Buyer: Liquor - Takealot

takealot.com, a leading South African online retailer, is looking for a highly talented Buyer (Liquor) to join our team in Cape Town.

We're a young, dynamic, hyper-growth company looking for smart, creative, hard-working people with integrity to join us. We offer a market related, Total Remuneration Package which allows full flexibility according to your needs, a great work environment and a promise that you won't be bored as long as you are prepared for a challenge and want to build something great!

The position reports to the Division Manager.

Your responsibilities will include:

• Develop a comprehensive strategy/plan to drive growth across the department in sales, brands, suppliers and new product listings
• Source and prioritize new brands and suppliers according to this growth plan and in line with market trends and consumer demand
• Deliver against key financial and service level performance indicators within the department (sales, margin, listings availability, stock cover etc.)
• Manage and develop supplier relationships, negotiate good prices, improve trading terms and manage suppliers according to strict SLAs
• Develop a promotional program, source great deals and manage site merchandising for the department
• Support the operations team in delivering a world-class customer experience – monitor department returns, support the customer service team on product queries and resolve any customer complaints
• Manage stock and availability (including replenishment orders, and stock cover)
• Supporting performance improvement initiatives for the Retail team as a whole
• Expand School books offering

Qualifications and experience:

• Bachelor's degree (Business Science/B. Com/BSc)
• 3 - 5 years buying experience in retail, commerce or e-commerce
• Proven experience in the liquor industry

Skills required:

• Strong analytical ability, uses data to inform decisions, identify the root cause and resolve problems
• Strong willingness to learn
• Proven track record of negotiation and stakeholder management
• Entrepreneurial/commercial mindset Solutions-oriented, can-do attitude; self-motivated Ability to manage self and an assistant according to clear prioritization and structured planning
• Ability to build lasting supplier relationships and manage according to SLAs (existing industry networks a significant plus)
• Understanding of the key business drivers within online retail

The Environment:

• takealot.com employees are entrepreneurial and dynamic, smart, customer-centric, fun and have the shared ambition of takealot.com being the leading e-commerce company in Africa.
• We have fun, work hard, take ownership, work in teams to create solutions, and are always open to direct feedback/new ideas on where we can improve.
• We are short on ego and high on output.
• We are doers and not only thinkers, its all in the execution after all.
• We love what we do and what we are creating.