ROLE OVERVIEW:

Responsible to: Buyer

Department: Buying (Footwear, Apparel, Replica or Accessories tbc)

Location: Hollinsbrook Way, Pilsworth, Bury, Lancs BL9 8RR

JD is a sports fashion, multichannel retailer of branded sports and casual wear, combining globally recognised brands such as Nike, Adidas, Puma and The North Face, with strong own label brands such as Pink Soda and Supply  & Demand to provide an elevated customer experience.  JD is an industry leading retail business with over 770 stores in over 19 territories across the globe.

Our Buying team sits at the heart of everything we do.  As a branded and own brand business we pride ourselves on having the latest and most exclusive products.  They work closely with the merchandising, design team and the brands themselves plan and make decisions on the seasonal ranges for our stores and online.  They are at the cutting edge of fashion and are well versed on fashion trends both current and upcoming.

It’s an extremely fast paced, exciting environment where decision making and negotiation skills are key to achieving success.  Put simply the right product is key for us as a business and the Buying function is at the forefront of this.

The purpose of this job is to provide administration support for the JD buying team.  The successful candidate will have a passion for our product with a great knowledge of current sportwear and high street fashion trends.

KEY DUTIES/RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Assist the Assistant Buyer/Buyer with the day to day running of the range and samples.
• Assist the Assistant Buyer with any order amendments and post trade actions.
• Assist the Assistant Buyer with compiling weekly Competitor Shopping Reports to highlight competitor activity, missed opportunities & promotional activity, utilising websites, store visits and magazines to complete the report.
• Create and maintain all product sheets, ensuring they are completed with correct information and most up to date images.
• Complete weekly trade admin; Compile Best and Worst documents, pull relevant samples with completed product tags and ensure samples are cleared away after the meeting.
• Chase suppliers for press samples and pass to marketing.
• Monitor web lines to make sure intake images are correct and appearing on the websites in a timely manner.
• Support the Assistant Buyer with compiling the relevant information needed for sign-off presentations (i.e. Top 20, Top 50 documents).
• Follow various social media channels to ensure we are aware of current and emerging trends within sportswear fashion.
• Provide sell-through information to brands on a weekly basis
• Run rankings for Top 20 and Top 50 lines from last week’s trade
• Use WSN to predict trends and produce trend reports by month
• Attend appointments when specified by Buyer

CORE COMPETENCIES:

• Knowledge of our store base and website
• Desire to learn and a passion for our product
• Social media awareness and understanding of the relevance to category
• Proactive and forward-thinking in suggesting improvements
• Confidence in their knowledge of the market and ability to challenge and influence across all levels

SKILLS/EXPERIENCE/KNOWLEDGE NEEDED:

• Retail experience with us or for a similar retail environment (sports or fashion) is preferred as we are looking for individuals who are sports trend aware and love our product!
• An awareness of celebrity trends within sportswear fashion.
• As this role is admin based, knowledge of Microsoft office software is essential
• Good organisational skills