Buyer - Retail FMCG - Food

About The Role

We're looking for a highly credible Buyer with strong experience leading an FMCG retail category to join our Commercial team. Based at our Customer Support Centre in Walsall, this is a hybrid role, offering a mix of office and home working.

As a Buyer, you'll work closely with our Senior Buyer to deliver strong commercial performance across a food retail category. You'll ensure our customers can find the right products at the right price.

You will take ownership of your category, developing and delivering category strategies that drive sales, profitability, and customer satisfaction. From supplier negotiations and relationship management to sales analysis, range planning, budgeting, and critical path management, you'll play a key role throughout the product lifecycle.

This is a fantastic opportunity to make a real commercial impact. Your decisions will shape the ranges our customers love, ensuring they're always stocked with great products that offer quality and value.

With autonomy and trust to make an impact from day one, key responsibilities will include:

Responsibilities

• Maximise the success of category performance, driving growth, maximizing margins and ensuring availability.
• Work collaboratively with the wider commercial team, retail operations and suppliers to ensure critical path deadlines are achieved.
• Identify, create, and develop new range opportunities, taking the lead on constructing a robust and successful plan.
• Seek out category range and promotional opportunities, resolve supply issues and make recommendations for action for any threats identified.
• Understand and interpret key customer insights and data to identify and react to market trends and shopping habits.
• Meet suppliers and attend trade fairs to build relationships, negotiate cost of goods, and explore new opportunities.
• Lead the development of category strategies, including research and analysis (spend analysis, cost benchmarking, etc).

Qualifications

• Experience as an established Buyer from a retail background.
• Expert negotiator, with strong working relationships and spreadsheet skills.
• Previous experience of leading an FMCG-based category is preferred but not essential.
• Ability to stay one step ahead of the market through calculated risks.
• Experience delivering strategies and plans with associated targets, KPIs, performance monitoring, reporting, budgeting and forecasting.
• Comfortable with being agile to changing priorities.
• Strong understanding of the sector and competitors.
• Thorough understanding of the supply chain process.

Benefits

• 10% employee discount card with increased discount events over the year.
• Extra day off for your birthday.
• 33 days a year holiday allowance including bank holidays.
• Single private medical cover.
• Annual bonus scheme, up to 15% of base salary.
• Car allowance of £500 per month.
• Free parking onsite.
• Pension scheme with up to 5% employer matched contributions.
• Wellbeing support through partnership with Retail Trust.
• Staff shopping discounts and vouchers.
• Access to early wage payment and financial advice partner.
• Training and development opportunities.
• Life assurance, loyalty service awards and more.

Equal Opportunity Statement

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 let us know and we’ll make every effort to meet your needs.

#J-18808-Ljbffr

Full job description from WhatJobs. Apply for this role →