Assistant Buyer

Since its launch in 1993 with a collection of six essential handbags, Kate Spade New York has always been colorful, bold, and optimistic. Today, it is a global lifestyle brand that designs extraordinary things for the everyday, delivering seasonal collections of handbags, ready-to-wear, jewelry, footwear, home décor, and more. Known for its rich heritage and unique brand DNA, Kate Spade New York offers a distinctive point of view and celebrates communities of women around the globe who live their perfectly imperfect lifestyles.
Kate Spade New York is part of the Tapestry portfolio - a global house of brands committed to stretching what's possible.
A member of the Tapestry family, we are part of a global house of brands that has unwavering optimism and is committed to being innovative and wholly inclusive. Visit Our People page to learn more about Tapestry's commitment to equity, inclusion, and diversity.
Job Title: Assistant Buyer for Outlet Small Leather Goods (NA)
Primary Purpose: Assist brick & mortar buying team in building and executing a unique product strategy that meets and/or exceeds financial goals
The successful individual will leverage their proficiency in buying to...

• Run weekly selling reports to recap and analyze business, making recommendations for driving improved performance and identifying opportunities
• Assist buyer in analyzing business on a weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual basis
• Shop the marketplace to identify product opportunities, pricing strategies, trends, and offerings
• Assist during market with product selection and assortment
• Manage purchase order entry and maintenance: this includes writing POs, changes and cancellations
• Ensure all markdowns and weekly in-store promotions are entered and set up properly in system
• Liaise with production team to ensure timely delivery of merchandise
• Gather and communicate store feedback post floorset
• Update item level master markdown files based on business updates and needs
• Accurately reconcile receipts with strong attention to detail and communicate any issues that arise
• Work with visual team to ensure that all products are properly on sales floor for optimization
• Support buyer with visual recaps, boards and line lists along with sample coordination
• Solicit feedback from field teams around customer needs and call outs
• Manage a core replenishment model in partnership with buyer. React accordingly to optimize inventory levels
• Participate in meetings

The accomplished individual will possess...

• Bachelor's degree preferred
• 1-2 years' experience as a merchandise assistant, assistant buyer and/or planning preferred
• High level of proficiency in retail math and excel preferred

An outstanding professional will have...

• Ability to multitask and focus in a fast-paced environment
• Experience in working analytically
• Ability to build strong working relationships with cross functional teams
• Strong presentation, listening, verbal and written communication skills
• Demonstrated strong organizational skills
• Sense of urgency and strong attention to detail

Our Competencies for All Employees

• Courage: Doesn't hold back anything that needs to be said; provides current, direct, complete, and "actionable" positive and corrective feedback to others; lets people know where they stand; faces up to people problems on any person or situation (not including direct reports) quickly and directly; is not afraid to take negative action when necessary.
• Creativity: Comes up with a lot of new and unique ideas; easily makes connections among previously unrelated notions; tends to be seen as original and value-added in brainstorming settings.
• Customer Focus: Is dedicated to meeting the expectations and requirements of internal and external customers; gets first-hand customer information and uses it for improvements in products and services; acts with customers in mind; establishes and maintains effective relationships with customers and gains their trust and respect.
• Dealing with Ambiguity: Can effectively cope with change; can shift gears comfortably; can decide and act without having the total picture; isn't upset when things are up in the air; doesn't have to finish things before moving on; can comfortably handle risk and uncertainty.
• Drive for Results: Can be counted on to exceed goals successfully; is constantly and consistently one of the top performers; very bottom-line oriented; steadfastly pushes self and others for results.
• Interpersonal Savvy: Relates well to all kinds of people, up, down, and sideways, inside and outside the organization; builds appropriate rapport; builds constructive and effective relationships; uses diplomacy and tact; can diffuse even high-tension situations comfortably.
• Learning on the Fly: Learns quickly when facing new problems; a relentless and versatile learner; open to change; analyzes both successes and failures for clues to improvement; experiments and will try anything to find solutions; enjoys the challenge of unfamiliar tasks; quickly grasps the essence and the underlying structure of anything.

Our Competencies for All People Managers

• Strategic Agility: Sees ahead clearly; can anticipate future consequences and trends accurately; has broad knowledge and perspective; is future oriented; can articulately paint credible pictures and visions of possibilities and likelihoods; can create competitive and breakthrough strategies and plans.
• Developing Direct Reports and Others: Provides challenging and stretching tasks and assignments; holds frequent development discussions; is aware of each person's career goals; constructs compelling development plans and executes them; pushes people to accept developmental moves; will take on those who need help and further development; cooperates with the developmental system in the organization; is a people builder.
• Building Effective Teams: Blends people into teams when needed; creates strong morale and spirit in their team; shares wins and successes; fosters open dialogue; lets people finish and be responsible for their work; defines success in terms of the whole team; creates a feeling of belonging in the team.

Kate Spade is an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer and we pride ourselves on hiring and developing the best people. All employment decisions (including recruitment, hiring, promotion, compensation, transfer, training, discipline and termination) are based on the applicant's or employee's qualifications as they relate to the requirements of the position under the consideration. These decisions are made without regard to age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic characteristics, race, color, creed, religion, ethnicity, national origin, alienage, citizenship, disability, marital status, military status, pregnancy, or any other legally-recognized protected basis prohibited by applicable law. Visit Kate Spade at www.katespade.com .