Category Buyer at Hire Resolve

Category Buyer

• A leading retail company situated in Cape Town is urgently seeking the expertise of an experienced Category Buyer to join their team.

The successful incumbent for this position will be responsible for:

Negotiation

• Understands negotiating position, key drivers, and desired outcomes; develops and presents factual, rational, and compelling arguments to build support and gain commitment from other parties;
• Understands when to engage in counter-negotiations to reach win-win outcomes
• Manages disagreements and conflicts by using diplomacy and controlling emotions;
• Anticipates negotiating roadblocks and objections

Category Strategy

• Uses Category internal and external data to develop and recommend business strategies that target category-specific growth
• Evaluates merchandising plans and their business impact;
• Makes recommendations for modifying plans based on findings
• Identifies and recommends process improvements that target performance, quality, work efficiency / cost reduction

Category Performance

• Uses internal and external data to understand category performance (sales, margin, availability, waste, stock, RTC, strike rates, own brand etc).
• Maintains a solid working knowledge of assigned category, industry, and market;
• Uses knowledge of industry practices, business trends, distribution methods, and the competitive environment to develop buying plans
• Implements and executes tactical buying plans, ensuring alignment with category-specific growth strategies, as well as overall business strategy

Supplier Relations

• Communicates regularly with suppliers to mutually share financial and other performance criteria;
• Uses metrics to identify performance gaps and hold suppliers accountable for achieving financial and other mutually agreed upon goals;
• develops and implements contingency plans to close performance gaps
• Develops and maintains relationships with suppliers;
• Demonstrates confidence and expertise when interacting with suppliers

Private Brand Strategy and Development

• Implements and executes Private Brand category strategy, ensuring alignment with category-specific growth strategies, as well as overall business strategy
• Develops merchandising solutions to achieve business goals and influence financial performance
• Identifies and applies knowledge of key industry trends and market forces to positively impact merchandising

Key requirements:

• Preferably relevant University Degree
• 3-4 years retail experience
• Experience in Category Management and Buying experience in the Baby (Non-Edibles) division
• Proven and consistent success on financial KPI’s
• SAP knowledge and Analysis is essential