Assistant Buyer - Bathrooms

About the role

Assistant Buyer - Bathrooms

12 Month Fixed Term

Up to £45,000 + Bonus + Pension + BUPA + ShareSave + 6.6 weeks holiday + Hybrid Working (3 days per week in the office)

Southampton, Store Support Office

*** INTERVIEWS WILL COMMENCE IN JANUARY 2025 ***

We believe anyone can improve their home to make life better. From our Southampton Store Support office (SSO) we equip our stores, our people, and our whole business with everything it takes to help our millions of customers create a home they'll love. Join us as an Assistant Buyer and you'll be a big part of this.

Key responsibilities

As an Assistant Buyer, you will work with the Buyer to create and deliver an inspirational Bathrooms product range that meets the needs of our customers. Driving sales, margin, and market share across all channels, delivering vendor contributions, rebate, and retail price index targets through strong vendor partnerships. In this position, you will be responsible for the performance of specific subcategories and the relevant vendor relationships. Offering quality bathroom options helps B&Q maintain its reputation as a comprehensive home improvement retailer, attracting repeat customers and fostering brand loyalty. This Assistant Buyer role has a direct impact on B&Q's profitability, but more importantly, it affects our customers' satisfaction, experience, and joy in their DIY projects.

Your responsibilities will include:

1. Category Proposition - Collaborate with the Buyer to create and implement a category proposition that meets customer needs, while achieving sales, margin, and market share targets.
2. Product Ranging - Support sourcing and development of a compelling product range by building relationships with vendors aligned with the category strategy.
3. Own-Label Proposition - Shape and develop an own-label proposition in collaboration with the Offer & Sourcing (O&S) team.
4. Buying Process - Assist in the buying process, considering cross-functional impact and adhering to critical time-lines.
5. Vendor Strategy - Manage end-to-end vendor strategy, including negotiation, contributions, and performance reviews.
6. Category Pricing - Provide insights for creating the category pricing hierarchy using framework principles.
7. Competitor Analysis - Conduct regular store (digital & physical), competitor and vendor visits, to increase understanding of the market and support the creation of the trading plan and inform decisions.

Required skills & experience

Required Skills & Experience:

1. Previous experience of sourcing and buying product ranges.
2. Ability to understand customer insights and market trends.
3. Experience in vendor management and contract negotiation.
4. Strong communication and influencing skills with an ability to build relationships at all levels.
5. Attention to detail to assist with issue resolution and problem solving.
6. Experience of managing projects and holding stakeholders to account.
7. Commercial and financial awareness.
8. Intermediate Microsoft Office skills, in particular Excel and PowerPoint.

What's in it for me?

As part of a great team, you'll be valued for who you are. We're committed to making B&Q more diverse and representative of the communities we serve, where everyone can feel they belong and have equal opportunities. You will have access to a range of networks that represent our colleagues and allies and help us to continue to put diversity and inclusion at the heart of our business.

We also recognise that wellness means different things to different people, and we want to help colleagues be at their best and feel well by offering a range of benefits to help you. As well as a competitive salary, our benefits package includes an award-winning pension scheme, bonus, ShareSave options, 6.6 weeks holiday, payroll giving, an Employee Assistance Programme, shopping discounts, colleague wellbeing benefits and lots more!

So we can support you during the application or interview process, please contact recruitment@b-and-q.co.uk for any recruitment adjustments.