Associate Buyer

Our buying team sources everything our makers need for their projects across a variety of crafts. We’re looking for an energetic self-starter to join our global Buying Team and focus on driving the performance of our new, growing craft categories. As the Associate Buyer, you’ll understand the fundamentals of retailing and develop your buying skill set, with lots of opportunities for advancement for the right candidate. 

What you’ll be doing:

• Joining us on our journey building and growing new craft categories. Manage the range of selected craft categories through rapid SKU growth, understanding what products we need to add while maintaining SKU count, working capital and revenue targets.
• Under the guidance of the Senior Buying team, lead on building relationships with new suppliers and support on maintaining our sourcing relationships with our key strategic accounts.
• Work seamlessly with the Product Data team to ensure we have the right range in the right place for all product launches, including promotional, seasonal and category-specific.
• Generate and manage reports for the broader buying team, and perform other administrative functions to support the Retail Team.
• Maintain supplier relationships by responding quickly and accurately to questions and requests for information. 
• Be the conduit between the Buying team and other internal stakeholders such as Purchasing, Pricing and Email. 
• Facilitate and attend meetings with suppliers, including data analysis, presentation preparation and logistics support.

Who you are:

• You have relevant retail experience, with previous Buying experience
• You have excellent analytical skills, and an understanding of retail maths and strategy
• You are an Excel/Google sheets whizzkid
• You’re a self-starter and problem-solver - you’re always on the lookout for ways to better support your team and there’s never a moment with nothing to do!  
• You’re extremely detail-oriented - you track down that missing piece of information.
• You have an entrepreneurial mindset and enjoy the fast-paced nature of working at a startup.
• You have impeccable written and verbal communication skills. You understand tone and communicate effectively in email.
• A work ethic based on a strong desire to exceed expectations

You’ll get 

• The chance to join our journey in becoming the global craft destination - no biggy!
• Competitive salary to reflect your skills and experience.
• Flexible working with a core hours model - we trust our team to do the work needed in the way that suits you best.
• Lots of other great benefits including options over shares, pension plan, private healthcare, health cash plan, employee discounts, in-house coaching clinics and career development and lots more!
• 25 holiday days pro rata + a day off for your birthday, because nobody should be working on their birthday!
• Smart colleagues and supportive team who uphold our smart, kind, maker values. We don’t mean to boast but you will genuinely find a fantastic team of really bright, motivated, and driven individuals who will support you at every stage of your journey.
• Central London Location - we're passionate about flexibility and are following a hybrid-remote approach, working a combination of from home and at the office.

About us

At LoveCrafts we’re building an online community for crafters: a home for makers where they can find inspiration for their latest projects, learn new techniques, easily source all their supplies and share their creations with like-minded makers around the world.

Since launching in 2012, we’ve grown incredibly quickly. We've graduated from the Future Fifty, were 20th place on the FT’s list of fastest growing European companies, all thanks to the hard work of our team of smart, kind makers based across the globe with hubs in London, Kyiv and in the USA. We’ve been fuelled by investment from Europe’s leading venture capital firms; Balderton Capital (LoveFilm, The Hut) funded our Series A round, followed by Highland Europe (Photobox, WeTransfer), Scottish Equity Partners (Skyscanner, Matches Fashion) and most recently BGF (Unruly, Gousto). 

In 2020 we acquired WEBS, also known as America’s yarn store, the largest online knitting, crochet and weaving business and most recently in 2022 we acquired some of the Deramores assets, including its yarn stock, digital assets, patterns and tutorials. The acquisition of the successful family-run business WEBS and the important UK crafting site Deramores marks a significant milestone in our journey to becoming the end-to-end destination for craft enthusiasts around the world.

We’re playing with the very best in web, mobile, social, commerce and media technology as we create the perfect digital business for all things craft related.  Our team is filled with ambitious, curious, entrepreneurial and occasionally kooky makers. We hire and nurture inquisitive, creative minds looking to flourish in a supportive and collaborative environment.

Diversity is important at LoveCrafts. We aim to attract the widest range of talent into our business to enable us to create an inclusive working environment, and to reflect and understand our customers and their needs. We welcome applications from all individuals, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, disability, sexuality, social background, religion and/or belief. We aim to create a modern, flexible work environment that supports everyone to do their best work and therefore, we are open to having conversations about flexible working for all roles, unless operational requirements prevent otherwise. We are committed to providing a working environment where everyone’s individuality and unique contributions are recognised, valued and respected and where all of our employees have equal opportunity to grow and attain their full potential.