Reports to: Chief Procurement Officer

Our client, Kenya’s largest furniture retailer with a prominent presence in three major cities; Nairobi, Mombasa, and Eldoret, is looking for a Category Buyer - Home Décor to drive the sourcing, procurement, and category management for its home décor products

Job Purpose

The Category Buyer – Home Décor will be responsible for recommending, sourcing, negotiating and purchasing home décor merchandise in a cost efficient and timely manner

Key Responsibilities:

Home Decor Category Buying

• Issue LPO’s, communicate with supplier and the management with regular updates


• Provide analysis to support merchandising strategies for the home decor category.


• Ensure new stocks are displayed in the showroom 1 week after they are received at the warehouse.


• Coordinate with other category buyers to understand the theme of the season.


• When required, assist in carrying out regular stock takes for home décor category.


• Assists in the bi-monthly forecasting of sales and inventory management ensuring no over or undestocking.


• Support the development and execution of aged inventory exit strategies.


• Follow up to ensure the sales budget, GP margins for the home decor category in the showrooms are being met.


• Prepare sale summaries reports within given timelines.


• Convey right merchandising patterns to the sales team.


• Offer suggestions for improved product mix to generate / improve sales.

Merchandising:

• Monitor and conduct regular market surveys to understand current & latest industry trends, evaluate competition and attend major markets as feasible and necessary.


• Provides information for the development of the merchandise strategy and from time to time be requested to assist in product selection.


• Lead the creative interiors efforts on developing overall design concepts and design presentation strategies.


• Ensuring uniformity of displays across multiple store locations & monitor the overall store presentation to ensure it is always of the highest standards.


• Merchandise and take corrective measures whenever required - physical changes and educating the supervisor / staff on the retail floor.


• Display merchandise for better visual appeal and explaining the utility.


• Merchandise showrooms on change or new product introductions.

Pricing and Promotion:

• Assists in providing information for the timely response to store visit notes.


• Provides feedback to the marketing team for stock on promotional items and ensures the communication of in-stock issues to stores.


• Regular visits to the showroom to check on product display.


• Changing display to promote new product launches or to reflect festive or seasonal themes.


• Communicate with marketing team to establish strategies and design concepts for seasonal product launches and displays.


• Work with the Commercial Manager in brand positioning within the showrooms.


• Conduct regular benchmarks to ensure competitive pricing.

   Compliance and reporting:

• Ensure compliance with the laid down processes and policies and applicable legal requirements.


• Prepare periodical reports on category performance as maybe required


• Monitor supplier performance and provide the management with appropriate recommendations.

EDUCATION QUALIFICATION, EXPERIENCE, SKILLS, AND TRAITS

• Bachelor’s degree in, procurement, interior design, visual merchandising, fashion merchandising, exhibition design, visual communications or related field required; coursework in computer-aided design (CAD) highly preferred.


• Interior design certification highly preferred.


• At least 6 - 7years of related experience required.


• Basic understanding of building codes and inspection regulations related to interiors.


• Ability to use computer-aided design (CAD) software.


• 4-5 years international experience/ working with international retailer is desired.


• Detail-oriented with excellent problem-solving and organizational skills.


• Ability to apply a sense of style to create aesthetically pleasing interiors.


• Strong visual design skills including proportion and aesthetics.


• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.


• Proficient in Microsoft Office Suite or related software.


• Ability to lead, mentor and train the visual merchandising team.


• Experience in doing analysis reports.

All applicants are advised to adhere to the application guidelines for consideration. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

NB: Flexi Personnel does not charge candidates for job placement.