The Role
We are launching a dedicated Value Licensing team, a high-growth initiative designed to establish NEXT as the destination for affordable, licensed products across Womenswear, Menswear and Childrenswear. This brand-new team will focus on securing new partnerships, expanding our category reach, and delivering ranges that capture key market trends. This is an incredible opportunity to be part of something new and extremely exciting.
As the Assistant Buyer , your role involves developing a commercially successful product range by building strong relationships with suppliers and analysing data to plan across all categories. Collaboration with design and merchandising is key to this process.
Utilising specialist functions like product technology and sourcing, the aim is to create outstanding products. Working closely with the e-commerce team, optimisation of online sales through tone of voice, imagery, and other tools is essential. Liaison with the Marketing team for campaign and e-commerce shoots within department budgets is crucial. Managing the critical path for product development and selection, and swiftly identifying new product opportunities are priorities. Frequent travel is required to source the best products and prices, with regular sign-off on ranges.
What You’ll Take On
This role will be a platform for an experienced, self motivated Assistant Buyer to embrace the challenge of starting and nurturing a successful and very fast paced department from the start. You will be responsible for planning and buying the product, delivering agreed KPIs for sales, markdown and profit. This role is based at The Barn, our Market Harborough office.
What You’ll Bring
The role requires the ability to manage multiple product ranges effectively. You should ideally be an experienced assistant buyer with strong analytical and planning skills . You should be able to easily identify the latest trends for this category and have a comprehensive understanding of the market competition.
An in-depth knowledge of our industry is essential. A proven track record in identifying opportunities to streamline the critical path and trade ranges in-season is crucial.
Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal, are necessary for effective collaboration. An enthusiastic attitude and a team-player mindset are valued attributes in this role. We would ideally like to bring in an Assistant Buyer with expert knowledge in licensing.
Sponsorship
Candidates wishing to apply who would require sponsorship for this role will be required to meet the Home Office sponsorship requirements. For further information please see: https://www.gov.uk/skilled-worker-visa.
We encourage early applications for our roles, as our recruitment process begins as soon as the role is advertised. If we successfully fill the position, this advert may close earlier than planned.
At NEXT, we believe the best work happens when there are no barriers to collaboration. That’s why we are a Google-powered workspace. From your very first day, you’ll be using the full Google Workspace suite; Docs, Drive, and Meet, to stay connected and move fast.
If your previous experience is rooted in other software suites, don’t worry! We’ll point you to a digital Google toolkit the moment you join, packed with handy guides and insider tips to help you transition smoothly and hit the ground running.
#LI-Onsite
You know Next, but did you know we’re a FTSE-100 retail company employing over 44,000 people across the Next group. We’re the UK’s 2nd largest fashion retailer and for Kidswear we’re the market leader. At the last count we have over 450 stores, plus the Next Online and it’s now possible to buy on-line from over 80 countries around the world! So we’ve gone global!
