Buying & Merchandising Assistant - FTC

Are you looking to kick-start a career in retail buying?

We have an exciting opportunity for a Buying & Merchandising Assistant to join our Cookshop & Utility team on a 12-month fixed-term maternity cover contract.

You're based at our Central Support Office in Lasswade, near Edinburgh, with hybrid working available.

We welcome applications from graduates and school leavers with A Levels (or equivalent Highers). Previous buying experience isn't essential. What matters most is that you're eager, keen to learn and passionate about building a career in Buying & Merchandising. This is a fantastic entry-level role to gain hands-on retail buying experience with one of the UK's best-loved garden centre retailers.

As a Buying & Merchandising Assistant, you'll support the Buying team and work closely with stores and suppliers. The role focuses on product data management, supplier liaison, sample management, maintaining the critical path for the Buying team and general administration. It's the perfect foundation for a future career as a Buyer, Merchandiser or Product Developer.

Hybrid working: our Buying & Merchandising Assistant role offers a mix of home working and working from our Central Support Office in Lasswade. You can choose to work in the office more often if you prefer, which is a great way to learn from the team.

Responsibilities

• Overseeing the critical path to ensure delivery of team objectives
• Managing and maintaining the sample library, ensuring samples are delivered and returned to suppliers on time and meet critical dates for sign-off deadlines and other key events (including press and marketing events)
• Ensuring suppliers and all products are set up accurately on our systems
• Liaising with suppliers to resolve any issues regarding purchase orders, samples, delivery dates and other ad hoc requests
• Inputting key product information into the range plan and inputting short codes and product attributes into back-office systems
• Creating group purchase sheets and uploading them to the intranet for store use
• Creating Dobbies barcodes for products as required
• Resolving scanning queries received from stores
• Setting up promotions and assisting in the preparation of seasonal product catalogues
• Providing analytical reports where required

Who we are looking for

• A graduate or school leaver with A Levels (or equivalent), or someone with some office, retail or admin experience, who is eager to pursue a career in Buying & Merchandising
• Confident computer skills, including Word, Excel and PowerPoint
• Excellent organisation skills with strong attention to detail
• A strong team player who is proactive and focused on getting things right
• Good planning, prioritisation, presentation and problem-solving skills
• Comfortable managing multiple tasks with tight deadlines
• Strong interpersonal skills, with the ability to build great relationships across the business
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Can demonstrate our values at all times - we're one team, getting better every day. We bring a smile. We live and breathe gardens. We make it work for our customers.

What we offer

• Career development - gain valuable hands-on experience in retail buying and merchandising, supported by an experienced team
• Holiday - enjoy a well-deserved break with 33 annual leave days per year (pro-rata for part time)
• Discount - treat yourself with generous uncapped discount across our stores, with 50% off in our Restaurants, 25% off in the Garden Centre and 10% off in our food halls
• Hybrid working - a combination of office and home working to support a healthy work-life balance
• Pension - save for the future with our company-contributed enhanced Group Pension Plan
• Season ticket loans - spread the cost of travel with an interest-free loan
• Access to Stream - support your financial wellbeing, with the ability to access earnings ahead of pay day, save for the future and get financial advice
• Access to Retail Trust - seek confidential support, access a Virtual GP, free counselling service and discounted retail rewards with our employee wellbeing platform
• Access to Dobbies Academy - continue your development with our eLearning platform and development programmes
• Study assistance - invest in your professional development with funded courses and qualifications
• The little things to keep you going through the day - free tea, coffee and milk
• Collaborative office space - with access to our wellbeing room, learning resources and even a book swap
• Invites to our annual company conference, summer and Christmas social events

About us

At Dobbies, we're proud to have a history dating back to 1865. We were founded by James Dobbie and are the only garden centre retailer to have stores in every nation across the UK.

Our passion and joy for gardens and plants is what makes us special. In our stores, we showcase this through own brand and branded products, concession partners and services. We champion garden living all-year-round.

Many of our stores feature a restaurant or coffee shop, where customers can enjoy refreshments or meals in a relaxed and welcoming environment.

We offer a calendar of events and experiences that bring people and communities together, and we have a national charity partner that both our colleagues and customers raise money for.

We're committed to being a great place to work. We're one team and we encourage our colleagues to be the best version of themselves, every day; to share their wins and celebrate success. Together, we make it work for our customers.

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