Job Description
What’s in it for you Being a part of M&S is exactly that – playing your part to bring the magic of M&S to our customers every day. We’re an inclusive, dynamic, exciting, and ever evolving business built on doing the right thing and bringing exceptional quality, value, service to every customer, whenever, wherever and however they want to shop with us.Here are some of the benefits we offer that make working for M&S just that little bit more special… After completing your probationary period, you’ll receive 20% colleague discount across all M&S products and many of our third-party brands for you and a member of your household. Competitive holiday entitlement with the potential to buy extra holiday days! Discretionary bonus schemes awarded based on how you achieve your personal objectives and our performance as a business. A generous Defined Contribution Pension Scheme and Life Assurance. A dedicated welcome to our teams with a tailored induction and a wide range of training programmes to develop your skills. Amazing perks and discounts via our M&S Choices portal to maximise your financial and personal wellbeing. Industry-leading parental, adoption and neonatal policies, providing support and flexibility for your family. Access to a fantastic range of wellbeing support for all colleagues including access to our 24/7 Virtual GP and PAM Assist to support you and your family. A charity volunteer day to support a charity or cause you're passionate about through a dedicated day away from work. What you'll doAs an International Assistant Assortment Buyer your role is key to support the team with a strong category and customer focus. Accurately selecting product ranges to the critical path that delivers to the department strategy and key margin and profit KPI’s. Reviewing sales, trade performance and competitor activity in-seasonWorking collaboratively as a team and with key stakeholders in online, trading and logistics teams to ensure the optimal ranges deliver sustainable sales & profit growth in our European markets. Support in the delivery of key international goals & objectives for your product areas across EU Online platforms . planned launch, sales, margin and operating profit to support growth targets. Collaborate with online teams to create a trading and buying plan, outlining key initiatives required to deliver the product strategy and financial targets each season Use relevant data and insight to create financial and strategic building blocks for futures seasons, under the guidance of a Buyer. Supporting the Buyer with running the critical path with a strong understanding E2E from order placement to port and hand-off to supply chain. Support the Buyer with defining and building a customer orientated, commercially relevant product strategy for each season that showcases quality, value and style. Selecting the most commercial ranges that embodies the best of M&S and meets the needs of the European markets. Demonstrate a strong commercial acumen, supporting with seasonal lessons learnt by using current trend data and understanding the EU markets and competitor clothing brands. Ownership of your own ranges and have clear plans to optimise opportunities In season. Review and understand sales and trade performance each week. Contribute to commercial trade response decisions . stock management, promotions, markdowns, marketing and competitor activities Take accountability to identify risk and opportunity within your business area using all data available Work across teams to share and seek new ways of working, embedding in a consistent trade routine. Collaborate with marketing, teams to ensure fantastic execution of our product proposition, key campaigns/planned promotions each season and our customer in Europe sees the best of the M&S brand Who you are Strong numerical, analytical, interpretive and creative problem solving skills. Very good understanding and proven experience of running a critical path with an affinity for product and a strong background in buying / selecting. Strong communication, influencing, and organisational skills with the confidence to present in trade meetings to peers and leadership teams. Actively demonstrating curiosity and initiative, have enthusiastic attention to detail and an ability to work in a fast-paced dynamic environment. Proactive, positive approach and ability to flourish working in a team with the ability to initiate and build strong relationships with key stakeholders. Tech savvy with strong Excel and PowerPoint skills. Able to fully utilise relevant IT Buying, planning and reporting systems . Power BI, Digital range builder, Edited and IBT Everyone’s welcome We are ambitious about the future of retail. We’re disrupting, innovating and leading the industry into a more conscientious, inspiring digital era. We’re transforming how we work together and offering our most exciting opportunities yet. Marks & Spencer strives to be an inclusive organisation, trusted and admired by our colleagues, customers and suppliers. Join us and make change happen.We are committed to building diverse and representative teams, where everyone can bring their whole selves to work and be at their best. We support each other and work together to win together.If you feel you'd benefit from any support or reasonable adjustments during any stage of the recruitment process, please don’t hesitate to let us know when completing your application. This information will be picked up by our team, so we can try and put steps in place to help you be at your best through this process. #LI-CA1 #LI-Hybrid