Assistant Buyer

As an Assistant Buyer at Kotn, you will support the merchandising team by ensuring the seamless execution of assortment planning, purchase order management, and sales reporting. This role requires strong attention to detail, organizational skills, and an eagerness to grow analytical abilities while managing multiple priorities with increasing independence.

Reporting to the Buyer, you will collaborate with cross-functional partners across Supply Chain, Design, Marketing, and Retail to ensure Kotn’s product assortment is accurately tracked, delivered on time, and aligned with business needs. This role is ideal for someone who is extremely passionate about product and analysis, thrives in a fast-paced, entrepreneurial environment, and is motivated by contributing to Kotn’s commercial goals.

What you’ll be working on:
**Sales Reporting, Analytics & Market Research (45%)**
- Own the preparation of weekly and monthly sales reporting, ensuring accuracy and completeness, and provide insights on SKU productivity, sell-through, and margin performance.
- Partner with the Buyer to analyze SKU productivity, sell-through, and margin performance, surfacing insights that guide business decisions.
- Monitor sell-through metrics, bestsellers, and underperformers weekly to identify risks and opportunities to drive sales.
- Share actionable recommendations to support in-season adjustments, such as reorders, promotional timing, or replenishment shifts.
- Conduct regular market and competitor analysis (assortment, pricing, promotions) to contextualize internal performance and support decision-making.

**Assortment Execution & PO Management (30%)**
- Contribute to seasonal assortment builds by ensuring accuracy across tools and surfacing insights on product performance and opportunities.
- Create, track, and support purchase orders with attention to detail and timeliness, maintaining accuracy with PO ex-factory dates to ensure alignment with production and delivery timelines.
- Collaborate with Supply Chain partners to monitor delivery timelines, flag risks, and recommend solutions to minimize impact.
- Maintain product data integrity across all merchandising systems and tools.
- Support PO execution in system in partnership with Planning, ensuring accuracy while helping streamline processes as needed.

**Launch Support & Delivery Tracking (15%)**
- Collaborate cross-functionally with Marketing, Retail, and Supply Chain teams to ensure product and delivery information is aligned, accurate, and supports seamless launch execution.
- Support execution of seasonal launches, promotional activity, and visual merchandising needs.
- Track product deliveries in partnership with Supply Chain, communicate accurate ETAs, and proactively flag risks or delays to ensure alignment with launch timelines.
- Provide input on seasonal recaps and presentations to share results and learnings with cross-functional teams.

**Operational & Administrative Support (10%)**
- Prepare merchandising decks, reports, and seasonal recaps for the Buyer and leadership.
- Maintain merchandising trackers, tools, and documents with accuracy and consistency.
- Support ad hoc projects that improve team efficiency and accuracy

**Qualifications**:

- Bachelor’s degree in business, merchandising, or a related field.
- 2-4 years of merchandising, buying, or planning experience in an apparel or consumer brand, with exposure to assortment building, sales analysis, or fast-growth retail environments.
- Strong numerical skills and proficiency in Excel/Google Sheets and retail math.
- Demonstrated ability to handle detailed tasks and an eagerness to grow analytical skills into actionable insights.
- Excellent organizational and time-management skills with the ability to handle multiple priorities.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills.
- Comfortable working collaboratively in a cross-functional environment.
- Extremely passionate about product, analysis, and driving commercial goals.
- Passion for retail, sustainability, and customer-centric product development.

The Assistant Buyer role is ideal for someone passionate about product and analysis, eager to turn data into insights that drive commercial results. It offers the opportunity to grow analytical skills while supporting the Buyer in executing Kotn’s merchandising goals within a dynamic, fast-paced environment.