Assistant Buyer

Macy’s is proudly America’s Department Store. For more than 160 years, Macy’s has served generations at every stage of their lives. Customers come to us for fashion, value and celebration.

Macy’s Merchandising curates the best national and private brands to support our customer’s self-expression from off-price to luxury. Merchandising ensures Macy's is the premier fashion authority using a high acumen for products and trends as well as strong relationships with vendors in the marketplace. Our team maximizes sales and gross margin for each product category by identifying, procuring, and assorting the products that our customers demand.

Do you have an eye for products and trends? Join Macy’s Merchandising and create connections that surprise and delight our customers at every turn.

Job Overview

The Assistant Buyer is responsible for supporting the Buying team to drive sales, margin, turn and growth by devising and recommending assortment strategies and supporting assortment optimization. The position requires strong business acumen and an understanding of Merchandising. This role is dependent on the ability to translate product performance data into recommended advertising strategies and featured product selections that will allow Macy’s to maximize sales, inventory and bottom line profitability to compete differently in a changing retail environment.

The Assistant Buyer will be known as a trusted, collaborative and results-oriented business partner. The ideal candidate will be comfortable with and effective at devising and recommending assortment strategies at department, class, and vendor levels.

Essential Functions

• In Season Forecasting & ROF
• Liaise weekly with Financial Planning to provide insights for forecasting
• Provide Buying Director with detailed performance analysis to assist in determining in-season item-level changes
• Update receipts on order for ROF and review with Buying Director
• Reconcile orders with financial plans; manage receipt flow to satisfy requirements of financial plan Assortment Vision, Strategy & Selection
• Articulate and present customer lifestyle differences within each department
• Develop assortment strategy for key items with Buying Director’s input
• Track key item performance and make recommendations to maximize sales revenue
• Participate in style out to present assortments independently and recommend, then execute assortment edits Vendors, Pricing, Marketing & Visual Merchandising Site/Stores
• Develop purchase orders and partners with Buying Director, Merchandise Planning, and vendors to secure merchandise
• Negotiate with vendors for on-order quantities and ship date adjustments; resolve shipping problems and relay issues to Buying Director
• First point of contact with Vendor Community, Marketing, Visual, Stores, and Pricing
• Communicate with vendors to ensure timely collection of MDAs/markdowns/RTVs and partner with Financial Planning to ensure alignment with in-season VMT input
• Partner with Pricing team on Pricing strategy and in-season adjustments.

Qualifications And Competencies

• We encourage candidates with either a bachelor’s degree or equivalent work experience in a related field to apply
• Practices open and continuous communication, values keeping others informed, effectively presenting information in a clear, concise manner.
• Excellent leadership, facilitation, and interpersonal skills, with the ability to work across functional lines and at many levels.
• Ability to think creatively, analytically, strategically and technically
• Proficiency with Excel and Outlook
• Ability to interpret financial information accurately
• Ability to work a flexible schedule based on department and Company needs.
• Knowledge of MS Office computer programs are required