Buyer International Beauty & Expert Skin in Croydon

Join Superdrug Head Office - Make a Real Difference Every Day!

Location: East Croydon Station

Hours: 37.5 | 9.00am - 5.30pm - Hybrid working available depending on role responsibilities with 2 days working from home and 3 days in our stylish, modern and collaborative office.

Salary: Competitive

Why Superdrug?

Passionate about Beauty and Health? Want to be part of an innovative, trend-setting retailer? Our vibrant Head Office is a fantastic environment filled with hundreds of brilliant personalities. We’re a team that puts our customers and our teams at the heart of everything we do. At Superdrug, we aim to be the best in accessible health & beauty, loved by our customers for value, choice, friendly advice, service and fun. Our success comes from our people – they make the difference. We’re all about personality, we have fun, and we work hard to deliver That Superdrug feeling.

Here's the exciting bit… A day includes:

We have an exciting opportunity for an experienced and exceptional Buyer to join our close-knit team based in our fabulous new offices right by East Croydon station as a Buyer for Expert Skincare and International Beauty Skin & Cosmetics, reporting into the Senior Buyer for Skincare. We are looking for a candidate who is passionate, driven and committed to a long-term career in retail. The role has the responsibility of seeking new brand and beauty category opportunities as well as creating and maintaining strong supplier partnerships, which will include identifying emerging trends and exclusive opportunities that will differentiate Superdrug from competitors and position the business as a destination for global beauty. You will lead the product selection, prepare for weekly trade meetings and attend brand meetings. The role will also include project management of our market-leading fixtures, coordinating supplier partners and our internal teams to ensure that education and kit is optimised for range reviews and updates.

A proven background in buying is key to this role, as well as a strong understanding of the market. You will have experience buying brands, with a creative eye and an awareness of current retail trends. Strong commercial acumen and superb Excel skills are key to this role, as well as the ability to work independently, efficiently and with initiative.

Key Responsibilities:

• Develop, implement and deliver category plans including range reviews, promotions, pricing and stock that are consistent with overall commercial strategy and financial objectives.
• Collaborate with the Marketing team to develop and implement marketing promotion plans and strategies that are relevant to category; adhere to legislation and brand guidelines; and clearly and effectively communicate with the customer, driving footfall and profitable sales.
• Review and evaluate the effectiveness of promotions, taking appropriate action where necessary, and sharing best practice with peers and other stakeholders.
• Working in partnership with the Merchandising team, agree merchandising strategy that drives and delivers the right range in the right store; ensuring availability in store; and control of slow-moving stock.
• Identify and implement new product opportunities that are competitively priced, commercially viable and meet customer needs, driving sales and profitability.
• Manage and review pricing, ensuring pricing that is competitive and maximises profitability. Operate within Company pricing strategy.
• Working in conjunction with the Supply Chain team, ensure base sales and promotional forecasts are adhered to, whilst maintaining in-store availability to meet the customers' needs.
• Develop effective internal working relationships with cross-functional team members to support and enhance category objectives and performance.
• Develop, build and maintain effective external relationships to enhance the Superdrug proposition and meet customer needs.
• Adopt appropriate negotiation strategies to attain the best terms for the category and the business.
• Category expert – utilise and continually develop knowledge in category products, competitors and market activity to deliver increased category performance objectives.

What you’ll need to succeed:

• Minimum 3 years’ experience as a buyer in a retail environment.
• Strong analytical and numerical skills.
• Very strong commercial awareness, problem-solving skills and proactivity.
• Proven negotiation skills.
• Decisive and able to work in a fast-paced environment.
• Strong communication, team working and organisational skills.
• Ability to prioritise and delegate while managing deadlines.
• Practice excellent time management skills and ability to cope under pressure and display resilience.
• Positive can-do attitude and growth mindset.

Generates detailed customer-focused initiatives, in line with the Commercial strategy and supports with execution. Listens to the customer and implements new ideas and ways of working which are designed to improve service considering both Online and Offline. Ensures the team prioritises actions which delight the customer/team member.

Customer Focus: Be the voice of customers and orchestrate the organisation to live the brand purpose and inspire a customer-first culture to build customer love in every touchpoint of our online and offline platform. Establishes strong relationships at all levels. Can manage tough/complex messages with all stakeholders. Role model collaboration to the team to exceed goals. Positive attitude towards feedback, uses this to generate initiatives to meet/exceed expectations, and shares feedback in a meaningful way. Effectively manages their team by playing to strengths and proactively addressing its opportunities. Ensuring everyone’s wellbeing & diversity is considered and celebrated. Feels empowered to challenge across different career bands and roles. Supporting other team members in shaping their work to do so.

Proactively keeps up to date with market and consumer trends in their specialism and feeds this into department strategy. Uses data and insights to challenge the status quo to keep us ahead of the competition. Uses data to inform and generate new ideas and make decisions to improve on future plans.

Tech & AI: Helping your team understand when to use AI, when to rely on human judgment, and how to combine both. Rethinking how work gets done - Actively shifting work from repetitive tasks to higher-value activities as AI takes on routine work. Role modelling behaviours to encourage confidence with AI. Actively developing your ability to use AI effectively and think critically about outputs. Strengthen Human Touch - Keeping the human element strong: Balancing AI efficiency with human coaching, empathy, and team cohesion.

Here's what's in it for you:

• 33 days holiday rising to 38 days with length of service (inclusive of bank holidays).
• 2 staff discount codes for yourself and a family member or friend.
• 30% discount on Superdrug Own Brand Products both in store and online.
• Hybrid working patterns available depending on role responsibilities.
• Company pension matching and bonus.
• We offer Stream - a money management app that gives you access to a percentage of your pay as you earn it.
• Being part of more! We are part of a group who work closely with Savers, The Perfume Shop and Three UK.
• We are part of A.S. Watson Group, the world's largest international health and beauty retailer with over 15,700 stores in 25 markets!
• Unrivalled Learning and Development programmes.
• Enhanced maternity/shared parental/adoption leave, company sick pay and pregnancy loss and support.

Come and be part of something special!