Import Assistant Merchant

at Ace Hardware in Oak Brook, Illinois, United States

Job Description

About This Role

The Import Assistant Merchant is responsible for providing support to the Import Merchandising team in sourcing and managing imported products across multiple buying teams for Ace and EJD. The position provides leadership within the organization via a thorough understanding of the competitive marketplace and trends, opportunities for Ace retailers and EJD customers to grow via differentiated assortment and ability to articulate and drive an action plan to execute.

The position is designed as a support role, as well as development step in all aspects of the Import department to prepare a candidate for full category responsibility as a Merchant I in 2 – 3 years.

What You’ll Do

Strategy and business planning

+ Support Merchants to identify opportunities within strategic planning process to grow import penetration in respective categories in terms of sales and gross profit

+ Support Merchants to manage category growth plan for Ace and EJD while achieving SKU productivity.

+ Support Merchants in multiple complex categories and execution requiring cross-functional support.

+ Support Merchants in Sourcing new items/innovations/vendors from a large global supplier base, ensuring factories are in compliance with Ace Import standards and CTPAT

Category reviews

+ Assist Domestic Merchants to achieve category review goals

+ Support Import vendor selection and lead negotiation and program syncs on behalf of Ace and EJD, presenting import vendors/programs and at times serving as the representative of the factory

+ Assist wholesale and retail assortment and merchandising aides with category management and store development

Promotional planning

+ Assist Merchants to Identify items, negotiate special pricing and terms, develop a retail placement and execution strategy, and present items to the promotions team for selection

+ Assist in overseeing all promotional item submission forms, target pricing, correction notices and AD proofing

Retailer communication

+ Attend retailer group meetings and targeted retail store visits

+ Support the utilization of ACENET to communicate new programs, changes or issues

+ Coordinate with Merch CARE to prep Ace Care Center for calls and e-mails related to respective category

Convention planning

+ Assist in selecting vendors to attend semi-annual convention

+ Assist the planning and execution of import programs including Power Buys, Saving Showcase, New Arrivals, and Merchant Specials

Inventory/supply chain support

+ Assist in diagnosing and resolving vendor service issues

+ Assist in inventory planning for promotional items

Data and Systems Support

+ Become proficient in and apply the use of Ace technology applications such as ACENET intranet site, Ace Data Warehouse, SAP and Product Content Management system.

+ Assist merchant, brand team, import operations, and department merchandise manager with special projects

Required Skills

Experience and Technical Requirements

+ Bachelor’s degree (business marketing or management a plus)

+ Minimum 2 years of related work experience (retail, sales or marketing). Understanding of business fundamentals.

+ Excellent written and verbal communication and interpersonal skills.

+ Strong problem solving skills required

+ Strong interpersonal skills required

+ Understand financial measures that impacts corporation

+ Demonstrate strong decision making skills

+ Strong time management skills.

+ Self-confident, self-motivated with good presentation skills.

+ Ability to work across teams and independently with some supervision.

+ Highly creative, flexible and adaptable with good follow-through

+ Versatility to shift category responsibility every 1-2 years

+ Proven ability to multi-task projects and meet deadlines

+ Proficient in Microsoft Outlook, Word, Excel, Power Point

+ Knowledge of PCM, SAP and guided Ad-hoc reporting tools

+ Ability to travel up to 15%

\#LI-CK1

Compensation Details:

$72900 – $91300 Per Year

Why should you join our team?

We live our values – W.E.L.I.G.H.T (Winning, Excellence, Love, Integrity, Gratitude, Humility, and Teamwork). Gratitude. Humility. Love. You don’t often see values like these in most corporate statements, but Ace is different. These things are important to us. They represent our commitment to the company, our employees, to Ace retailers and to the Ace brand.

In addition to providing our employees a great culture, Ace also offers competitive benefits* that address life’s necessities and perks, many of which expand and improve year after year, including:

+ Incentive opportunities, based on role/grade level (rapid company growth over the past 5 years resulted in incentives being paid out at an average of 122% of your target opportunity!)

+ Generous 401(k) retirement savings plan with a fully vested matching contribution the first year in addition to quarterly contributions and annual discretionary contribution (once eligibility requirements have been met). Over the past 5 years, company contributions (matching, quarterly & discretionary) for fully eligible employees have averaged 9.6% of total eligible compensation

+ Comprehensive health coverage (medical, dental, vision and disability – up to 26 weeks short-term disability and long-term disability) & life insurance benefits for you and your dependents

+ 21 days of vacation immediately available (prorated in the first year) and up to 6 paid holidays depending on the month of hire

+ Company Car, phone and fuel card are provided for field-based positions

+ Your career at Ace is more than just a job. It’s a chance to be part of something meaningful. We help locally-owned businesses thrive and make an impact in their communities – and we support our employees in doing the same by offering an annual Ace Cares Week, 20 hours off work per year to volunteer at an organization of your choice, opportunities to help Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals and the Ace Helpful Fund through the Ace Foundation

+ Ace invests in every employee we hire, with a key focus on development and coaching. We offer on-site classes, facilitator-led courses, and a generous tuition assistance program, plus a performance management approach that goes beyond the typical annual review

+ We know the work environment matters. That’s why Ace holds frequent campus events like Employee Appreciation Week, vendor demos, cookouts, and merchandise sales

+ We bring them to you! Services such as mobile spas, auto maintenance, car wash and detailing, dry cleaning, dentists, eye doctors, flu shots, recycling and more!

+ Employee discounts on Ace merchandise (including top brands like Weber, Traeger, Yeti, Craftsman, DeWalt and more), travel, fitness, computers and thousands more

+ Birth/Adoption bonding paid time off

+ Adoption cost reimbursement

+ Employee Assistance Program (EAP) – access to free visits to therapists and lawyers, guidance on financial matters, elder and childcare, and assistance with tickets to entertainment events

+ Identity theft protection

* Benefits are provided in compliance with applicable policies.

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We want to hear from you!

When most people think of career opportunities with Ace Hardware, they often think of the helpful cashiers and sales associates at their local store. However, have you also considered the people behind the scenes who select, promote, ship and process the invoices for more than 75,000 products? Maybe you haven’t, but we’d like you to. Because together we help our customers take care of their homes. Come find out why a car