Buyer - Fashion And Clothing Retail UAE

Job Requisition ID: 175023

Established in the 1930s as a trading business, Al-Futtaim Group today is one of the most diversified and progressive, privately held regional businesses headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Structured into five operating divisions; automotive, financial services, real estate, retail and healthcare; employing more than 35,000 employees across more than 20 countries in the Middle East, Asia and Africa, Al-Futtaim Group partners with over 200 of the worlds most admired and innovative brands. Al-Futtaim Group’s entrepreneurship and relentless customer focus enables the organization to continue to grow and expand; responding to the changing needs of our customers within the societies in which we operate.

By upholding our values of respect, excellence, collaboration and integrity; Al-Futtaim Group continues to enrich the lives and aspirations of our customers each and every day

Overview Of The Role

The purpose of a Buyer is to secure the right products or services at the best value by selecting suppliers, negotiating terms, and ensuring availability to support the organization’s operational and strategic needs.

What you will do: -

Description of Accountability:

• Understand fashion trends, consumer preferences, and seasonal patterns.
• Regular visits to markets to understand the competition and trends
• Analyze past sales, market trends, and customer feedback to guide future range selection
• Identify bestsellers and underperforming lines to optimize range performance.
• Competition price benchmarking to ensure that ranges are
• Plan and select fashion ranges that reflect the brand identity and appeal to the target market.
• Range Build by Store clustering, range, pricepoint
• Work with UK Team to develop ranges relevant to the market considering cultural differences
• Work closely with Merchandiser to select the Range and Qty in line with Historical Performance
• Responsible for managing product visual plans updating in line with cancellations & product changes made by UK teams.
• Create product training for store teams behind new product initiatives
• Weekly Trade Analysis and Product summaries created
• Proactively reviewing future ranges to ensure ensure product is inline with current product trading patterns
• Trading opportunities to drive growth & actively de-risking categories that are down trending
• Monthly Wissi management working closely with the Merchandiser and breaking down OTB opportunities/ risks at product range level.
• Works closely with the Merchandiser to manage inventory levels.
• MD management working closely with the Merchandiser- ensuring MD is viewed from a product perspective to have range cohesion on the floor post Sales.
• Buyer will work closely with the visual merchandisers to ensure in-store displays reflect the product strategy and how the ranges have been built
• Closely working with marketing highlighting key range opportunities to advertise to drive sales
• Buyer will be responsible for online exclusive product selection and working with the Digital team to drive sales in their area of responsibility.
• Will be closely working with the UK team influencing on product requirements to drive commercial success
• Coordinating with Planning team & Logistics for delivery management.
  
  

Required Skills to be successful:

• Strong analytical and product expertise with a strategic commercial mindset, experienced in multi-market retail and knowledgeable of Middle East or Asia markets.
• Confident managing key trading metrics (sales, margin, OTB, stock, markdowns) and proactive in identifying growth opportunities.
• Able to handle Complexity
• Excellent Planning and Organizing Skills
• Attention to Detail
• Highly Numerate
• Product Confident
• Good Communicator
• Collaborative Style
• Optimistic Attitude
  
  

What equips you for the role:

• Bachelor’s degree in business, Fashion Merchandising, Retail Management, or a related field.
• Professional buying/merchandising qualifications (e.g., fashion buying, retail buying)
• Minimum 5 years experience in fashion or apparel buying/merchandising, including at least 2 years operating as a Buyer with full category ownership.
• Excellent communication, negotiation, and interpersonal skills
• Proficiency in MS Office Suite
  
  

About Al-Futtaim Retail

Al-Futtaim Retail has established itself as one of the leaders in Retail across the Middle East, Africa & Asia over the past 30 years. We have developed partnerships with some of the biggest and most respected Brands in the world including IKEA, ACE and Toys R Us in the Middle East and the Inditex Group of Brands (Zara, Mango, Bershka and P&B) across Asia. We are also one of the largest Global partners of Marks and Spencer’s in both regions with over 75 stores offering both fashion & food options.

Most recently we have been responsible for bringing brands to the Middle East for the first time with the exciting launches of Watsons and B&Q and we aim to continue to be agile and adaptive to our markets with new launches and further development. For this to be possible we aim to recruit the best talent from all backgrounds who will continue to challenge and develop our diverse workforce which includes over 100 nationalities across 12 countries. Join us today and make a difference…

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