Buyer - New Categories

Role overview:

Buyer - New Categories
London
Currys London Campus at Waterloo
12 month Fixed Term Contract / Secondment
Full Time
Grade 4

At Currys we’re united by one passion: to help everyone enjoy amazing technology. As the UK’s best-known retailer of tech, we’re proud of the service our customers receive – and it’s all down to our team of 25,000 caring and committed colleagues. Working as one team, we learn and grow together, celebrating the big and small moments that make every day amazing.

We are looking for an innovative, ambitious Buyer with a history of delivering results and a flare of entrepreneurial spirit to join the dynamic ‘New & Growth Categories’ super squad. You’ll be at the centre of all things new in Currys bringing emerging markets to life for customers across our market leading omnichannel platform.

This is a new team with big expectations – it’s about creating new value and growth for Currys through inspiring and educating customers about the latest and greatest on trend new tech, embedding these new categories into our business and finding the next big thing!

You will work hand in hand with the New Category Senior Buyer to identify new opportunities which you will drive through each touchpoint of the business to bring to market across our stores and website.

Role overview:

As part of this role, you’ll be responsible for:

• Managing all category supplier relationships in line with our overall commercial supplier strategy and the category strategy
• Harness credible relationships with our suppliers and develop a sourcing strategy to both bring customers the best ranges, supported with availability but also to minimise our NET cost of goods
• Work with suppliers to develop a strong understanding of the future technology roadmap, enabling the category to adequately plan ahead for customer trends and demand
• Negotiating product ranges – cost pricing, additional terms, exclusivity, distribution, stock availability
• Negotiating additional fixed and variable financial terms related to ranging, activity and performance
• Negotiating promotional funding support to drive sales while maintaining margin in line with financial objectives
• Securing adequate product and promotional differentiation from competitors to support market share growth objectives. Pricing the product range in line with agreed category CPI targets
• Working with the returns team to ensure adequate supplier returns agreements are in place contractually
• Working with merchandising to ensure that we are forecasting at the right level to maximise sales and stock turn.
• Uses customer and market data provided by the go to market team to ensure correct ranges and promotional plans are in place to drive customers for life

You will need:

• Buying experience working within a FMCG or Hard Goods fast paced retailer
• Negotiation skills and ability to manage all supplier partnerships
• Good judgment and strong decision-making skills to enable the right actions for the category
• Excellent numerical and analytical skills to review data and provide recommendations/actions plans to drive sales, profit and cash
• Good planning, organisational and multitasking skills
• Excellent inter-personal and communication skills, capable of presenting to senior stakeholders as well as working cross functionally to achieve the desired results
• Customer champion with excellent commercial awareness and understanding of customer needs
• Good working knowledge of SharePoint, Teams, Excel, Word and PowerPoint as well as MS Office workflow tools
• Experience of working to deadlines and managing critical paths
• Educated to degree standard or equivalent in relevant field

We know our people are the secret to our success. That's why we're always looking for ways to reward great work. You'll find a host of benefits designed to work for you, including:

• Holiday benefits - 25 days of annual leave (plus bank holiday entitlement)
• Private medical insurance
• Life Assurance
• Competitive pension scheme
• Access to discretionary bonus
• Hybrid working; our primary Currys Campus is at Waterloo (WeWork)

Why join us:

Join our team and we'll be with you every step of the way, helping you develop the career you want with new opportunities, on-going training and skills for life.

Not only can you shape your own future, but you can help take charge of ours too. As the biggest recycler and repairer of tech in the UK, we’re in a position to make a real impact on people and the planet.

Every voice has a space at our table and we're committed to making inclusion and diversity part of everything we do, including how we strengthen our workforce. We want to make sure you have a fair opportunity to show us your talents during our application process, so if you need any additional assistance with your application please email [email protected] and we'll do our best to help.