Merchant/Buyer Dry Goods Starting at $50K pending experience

Merchant Dry Goods

Your Future Role:

This position leads Moana Nursery’s retail dry goods (soils, amendments, tools, irrigation, seeds, bulb and more) departments. Your mission is all about planning, procuring, pricing, marketing and stocking high quality, retail-ready merchandise to enhance our customers’ gardening experience. You are an expert when it comes to understanding what products our customers desire and how they fit seamlessly into the Moana brand of independent garden centers. You are ready and willing to work with our purchasing, marketing, and retail operations teams to ensure we have the correct inventory of products to maximize sales without sacrificing efficiency. Managing vendors and evaluating the performance of your categories by things such as sales volume, profitability, promotional results, and GMROI is critical to your success. Ultimately, this position is responsible for having the right products, at the right price, at the right time, with right level of expertise that ensures our customers will succeed!

Principal Responsibilities & Accountabilities:

• Upholds Moana Nursery's strict safety policies
• Customer Interaction/Service/Listening
• Develops Purchasing Strategy, Forecasting & Planning with Managers & Other Buyers
• Selects products according to cost and sets prices to achieve objectives (margins, units sold, etc.)
• Develops budget and analyzes performance daily- Actual Results Comparison and Lessons Learned
• Product Selection; Adding and Deleting Inventory Items
• Inventory- Manages inventory selection, quantity, accuracy and quality at all locations
• Vendor- Manages vendor relationships
• Develops and executes compelling promotions that help grow the business Department Inventory Levels
• Works with our Marketing team to optimize product appeal, accessibility, and customer awareness
• Identify & Help Liquidate Dead inventory
• Ensures retail point of purchase signage is sufficient and accurate
• Cross Promotions (Market Basket)
• Average Ticket Increases
• Working within the Matrix Organization
• Trains and educates Moana teammates better support customers
• Identifies issues and opportunities that require Moana Nursery to change

Physical Requirements & Activity:

• Must be willing and able to travel between stores and navigate all areas where products are displayed in order to view, assess and modify merchandise in your categories
• Must be able to lift 25 lbs.
• Must be able to work in front of a computer for long periods of time
• Must be able to stand for long periods of time
• Must be willing and able to travel periodically (possibly 1-2 times per year) for tradeshows and other work-related functions

Expertise & Experience Requirements

• Relevant product knowledge and expertise in the pertinent product categories
• Strong understanding of interplay between the pertinent product categories and the retail garden center business
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, and Outlook) - comfortable working with large data sets
• Analytical skill set to forecast and analyze sales, inventory levels, gross margin, and a variety of other performance metrics
• Excellent interpersonal communication skills required to market, educate, train and negotiate
• Previous retail experience

Nice To Have Skills or Experiences

• Plant knowledge and garden center experience
• Experience purchasing or merchandising for a retail store or stores
• Working knowledge of EPICOR Eagle
• Experience selling products on an e-Commerce site
• Ability and desire to be in front of camera (on video) for training, selling & educating

Your Future Work Schedule:

Our merchant team typically works Mon-Fri 8a-5p. Our retail stores are open 7 days a week and we are busiest on the weekend. There will be periods of time that you will be required to work weekends and after hours events. Please make sure you list your availability on the application.

Your Future Salary & Benefits:
The starting rate for this position is $50,000 and increases based on experience, expertise and responsibilities. Other benefits for this role include:

• Paid Time Off
• Paid Holidays
• Profit Sharing
• 401K plus company match
• Health Insurance
• Dental Insurance
• Vision Insurance
• Store Discount
• Training & Educational Opportunities
• Career Advancement

The Ideal Candidate:

The ideal candidate loves caring for hardy, High Desert plants, knows a lot about them and has experience sharing this expertise. She or he loves people and wants to make sure our customers and their fellow teammates succeed. She or he is courteous, with excellent communication skills, proactively plans and pays attention to the details while enjoying some dedicated computer time planning, purchasing and analyzing performance. This individual thrives in a fast-paced environment, can multi-task and understands the negative effect when we do not follow through on what we say we are going to do. The ideal candidate wants to be part of a team that succeeds together while she or he grows individually.

If you are looking for a career and not just a job this position might be right for you. There is plenty of opportunity to grow your career at Moana Nursery.

About Moana Nursery:

Moana Nursery is a vertically integrated, family-owned company specializing in growing, selling, installing and maintaining top quality, High Desert products and services that beautify and enhance our communities. Established in 1967, we are northern Nevada's premier garden center nurseries and landscape services supported by Oregon's best "Hardy Plant" wholesale nursery.

We are recognized both regionally and nationally as an industry leader, community member and a consumer favorite. We are committed to continued education and community involvement. If you want a career not a job and want to grow as a person we might be the right fit for you.

The Application Process:

Apply online. We'll review quickly and get back to you via email or text. If it looks like you are a good fit for this position or any other open position we'll set up an interview quickly. We intend to hire fast, as soon as you are ready!

Equal Opportunity Employer:

Applicants are considered for all positions without regard to race, color religion, sex, national origin age, marital status or the presence of non-job-related medical condition or handicap. In addition, Moana Nursery will provide reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals when appropriate