Assistant Buyer - Women's Contemporary London, England
Job description
At MATCHESFASHION we are on a mission to offer the most personal luxury shopping experience in the world. We are renowned and respected for the relationships we build with clients and our brand partnerships. To achieve our ambition, we capitalise on our unique combination of technical savviness and global innovation mixed with curated content.
MORE ABOUT US
We bring together a modern edit of over 700 established and new generation designers. Founded over 30 years ago as a brick and mortar store, we transitioned online in 2012. In 2017, APAX Partners acquired a majority stake in MATCHESFASHION, fuelling our expansion. We now ship to 176 countries, have over 70 million site visits and 95% of our sales are online with the majority of sales made internationally.
We have a global website, mobile apps, retail stores, private shopping, VIP events and 24/7 customer care and MyStylist teams. We have offices in the UK and Hong Kong. In London, our head office is based in The Shard, our brand-new creative hub is in Here East and last year we launched No.5 Carlos Place, a completely new retail concept combining digital and physical interaction.
We lead the way, moving our industry forward, and we are always looking for talented individuals to come in and inspire the world with us.
OUR COMMITMENT TO DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION
Diversity and Inclusion is a priority for MATCHESFASHION – we delight customers around the world and so it’s important that our team represents our customers.
We want to attract the very best talent and create an inclusive environment that celebrates the diversity of our people and enables them to do the best work of their careers. We recognise the world is not a perfect place and that bias exists, which is why we take a focused approach in this area and are committed to ensuring that all our people processes are equitable.
We are an equal opportunity employer. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, family or parental status or disability status.
ROLE:
This is an opportunity for Assistant Buyer to develop and drive the team on all operational activities. This role will be responsible for effectively assisting the Buyers in the selection and procurement of merchandise within the category, that supports the Company objectives and reflect the MATCHESFASION customer. This is a good opportunity to learn how a luxury fashion buying department operates, exposing you to the full buying life-cycle, offering a strong foundation for a career in luxury fashion buying.
WHAT YOU WILL BE DOING:
- Reporting into the Buyer, contributing to decisions on the range and product mix.
- Reporting weekly on company collection and sell-through for buying meetings and buying appointments.
- Acting as the primary liaison for suppliers.
- Oversees scheduling to ensure everything is booked in and travel confirmed within budget, attending specific buying appointments where appropriate
- Booking in and authorising the release of deliveries, keeping track of critical path and alerting the team to any delivery issues.
- Keeping the business informed of planned deliveries.
- Opportunity with support of buyer/JB to have responsibility of certain areas of the buy/brands, organising and administering stock swaps.
- Liaising with account assistant regarding stock discrepancies.
- Confirming exchange rates and mark-ups for Order Entry Administrator.
- Liaising with accounts department regarding supplier payment terms and discount.
- Maintaining continuity season stock in terms of depth on sizes and re-order, actively monitoring products online, taking responsibility for your departments offer, highlighting challenging styling and incorrect product shots
- Setting up press day each season and returning the samples to suppliers in a timely manner.
- Working closely with the Merchandising team on stock queries, budgets, reorders and trading
- Attend buying appointments and meetings both in the UK and overseas (subject to change given current COVID19 impact)
Requirements
- Solid global experience in a similar role
- A real passion for formulating and executing product
- Highly creative and idea-focused
- Motivated self-starter who thrives in an exciting fast-paced environment
- Organised and have a strong attention to details.
- Demonstrable experience at a similar level within the fashion industry, preferably luxury within the womenswear industry.
- Experience in an online environment is highly desirable.
- Strong attention to detail and analytical skills.
- Effective interpersonal and communication.
- Ability to self-manage and work to set timescales.
- High proficiency in MS Word, Excel and Outlook.
- Awareness of market and fashion trends.
