Buyer - Fiction Books
We are looking for someone to drive sales and profitability across our Fiction category. Have you got the commercial sense to send sales soaring?
Job Description
We have an exciting opportunity for an experienced Buyer to join our talented Books team based in our Travel Head Office in Central London. The Fiction category is a massive part of our Books offering, with continued growth year on year.
Buying forms the backbone of our business and is incredibly fast-paced. By identifying trends and understanding our on-going success stories, this team ensure what customers want is on our shelves. It takes a flair for relationship building, negotiation and an analytical approach. We look for people who can deliver a variety of strategies to help drive sales and profit and who have an affinity with what we sell.
What you’ll do
The main purpose of this role is to drive sales in the Fiction category, whilst delivering maximum profitability. You will manage monthly buy-ins from publishers. To succeed, you’ll need to inspire your team to deliver your trading goals. You’ll also need to analyse data and spot trends, while building links with suppliers and negotiating great deals. It takes a spark of imagination to come up with tomorrow’s best sellers. With commercial thinking and ingenuity, you’ll create new categories, ranges, organise promotional cycles by working closely with suppliers and internal teams, and generate new ideas to continue to grow the categories.
What’s in it for you
You’ll be at of the hub of an incredibly fast-moving function and you’ll be trusted to make decisions that benefit the business. It’s a serious responsibility – which will seriously motivate you. You’ll thrive on the freedom and the chance to use your skills and will be supported with plenty of training and development opportunities. What’s more, you can expect some excellent rewards, including an achievable annual bonus, 25 days’ holiday (and the option to buy more), private medical insurance and a car allowance. Plus, a competitive pension, the perks of your birthday off and an early finish on Fridays, and lots more! Our London Head Office is only a five minute walk from Holborn tube and close to lots of shops, bars and restaurants.
Who we’re looking for
Buying moves very fast – so you need to thrive on variety and be imaginative about the products we could sell in the future! You will be passionate about the Books industry and with your knowledge and experience as a Retail Buyer you’ll help us to lead the market. We’re looking for someone who is creative, but also commercial, with a head for figures, as this area’s data-driven. Knowledge of Profit & Loss and supplier and internal stakeholder management is essential. If you’re analytical, calm and articulate, you could be the ideal fit.
About us
You may know we operate on the high street, in rail and bus stations, airports, hospitals, universities and workplaces. But did you know we’ve been around since 1792 and have over 14,000 employees across the globe and have consistently outperformed other major retailers over the past ten years. We continue to grow by putting our customers first and have a strong culture of innovation and entrepreneurialism. At WHSmith we love progressing our people, so there are No Limits to where your career can go!
To apply, please send your cover letter and cv to Scott.Loudon@whsmith.co.uk