What are the responsibilities and job description for the Interim Buyer/Merch Planner position at EMERGING BLUE?
Job Description
Interim Buyer/Merch Planner
Our Client is seeking an experienced merchandising professional to join their team on a temporary basis as an Interim Buyer. This role will support merchandise across retail stores, ecommerce, and pop-up locations, with a focus on apparel, accessories, gifts, licensed merchandise, and complementary specialty products.
The ideal candidate is highly organized, analytical, and hands-on, with the ability to quickly assess priorities, manage inventory and purchasing activity, and work effectively with vendors and cross-functional teams.
Key Responsibilities
Interim / Temporary Assignment
Interim Buyer/Merch Planner
Our Client is seeking an experienced merchandising professional to join their team on a temporary basis as an Interim Buyer. This role will support merchandise across retail stores, ecommerce, and pop-up locations, with a focus on apparel, accessories, gifts, licensed merchandise, and complementary specialty products.
The ideal candidate is highly organized, analytical, and hands-on, with the ability to quickly assess priorities, manage inventory and purchasing activity, and work effectively with vendors and cross-functional teams.
Key Responsibilities
- Manage inventory and replenishment across multiple retail channels.
- Review sales and inventory levels to identify replenishment needs, shortages, and slow-moving merchandise.
- Monitor open purchase orders, commitments, and delivery schedules.
- Partner with Finance and Operations to align receipts with open-to-buy, business needs, and available capacity.
- Analyze merchandise performance by product, price point, location, and sales channel.
- Recommend replenishment, inventory transfers, order adjustments, and markdowns to improve sales and inventory productivity.
- Manage vendor follow-up related to product development, samples, submissions, orders, and deliveries.
- Resolve order and delivery discrepancies and communicate potential risks or issues.
- Partner with Ecommerce, Marketing, Operations, and other internal teams to support product launches, events, and ongoing business needs.
- Maintain clear priorities and strong follow-through while managing multiple projects and deadlines.
- Experience in retail buying, merchandising, or merchandise planning, with direct responsibility for inventory, replenishment, and vendor management.
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with advanced Excel proficiency.
- Experience with NetSuite or a comparable ERP/retail merchandising system.
- Familiarity with Shopify is a plus.
- Experience with apparel, accessories, gifts, licensed merchandise, or specialty retail categories preferred.
- Ability to quickly learn systems and processes and become productive in a fast-paced environment.
- Strong organizational skills and attention to detail.
- Excellent communication and follow-through skills.
- Ability to work collaboratively within a small, cross-functional team.
Interim / Temporary Assignment