your needs.