Buyer II - JT One Lingerie and Sleepwear

Job Advert Summary

Join Woolworths FBH as a Buyer II – JT One Lingerie and Sleepwear, based in Cape Town. As a leading South African retailer committed to quality, innovation, and transformation, Woolworths offers an exciting opportunity to shape customer-focused and commercially viable seasonal product strategies.

As the Buyer II for JT One Lingerie and Sleepwear, you will be responsible for developing and delivering customer-focused, trend-right, and commercially successful product ranges that align with the Woolworths brand strategy. You will drive sales, profitability, and market share through effective range planning, product development, and in-season trading.

Working closely with Design, Sourcing, Technology, and Planning teams, you will manage the end-to-end product journey from concept and development to supplier engagement and in-store execution, ensuring assortments meet customer needs, support seasonal objectives, and deliver exceptional quality, value, and commercial performance.

Minimum Requirements

• Relevant tertiary qualification in Fashion, Retail Buying, or Commerce.
• 2-3 years' buying experience within a retail environment.
• Experience in lingerie buying within a fashion retail business would be advantageous.
• Sound understanding of retail buying principles and critical path management.
• Strong knowledge of the retail market, customer trends, competitor activity, and industry.
• Excellent numerical, commercial, and analytical skills, with the ability to interpret sales and market data to inform product and trading decisions.
• Proven ability to manage the product lifecycle from concept and range development through sourcing, buying, and in-season trading.
• Strong commercial acumen with an understanding of margin management, pricing architecture, and profitability drivers.
• Ability to analyse product performance and take appropriate actions to optimise sales, stock, and profitability.
• Strong organisational and planning skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities and meet deadlines in a fast-paced environment.
• High level of accuracy, attention to detail, and commitment to product quality and execution excellence.
• Effective stakeholder management and collaboration skills, with the ability to build strong relationships across Buying, Planning, Design, Sourcing, and Supplier teams.
• Proactive problem-solving skills, demonstrating sound judgement, initiative, and decision-making ability.
• Strong communication and influencing skills, with the confidence to present recommendations and challenge constructively where required.
• Advanced computer literacy, including proficiency in Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, PLM systems, and EDITED.
• Resilient, adaptable, and able to respond effectively to changing business priorities and market dynamics.
• Demonstrates curiosity, a customer-centric mindset, and a commitment to continuous learning and professional development.
• Passion for fashion, lingerie product, and delivering compelling customer-focused product assortments.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Develop and execute a departmental seasonal plan
• • Collaborate with Planning, design and Sourcing to develop product, fabric and trading strategy to ensure the delivery of relevant KPI’s.
    • Utilise multiple data sources from design direction, global and local trend research, current trade and post-seasonal data, customer analytics, product and sourcing strategy, competitor intelligence and benchmarking, First Insights and EDITED to provide product direction for seasonal plan workshops in line with the overall Group Strategy.
    • Present seasonal product plan inclusive of key strategic areas, must-win categories / items and channel-specific considerations.
• Build a profitable balanced range
• • Conduct workshops to develop an on-brand product range that is trend appropriate and meets customer expectations, incorporating local and international comparative analysis, intelligence and benchmarking, with a clear intent of growth/exit product categories aligned with strategic goals.
    • Collaborate with the Design team to deliver a balanced range (styling, fabric, colour) within agreed price architecture and ensuring alignment to critical path and merchandise cycle milestones.
    • Collaborate with the Sourcing team on product development, including new concepts, supplier selection, costings, tech packs, packaging and quote approvals in line with the critical path milestones and merchandise cycle.
    • Collaborate with the Technical Product Development (TPD) on all sample approvals and sign-off samples, product reviews, final product presentation and innovation opportunities in line with the critical path milestones and merchandise cycle
    • Conduct product reviews and present the final product (concept, pre-production/production samples, packaging), taking into account display strategy (e.g. tables, ticketing)
    • Collaborate with planning (financials, assortment plan) and reconcile with strategy by grade, channel (online, Edit, Africa).
• Lead customer understanding and competitive intelligence
• • Work closely with Marketing to understand the Woolworths customer, including incorporating quarterly updates from the customer team.
    • Conduct market and trend research (EDITED, WGSN, competitor store visits) to understand the competitive landscape, range offering, product differentiation and merchandising strategies.
    • Analyse customer ratings and reviews to understand online customer preferences and customer experience.
    • Utilise supplier information and overseas travel to gain market insights.
    • Develop a product marketing proposal to optimize the customer experience instore and online
• Actively trade product range
• • Weekly sales trade analysis - analyse relevant reports (Monday trade, item report, style cards, Edited) to understand product and sales performance across channels to influence trade decisions, opportunities and actions to optimise sales.
    • Communicate any changes from current trade that impact other departments e.g. marketing and visual merchandising.
    • Weekly team standstill with Quad team to align on weekly tasks including production & shipment standstill, supplier communication and trade actions.