Senior Buyer - Bedding, Rugs & Window - Big Lots

Essential Duties and Responsibilities 

• Fosters relationships with vendors. Negotiates deals with vendors. In instances when purchases are not made, maintains positive vendor relationships for future opportunities. 

• Defines the merchandise strategy, such as mix of close-out vs. non-closeout business. 

• Jointly with the planner, develops a merchandise plan to support the strategy and achieve stated sales, turn and margin goals. 

• Identifies opportunities to exploit sales and margin opportunities and partners with planner and merchandise analyst to develop execution tactics. 

• Collaborates with Planning, Allocation, Distribution and Transportation Services, and Field Management to understand and improve upon internal company processes. 

• Travels to stores to understand merchandise packaging and presentation requirements, customer requirements and customer trends. Shops competitor stores to assess direction of competition and understand competitive pricing structures. 

• Travels to trade shows and vendor locations to develop a network of contacts, to stay informed on industry and competitor direction, and to source deals. 

• Develops a collaborative team atmosphere through an open exchange of ideas and positive feedback between buyer, planner and allocation analyst team members. 

• Trains and mentors Assistant Buyers and/or Buyers, as requested. 

• Performs administrative tasks, as needed or requested. 

• Accountabilities: Achieve annual Sales Dollar, Margin Dollar and Inventory Turn targets for assigned product areas. 

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities 

• College degree, preferred. 

• A minimum of five years of retail buying experience, preferred. 

• Experience in buying complex merchandise categories and categories with large sales volumes. 

• Excellent negotiation and marketing skills. 

• Excellent oral and written communication and organization skills. 

• Motivated and self-starter, willing to take on new challenges and learn every aspect of merchandising. 

• Able to work as part of a team to achieve common goals. 

• System capable in spreadsheet, word processing and data analysis tools.