Fashion Buyer - Retail - Ted Baker

Job description / Role

Job Requisition ID: 167858

Established in the 1930s as a trading business, Al-Futtaim Group today is one of the most diversified and progressive, privately held regional businesses headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Structured into five operating divisions: automotive, financial services, real estate, retail, and healthcare; employing more than 35,000 employees across more than 20 countries in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa, Al-Futtaim Group partners with over 200 of the world's most admired and innovative brands. Al-Futtaim Group's entrepreneurship and relentless customer focus enable the organization to continue to grow and expand, responding to the changing needs of our customers within the societies in which we operate.

By upholding our values of respect, excellence, collaboration, and integrity, Al-Futtaim Group continues to enrich the lives and aspirations of our customers each and every day.

Overview of the Role

The Retail Buyer coordinates, executes, and manages the activities of a buying department, classification, or key programs, depending on scope and complexity, and assists the Brand Manager in developing, executing, and communicating a product strategy that meets or exceeds financial goals.

What You Will Do

Operations and Financial Product Assortment Management

• Evaluate stock performance
• Plan it with the Merch team, VM team, Ops team, and store managers on a weekly basis
• Build a strong relationship with the suppliers
• Conduct market studies to evaluate the prices and trends
• Create a commercial calendar and align it with the marketing team and VM launching plan
• Build a strong relationship with the store team and conduct weekly store calls and visits to get feedback from the store and analyze accordingly
• Navigate new channels of distribution that will be aligned with elevating the brand performance
• Work closely with internal departments, such as finance, operation, VM, and BM to forecast demand, plan inventory levels, and ensure alignment of procurement activities with business needs
• Create and plan exclusive collections for specific countries or channels
• Assess and mitigate the risks we may have in the supply chain and discuss it with the logistics team
• Participate in management review meetings of bottoms-up plans
• Provide support and compile data for senior management line reviews

Buying

• Analyze product trends and historical data at departmental and classification levels
• Support and compile data as needed to aid in developing seasonal strategies, financial targets, and open-to-buy budgets
• Attend pre-season meetings between buying and planning
• Travel for markets and buy against open-to-buy and assortment plans
• In-Season Management
• Ensure the financial success of the area by meeting or exceeding financial targets including sales, gross margin, gross margin return on investment, and turn goals
• Review weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual sales performance and marketplace information to identify sales trends and business opportunities
• Provide input and make recommendations to the manager on changes to future product assortments and strategies based on in-season analysis and observations
• Provide input in sales forecast and open-to-buy discussions that review sales and inventory against financial goals, and recommend changes to future order quantities, deliveries, pricing, or markdown strategies
• Develop expert knowledge of the customer base by participating in local store visits, evaluating product execution and point of view, getting customer and store associate feedback, and communicating to the manager
• Participate in competitive analysis of both direct competitors and opinion leader stores for trend inspiration by shopping these stores
• Learn to evaluate product assortments, quality, pricing, merchandising strategies, and business opportunities

Communication

• Develop effective relationships with partners in field organization, store operations, visual, warehouse, production, vendors, etc. to maximize opportunities and minimize risks and/or liabilities
• Participate in weekly cross-functional meetings to share information on current business issues
• Work effectively as a member of a cross-functional team by focusing on team objectives and clear communication

Staff Development

• Provide training and feedback as needed to peers, Associate, and Assistant Buyers through on-the-job training, behavioral feedback, modeling, coaching, and identifying opportunities for formal training
• Work efficiently as a member of a cross-functional department team (Merchandising, Planning, and Allocation) by focusing on team objectives and clear communication
• Collaborate closely with Store Managers and Assistant Store Managers to ensure smooth VM rollouts, minimizing operational disruptions while maintaining high presentation standards

Required Skills to Be Successful

• Good verbal and written communication skills, MS Office skills, multi-tasker
• Knowledge of merchandise trends and their financial implications
• Knowledge of basic merchandising, planning, and the retail industry
• Clear understanding of financial measurements and how to utilize them in voicing and making decisions
• Effective listening, presentation, verbal, and written communication skills

What Equips You for the Role

Minimum Qualification and Knowledge

Education: Bachelor's degree graduate or equivalent preferred

Minimum Experience

Minimum of 3 years in buying and merchandising experience in a fashion brand with a proven track record for driving sales and profit results and training and developing a team of individuals.

Behavioral Competencies

• Highly organized, attention to detail
• Problem-solving
• Decision making
• Work under pressure
• Strong management skills
• Proactive and flexible
• Able to handle numerous tasks at one time and prioritize them effectively
• Advanced skills in MS Office PowerPoint presentation
• Interpersonal skills to interact professionally with high-level executives on a regular basis
• Ability to work well with all levels of internal management and staff, as well as third-party vendors
• Ability to maintain a high degree of confidentiality

We're here to provide excellent service, but a little help from you can ensure a five-star candidate experience from start to finish.

Before you click "apply": Please read the job description carefully to ensure you can confidently demonstrate why this opportunity is right for you and take the time to put together a well-crafted and personalized CV to further boost your visibility. Our global Talent Acquisition team members are all assigned to specific businesses to ensure that we make the best matches between talent and opportunities. We not only consider the requisite compatibility of skills and behaviors, but also how candidates align with our values of respect, integrity, collaboration, and excellence.

As part of our candidate experience promise, we also want to make ourselves available to you throughout the application process. We make every effort to review and respond to every application.

About the Company

Established in the 1930's, the Al-Futtaim Group initially operated as a trading enterprise. Rapid development throughout the 1940's and 50's saw it establish itself regionally as an integrated commercial, industrial and services organisation, positioning itself one of the leading business houses in the lower Gulf region. Today, it operates collectively over 40 companies bearing the Al-Futtaim name, dominates many market segments in the UAE, and has expanded its sphere of operation to include Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and Egypt.

The Group comprises a diverse range of strategically positioned operating subsidiaries and associate companies, structured to give the Al-Futtaim Group the flexibility and versatility to keep ahead of local competition while keeping pace with the ever-evolving global business scenario. The Groups continued investment in world-class systems technology is clear evidence of its commitment to maintain leading edge performance and service delivery.

The success of the Al-Futtaim Group can be attributed to a business approach that combines the ability to change with the traditional values of integrity, service and social responsibility that define its core business philosophy. This, linked with the Groups belief in decentralisation, gives the heads of the operating companies a high degree of functional autonomy and authority, providing the Group with essential flexibility, and individual employees a clearly defined work culture and sense of responsibility.