Manager, Buying

Stuart Weitzman is a leading luxury accessories brand that is synonymous with strength in femininity. Defined by an energetic, modern and bold attitude, SW is known for its unique approach to melding fashion, function and fit in every silhouette. The brand’s focus on creating timeless, effortless shoes and handbags that are engineered to empower women with both confidence and comfort has resonated around the world, as SW is now available in all corners of the globe through an array of websites, boutiques and retail partners.

Stuart Weitzman is part of the Tapestry portfolio - a global house of brands powered by optimism, innovation and inclusivity.

POSITION SUMMARY

Buying Manager develops and deploys the assortment and product investment strategy to support Stuart Weitzman Business in Greater China, for Retail, Outlet , On-line. This position will partner closely with Retail and EC operation, Marketing, VM, etc. to establish and deliver against financial targets for business growth.

Buying Manager will also partner with Global Merchandising and Buying team to ensure alignment on global product strategies and business target, and to make GC Business Needs are met. It will also covering whole sale needs and buying process.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITEIS/ ACCOUNTABLITIES

• Create Merchandising Strategies that drive business based on store tiers & client profiles at Stuart Weitzman Stores in Greater China. Develop and refine a strategic view customer segments and behaviors, in order to better position brand and products in GC. Drive and communicate merchandising strategies and business opportunities, to Global and with local cross function team;
• Build strong relationships with Retail & EC Team to understand, influence and drive business objectives;
• Identify category and product opportunities to drive business in the market. Build strong relationships with Global Merchandising to facilitate ongoing communication of market product needs and opportunities to inform global product strategy & design;
• Lead product strategy and plan for the election and buy for GC DTC channels;
• Work closely with planning team to develop seasonal OTB for driving category growth;
• Own in-season ST% targe. Develop action plans to ensure business achievement and ST% through product analysis and insights;
• Conduct regular hindsight to develop learning and insights for planning future season business;
• Conduct regular market, competitors and trend research to prepare the seasonal product brief to global;
• Manage product pricing and to stay competitive in the market and achieve the margin target;
• Manage product launch plan with cross functional cooperation. Partner with Marketing team to ensure communication of key launches and big ideas;
• Work closely with training team to pass on the product story. Features and benefits to sales team;
• Responsible for seasonal order placement and sell-in process to whole sale accounts;
• Own product master data, and product life cycle management;
• Ad hoc projects
• Managing buying team. Driving team professional excellence, and talent development.

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE

Educational Background:

• Bachelor’s degree with over 8 years of experience in a merchandising or buying role, with solid international experience for GC or China market;
• Excellent market sensibility and passion on product. Luxury brand or accessories experience a plus;
• Great business acumen. Attention to detail, and ability to translate insights into action plans;
• Over 3 years of supervisory experience.

Professional Knowledge:

• Highly organized & proactive with strong ownership & passion for the brand;
• Ability to take initiative, ownership and accountability for business;
• Creative & strategic thinker with a strong understanding of business strategies;
• Team-oriented & collaborative with the ability to manage cross-functional relationships across multiple levels & influence business decisions with internal & external partners;
• Excellent communication, presentation and interpersonal skills;
• Excellent product sensibility and conceptual ability;
• With leadership skills to motivate and develop team members.

Our COMPETENCIES for All Employees

• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Perseverance: Pursues everything with energy, drive, and a need to finish; seldom gives up before finishing, especially in the face of resistance or setbacks.
• 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.

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.
• Building Effective Teams: Blends people into teams when needed; creates strong morale
  and spirit in his/her 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.
• Managerial 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.

Stuart Weitzman 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 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 Stuart Weitzman at www.stuartweitzman.com.