Barnes & Noble is the world's largest retail bookseller and the leading retailer of content, digital media, and educational products. We operate over 600 Barnes & Noble bookstores in 50 states and one of the web's premier e-commerce sites, bn.com. Our Nook Digital business offers a lineup of popular NOOK tablets and eReaders and an expansive collection of digital reading content through the NOOK store.
We're proud to be an industry leader, consistently recognized for excellence in quality and customer service in our stores and online at bn.com.
As an Associate Buyer – Café you play a critical role in introducing our customers to innovative retail food trends. You will work closely with the Director of Merchandising for Café, the vendor community, and other buyers to provide a robust assortment of retail food for B&N Cafés. You assist in driving sales and profitability through appropriate sourcing, pricing, and distribution of subcategories in café consumables. In this role, you will set up new items and determine item price points in partnership with the Director of Merchandising, Café.
The Field Café Operations team is part of the larger operations support departments which include Store Operations, Store Planning & Design, and Labor Planning & Rota team. This provides potential opportunities to grow and expand skills into other areas of the business.
An employee in this position can expect a starting rate between $62,400 - $64,000 annually, depending on experience, seniority, geographic location, and other factors permitted by law.
What You Do •Forecast sales, identifying key industry trends, and monitoring sell-through of items.
•Responsible for communicating sales information to buying team and collaborating with them to develop assortment and business strategies that drive sales and profitability.
•Communicate with stores and internal teams and concerns, product shortages and new item launches.
•Build and distribute reports to monitor café department sales.
•Monitor and build inventory and waste reports.
•Assist with the set up and planogram of new items.
•Order and organize samples.
•Interest in the food and beverage industry, with a specific lens towards industry trends.
•Basic understanding of sales metrics such as margin, profitability, sell-through, etc.
•Open to tasting varieties of foods and beverages.
•Willingness to learn about forecasting (previous experience is a plus).
•Strong decision-making and math skills.
•Strong communication and presentation skills.
•Comfortability speaking and presenting to senior leadership and external vendors.
•Strong Excel skills.
•This position will be asked to work on-site at the NYC office 1-2 times a week.
Knowledge & Experience • Possess a solid background in forecasting and planning • Proven ability to identify and quantify sales opportunities and market trends as well as translate financial data to make effective recommendations and decisions
• Interest in food and beverage and familiarity with Starbucks
• Strong decision-making and math skills
• Strong communication and presentation skills
• Strong Excel skills
• Bachelor's degree required
• Minimum of 2 years' experience in an Assistant Buyer role or relevant experience in café operations
• Prior food experience preferred
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