Dedicated to telling stories and creating experiences, Indigo is always looking for bright, energetic and customer-focused people who can help bring our exciting mission to life in one of our more than 170 Indigo, Indigospirit, Chapters and Coles stores across Canada. We offer a variety of exciting opportunities at our retail stores, distribution centres, and home office for people who share our passions and want to be part of a dynamic and enriching culture.

WHO WE ARE

• We love books and all things beautiful
• We are Canada’s Cultural Department Store
• Books are our heart and our soul and Great Books are JUST the Beginning…

We play by the following rules:

• We exist to add joy to our customers’ lives each and every time they interact with us and our products
• Our job is to create joyful moments for our customers
• We treat each other the way we’d treat a valued friend
• We inspire each other to do our best work
• We seek to ignite creativity and innovation every day
• We give back to the communities in which we operate

MISSION

The Associate Category Manager, Reading is responsible for inspiring our customers to read more, supporting them on their reading journey, and building a reading culture. They will strive to ensure that Indigo is the primary conduit for reading inspiration and book purchases in Canada. The Associate Category Manager will execute on Reading strategy, and is responsible for driving growth and profitability within their programs and select categories.

KEY PERFORMANCE METRICS

• Print Revenue, Net Margin, Sales units (vertical)
• Productivity of the inventory investments (Returns, NMROI and Turns)
• Customer Metrics (TBD)
• Performance on category strategies
• Category strategies market share
• ROI on Capital Investment projects, where appropriate

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES

Functional

• Support the Category Director and Manager with the execution of the overall Reading strategy and proof of concept
• Oversee individual programs and select category, as well as executing to ensure financial goals are met while improving the end-to-end customer experience
• Support with the day to day business needs of the total portfolio
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to execute Indigo’s vision and strategy
• Proactively identify and anticipate customer expectations and needs, and surface customer trends to Print Experience Merchant and Print Reading Merchant
• Identify key sales opportunities that will be relevant to our customers and deliver on the Category Strategy using every available resource (customer insights, culture, media, vendor catalogues, industry trends, etc.)
• Actively source product that:
  • Inspires customers to purchase
  • Augments the customer experience
  • Advances the Print team’s strategy to represent more diverse and under-represented voices
• Execute collaboratively with Category Manager, Experience & Curation, to ensure alignment between reading and experience strategies,
• Partner with the planning team to maximize inventory efficiencies and increase profitability
• Partner with the Inventory Team to develop store allocations and optimization plans that support the Category Strategy
• Advance existing customer-based assortments by working with the assortment team
• Act as an advocate for the customer by placing them at the forefront of all design and decision-making processes
• Seek out and maintain positive vendor relationships focusing on finding new and brand appropriate merchandise
• Negotiate with vendors to maximize sales and profits, and gain best possible terms of engagement
• Partner with the Print Experience Team to develop visual merchandising standards that evolve customer experience
• Challenge the status quo and consistently identify areas for improvement, diagnose issues and work to resolve them

People

• Grow understanding of customer Interests across the organization and deepen the businesses understanding of book customers
• Foster trust and understanding within the organization
• Give authentic feedback on performance and potential 
• Collaborate with others to drive flexible and iterative solutions, quickly and easily
• Share technical knowledge with others and actively seek to learn from those more knowledgeable than yourself
• Help others see the impact of their efforts and proactively engage other functions to get input
• Encourage others to share freely their point of view and be open to feedback

Cultural

• Model Indigo’s beliefs and convey a positive image in everything you do
• Celebrate diversity of thought and have an open mindset
• Take an active role in fostering a culture of continual learning, taking risks without the fear of making mistakes
• Embrace, champion, and influence change throughout Print and the organization

SCOPE

Reports to: Sr. CM, KIDS

Manager once Removed (MOR): VP, KIDS

KEY RELATIONSHIPS

Internal:

• Print Curation & Experience Managers
• Planning & Inventory Management
• Kids & Toy
• Digital
• Field Teams
• Marketing & Content
• Retail Operations

External:

• Vendors
• Authors

QUALIFICATIONS

Work Experience / Education / Certifications

• University degree, in business or related field
• 3-5 years of experience in buying and category management of specialty, book retail or publishing industry
• Proven and demonstrated leadership experience
• Customer-centric approach
• Communicates a compelling and inspiring vision and sense of core purpose
• Ability to learn and adapt in a constantly changing environment
• Comfortable handling risk and uncertainty
• Creative approach to problem solving and innovation
• Ability to understand problems and recommend solutions
• Results driven
• Ability to lead and develop team members
• Ability to establish professional and productive relationships based on trust and integrity 
• Strong desire to learn and grow within the organization, with an understanding that development is an employee’s own responsibility

At Indigo, we are committed to our communities, our customers, and each other; together we can make a positive impact. We know that fostering diversity and inclusion brings out your full potential and creates a joyful and welcoming environment for everyone. We are driven to be an equitable employer, which highly values your diverse backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. We believe that you, in all your uniqueness, belong at Indigo. We welcome all applicants and encourage applications from individuals who identify as Black, Indigenous, a person of colour, LGBTQ2+ and people with disabilities. Accommodations are available upon request to individuals who self-identify as having a disability or special need. Please contact Human Resources at [email protected] if you require an accommodation at any time during the recruitment process. 

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