Assistant Buyer - Beauty

Summary

The Assistant Buyer - Beauty supports merchandising and inventory strategies for the beauty category, helping to drive sales, margin, and customer satisfaction. This role partners with planners, vendors, and regional merchandisers to execute assortment, pricing, and promotional strategies. The Assistant Buyer contributes to negotiations, market preparation, and in-season inventory decisions to optimize department performance.

Responsibilities

• Develop an understanding of customer needs, market trends, and competitors in the category
• Establish and support the seasonal department merchandise strategy
• Partner with assistant buy planner on market preparation and location-level inventory content
• Contribute to vendor negotiations on terms, pricing, exclusive offerings, vendor-funded markdowns, return-to-vendor agreements, drop-ship programs, and co-op
• Serve as a liaison to online and/or stores, communicating the selling agenda and responding to regional merchandisers
• Drive in-season inventory management, including markdowns and exit strategies
• Participate in business reviews to assess how actions impact department results

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Merchandising or equivalent work experience
• Experience in retail merchandising, planning, or analysis required
• Experience supporting a high sales volume, high-SKU, seasonal category preferred
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications
• Strong written and verbal communication and interpersonal skills
• Demonstrated understanding of retail and service environments