Headquartered in Southern California, Skechers has spent nearly 30 years helping men, women and kids everywhere look and feel good. Developing comfort technologies is at the foundation of all that we do—delivering stylish, innovative, and quality products at a reasonable price. From our diverse footwear offering to a growing range of apparel and accessories, Skechers is a complete lifestyle brand.

With international business representing over half of our total sales, we have product available in more than 170 countries and significant opportunities for continued expansion worldwide. We sell our collections direct to consumers through more than 4,000 Skechers stores around the globe and Skechers e-commerce sites, as well as through a network of third-party partners.

A MULTI-BILLION-DOLLAR GLOBAL LEADER IN THE FOOTWEAR INDUSTRY.

The Retail Buyer is responsible for planning and selecting a range of products to sell in our retail stores and on our website. Buyers source new products and review existing items to ensure a proper product mix and balanced inventory flow. Buyers must adhere to assigned financial targets and “open to buy” plans, and they must consider critical factors when making purchasing decisions. These factors include customer demands, market trends, competitive analysis, product availability, product flow, and pricing strategy. This position works closely with the Web team, Planning, Allocations, Visual Merchandising, Marketing and Store Operations and must partner with the planner to optimize assortments by store channel.  

ESSENTIAL JOB RESULTS

•  Update Bulk inventory for top performing and out of stock product
• Demonstrate a basic understanding of retail math and key metrics to measure and drive assortment planning
• Must possess strong analytical and advanced Excel skills.
• Serve as an expert by using historical data to build the right assortment for specific categories and geographical locations in support of the category/brand vision
• Efficiently achieve sales and profit targets by consistently reviewing and appropriately editing product lines, ensuring there is a balanced SKU assortment in style, pattern, color, and size.
• Plan initial Pre-Distribution when placing quarterly buys and review again 30 days prior to arrival.
• Review web selling and product placement on the website to ensure our bulks can support online sales.  Partner with Web team to achieve sales goals.
• Liaising with planners to ensure the product offered is right for our customers and supports our business objectives
• Work in tandem with planners, analyzing past sales figures and current trends to anticipate future product needs and devise a merchandise
• Buy specific SKU counts and quantities of inventory for each channel type (Concept, Outlet, Big Box store types) throughout the season
• Ensure proper gender/category balancing in all stores through the use of sales and inventory reports
• Define seasonal, annual, and multi-year strategies to identify future opportunities and trend
• Prepare sales plans by style on a monthly basis to ensure appropriate inventory levels to support the business.
• Deliver results for each gender/category performance based on strategic goals and budget expectations
• Propose strategic markdowns by gender, category, and channel type
• Ability to recognize current and future trends and react and adjust buys accordingly.
• Must possess strong communication and presentation skills and must have the ability to effectively articulate their point of view and support decisions with fact based details.

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES

• No

JOB REQUIREMENTS

• Must be driven to excel and succeed, taking full ownership for his or her success
• Must have 3-5 years of experience in buying  with a medium to large size retailer
• Must have aptitude with numbers and clear understanding of retail math skills
• Strong organizational skills with ability to manage multiple projects, prioritize and meet deadlines
• Superior communication skills; able to communicate persuasively, influentially and responsibly across a broad spectrum of stakeholders
• Excels in team-environments and in building and developing strong interpersonal relationships, while maintaining an individual determination to accomplish goals
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience
• Computer proficiency with advanced knowledge of Excel (pivot tables, v-lookups, etc.)
• Required travel: 20-30%

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily.  The skills, abilities and physical demands described are representative of those duties that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities, who are otherwise qualified for the job position, to perform the essential functions.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS

 While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to stand; use hands to finger, handle, or feel, and talk or hear.  The employee frequently is required to walk; sit, reach with hands and arms, and stoop, kneel. The employee is occasionally required to sit for long period of times.  

#LI-DS1