What are the responsibilities and job description for the Vendor Manager position at Ashley Furniture Industries?
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Ready to grow? You’ve come to the right place. Ashley Furniture has a “Growth Mindset”, and once you join our team, you’ll learn from the best in the business.
Vendor Manager – Onsite: Tampa, FL
What Will You Do?
The Vendor Manager (VM) is responsible for driving revenue growth across a portfolio of third-party (3P) vendors and categories on AshleyFurniture.com, all while balancing profitability and presenting value to the Ashley e-commerce customer. The VM is accountable for developing and executing against the category level business strategy, and partnering with their vendors to develop assortments that ultimately ladder up.
Responsibilities of the VM will include, but are not limited to:
- Vendor Relationship Management: The VM owns relationships with a portion of our 3P vendor-base, collaborating with vendor sales counterparts on a regular basis, sourcing strategic selection and intervening on operations issues as needed.
- Assortment Planning and Product Set-up: The VM reviews all vendor product proposals and selects products that will best serve our curation strategy. Product set-up activities are conducted in collaboration with our offshore team, with whom the VM will collaborate extensively, as well as various other cross-functional partners.
- Analyzing the Business: The VM helps lead the Weekly Business Reviews (WBR), deep diving week-over-week, year-over-year, and seasonal changes to the business, ultimately providing recommendations on how to "change the news" and deliver stronger results.
- Promotions Sourcing: The VM sources funding from vendors to support Ashley's various promotional events and ensures that all agreed upon vendor support is collected in a timely manner.
- Vendor Negotiations: The VM owns contract negotiations with vendors, including establishing initial marketing, damage and payment terms at vendor set-up, and ongoing agreement maintenance and renegotiation as the business matures.
- Market Preparation: The VM supports preparation for the major home furnishing and furniture markets the VM team attends. The VM should anticipate traveling for market attendance 4-6 times annually.
- People Management: While this role does not initially have direct reports, people management may become a component of this role in the future.
The ideal candidate for this role identifies as a persistent self-starter who thrives with a high degree of autonomy and isn't shy about rolling up their sleeves to get things done. A strong sense of ownership and a willingness to take on any task - no matter how small or manual - will go a very long way as we continue to look for ways to continuously improve our processes and enable automation.
What Do You Need?
- 6-8 years of experience in a vendor management, category management, merchandising or retail buyer role (required)
- E-commerce experience (preferred)
- Bachelor's Degree in business administration, merchandising, marketing or a related field (preferred)
- Strong attention to detail
- A high level of comfort synthesizing distinct analyses and data sources into actionable business insights
- Excellent written communication skills
- Excellent interpersonal skills and an enthusiasm for working in a highly collaborative, cross-functional environment
- Proficient with Microsoft Office suite, including Microsoft Excel
Who We Are
At Ashley, we’re more than a business…we’re family. As the largest manufacturer of home furnishings in the world, we know what it takes to build incredible furniture and future leaders. We’re problem solvers with the grit to persevere during challenging times and innovators who won't coast when times are good. We create solutions, not excuses. And never settle for status quo. It’s the reason we’re always searching for better ways to delivering an exceptional customer experience. That's why Ashley Furniture is #1 in our industry.
Ready to grow? You’ve come to the right place. Ashley Furniture has a “Growth Mindset”, and once you join our team, you’ll learn from the best in the business.
Apply today and find your home at Ashley!
Benefits We Offer
- Health, Dental, Vision, Employee Assistance Program
- Paid Vacation, Holidays, and Your Birthday off
- Generous Employee Discount on home furnishings
- Professional Development Opportunities
- Ashley Wellness Centers (location specific) and Medical Tourism
- Telehealth
- 401(k) and Profit Sharing
- Life Insurance
Our Core Values
- Honesty & Integrity
- Passion, Drive, Discipline
- Continuous Improvement/Operational Excellence
- Dirty Fingernail
- Growth Focused
- To learn more about Ashley Furniture, our community engagement programs, environmental stewardship, and our core values, please visit our Corporate Social Responsibility information page: Corporate Social Responsibility
We are an equal opportunity employer and provide a drug-free working environment. While Ashley appreciates the interest of all candidates only those meeting specific position requirements may be contacted. Principals Only.
Search Firm Representatives Please Read Carefully:
Ashley Furniture Industries, LLC, is not accepting unsolicited assistance from search firms for this employment opportunity unless an agreement is in place. Please, no phone calls or emails. All resumes submitted by search firms to any employee at Ashley Furniture via email, the Internet or in any form and/or method without a valid search agreement in place for this position will be deemed the sole property of Ashley Furniture. No fee will be paid in the event the candidate is hired by Ashley Furniture as a result of the referral or through other means.
