Job Title: Senior Buyer
Company: Kettlewell
Location: Chard
Reports to: Managing Director
About Us:
Kettlewell is a fast-growing online retailer of own-brand, high-quality clothing and accessories. We are a one-stop shop for people who want to feel their best, creating clothes in 300 joyful life-affirming shades, each one coded to one of the four seasonal palettes. Helping our customers uncover their best colour palette to build a wardrobe they love. We sell across the globe, but primarily in UK and US.
Role Overview
You will be responsible for developing, sourcing and delivering a sustainable, commercial range, delivered on time to meet the requirements of the business.
You will support the Managing Director in the development and delivery of the commercial strategy for the brand, whilst maintaining strong, professional relationships with suppliers to ensure consistent quality and service.
Key Responsibilities
Strategy & Range Building
- Develop a clear understanding of the customer and range product opportunities, working with supplier and market intelligence to actively deliver a commercial range.
Range Ambassador
- Establish and implement best practices across the business and confidently present product ranges at seasonal overviews, conveying product and range key selling points, as well as providing product information for key documents like seasonal trackers etc.
- Have an open and positive approach, encouraging cross function collaboration.
- With a love of product you will bring your enthusiasm to your day to day role and help inspire others both within the product team and when communicating across departments.
Supplier Management
- Have strong negotiation skills, delivering the best price without compromising on design, quality or delivery.
- Be able to quickly build purposeful working relationships across the supply base
- Cultivate opportunities with suppliers, ensuring that a product sourcing strategy is in place which maximises margin and an agile supply chain.
- Be able to confidently challenge suppliers on lead times and prices to ensure suppliers remain proactive.
- Confidently identify and carry out costing exercises across supply base to ensure best prices and production routes are utilised across range
- Onboard new suppliers, agree payment terms and contracts.
- Coordinate and administer noncompliance issues and negotiate penalty settlements
- Oversee relationships with 3rd party providers (including packaging suppliers) to ensure best prices and quality are achieved.
Critical Path Management
- Working alongside Merchandising, plan a departmental critical path, feeding into overall company critical path, updating when necessary.
- Ensure trackers and systems are correct and maintained.
- Oversee product critical path to manage product status, identifying and communicating any potential issues and coordinating solutions.
Managing a team
- Provide leadership and direction to the team to meet business and individual objectives, ensuring key business strategies are cascaded.
- Working across cross functional roles of marketing, ecommerce, imagery and copy to direct the launch of products on own and partner channels.
- Be a positive role model to others, being consistently self-motivated and able to motivate others around you.
- Conduct regular 1-2-1 meetings and annual Personal Development Plan’s (PDP) to monitor and evaluate individual performance, offering constructive feedback and tailored development plans to encourage continuous personal development and growth.
General responsibilities
- Travel oversees when required, both within and outside of Europe
- Travel to industry events or business events where applicable.
- Participate in all mandatory training events, as deemed appropriate for your role or for the company.
- Undertake ad hoc assignments from time to time and other duties as requested by management.
- Understand and ensure the full observation of your contract of employment, the companies operating procedures and policies and its health and safety obligations.
- Working alongside key functions and team members, create a range strategy taking into account supply base, quality, sales performance and overall business strategy
- Constantly review and evaluate range performance to inform future decisions, working at pace to react and respond to trends.
- Be market aware and deliver clear competitor analysis, utilising any learnings in the ongoing range build and considering how to improve hit rate and profitability.
- Deliver seasonal and annual reviews alongside Merchandising.
- Work closely with Merchandising on range planning and building to ensure necessary reporting is delivered in support of range and department decisions
- Work closely with Technical to ensure all product bought meets quality and legislative requirements.
- Ensure profit/ margin targets are adhered to, in line with strategic plans.
- Work with Design and Technical and Suppliers to develop a commercial product range which meets the Brand Handwriting and commercial and customer KPIs.
The Candidate
- Deep understanding of the UK womenswear market.
- Working to at least Buyer level, with a proven track record of developing and trading Women’s clothing ranges that exceed sales and profit targets
- Deep understanding of fabric, garment construction, range building and the whole buying process
- Experience in dealing with and negotiating with suppliers to secure the best value, cost prices and deliveries
- Ability to work at pace and be a self-starter with a brilliant commercial flair.
In return we can offer you:
- Exclusive 50% discount off all Refined Brands companies after 1 months
- 28 days paid (Inclusive of bank holidays), Increasing with length of service
- Free 24/7 access to our Employment Assistance Program, AXA Health
- Cycle to work Scheme
- Home & Tech Scheme
- Recommend a friend, where you can gain £100 worth of vouchers for any brand
- Paid volunteering opportunities
- Flexible working patterns
- Private medical insurance
- Great work life balance
- A supportive open minded team environment
- Family feel business
The more diversity we have in our team, the more unique perspectives and bright ideas we share. At Kettlewell we are driven by alternative thinking, which to us means all ideas, personal beliefs, and points of view empower us to be a better, more inclusive place to work.
Job Type: Permanent
Work Location: Hybrid remote in Chard TA20 4BN
