Buyer

About the ALDO Group 

Specializing in stylish and accessible footwear, handbags, and accessories, the ALDO Group has been around for more than 50 years. With over 1,500 stores in more than 100 countries, we operate under two signature brands, ALDO and Call It Spring, and we are the core footwear partner for Sperry in North America. The ALDO Group is also an industry-recognized wholesale licensed partner, specializing in the design, sourcing, and distribution of fashion footwear, handbags, and accessories. Our diverse portfolio includes household brands such as ROXY, Brooks Brothers, Ted Baker, Hunter, and G.H.BASS. In addition to our head office in Montreal, the ALDO Group maintains international offices in Europe and Asia. For more information, visit www.aldogroup.com. 

Enjoy meaningful recognition, flexible work options, great on‑site perks, generous discounts, and the pride of being part of a brand that leads with people, the planet, and its partners at heart. 

ROLE SUMMARY

Reporting to the Ladies & Handbags Buying Manager, the Associate Buyer plays a key supporting role in the development and execution of the seasonal buying strategy across Ladies Footwear and Handbags. The role combines product judgement, commercial analysis and cross-functional coordination to help build relevant, brand-right assortments. Working closely with the Buying Manager, Planning, Product Development and other partners, the Associate Buyer provides recommendations, helps advance seasonal deliverables and supports in-season decisions that contribute to sales, margin, IMU and inventory objectives.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Category Strategy & Assortment Development

• Contributes to category strategies for Ladies Footwear and Handbags by bringing forward product, trend, customer and competitive insights.
• Supports the Buying Manager in developing assortment architecture by channel and product class, including recommendations on key items, newness, depth and price points.
• Identifies opportunities to connect the Ladies and Handbags assortments through colour, occasion, trend and head-to-toe product stories.
• Leverages trend research, competitive analysis, customer insights and historical performance to inform line building and assortment evolution.
• Works with the Buying Manager and Planning to review open-to-buy, flow and inventory targets, highlighting risks, opportunities and recommended actions.

Seasonal Execution & Product Readiness
• Coordinates assigned seasonal milestones from line building through buy finalization, escalating risks and helping keep deliverables on track against development and buying calendars.
• Prepares analysis and recommendations for pricing and costing reviews to support IMU, margin and competitive-positioning decisions.
• Participates in reviews with Product Development, providing product feedback and following through on agreed actions.
• Coordinates product information, style details, quantities and delivery timing, validating accuracy and resolving issues with the appropriate partners.
• Prepares for and contributes to line reviews, buy meetings and go-to-market milestones with clear product rationale, supporting analysis and recommendations.
• Supports the communication of product stories and key seasonal messages to Marketing, Visual Merchandising and channel partners.

In-Season Trading & Business Performance
• Analyzes weekly performance across Ladies Footwear and Handbags, identifying category, style, colour, price point and channel-level trends for discussion with the Buying Manager.
• Develops recommendations with Planning for potential in-season actions, including repeats, cancellations, markdowns, promotions and inventory flow adjustments, for alignment with the Buying Manager.
• Monitors sales, margin, inventory and sell-through performance and brings forward clear risks, opportunities and proposed actions to the Buying Manager.
• Summarizes post-season learnings and applies them to recommendations for future assortments and category strategies.
Cross-Functional Partnership & Team Contribution
• Builds strong working relationships across Planning, Product Development, Marketing, Visual Merchandising and International teams.
• Participates in cross-functional meetings and business reviews with clear insights, recommendations and follow-through.
• Demonstrates strong organization, accountability and communication across multiple product categories and seasonal priorities.

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE

• Bachelor's degree in Fashion, Business or a related field.
• Two to four years of buying experience in fashion retail, ideally across footwear, accessories or adjacent categories.
• Solid understanding of retail financials, including sales, margin, IMU, open-to-buy, inventory and sell-through.
• Strong analytical skills with the ability to translate data into clear product and business recommendations.
• Demonstrated understanding of assortment building, pricing, product flow and in-season trading.
• Strong fashion and product sensibility, with the ability to apply trend and customer insights to commercial assortments.
• Excellent communication, collaboration and relationship-building skills.
• Strong organizational and time-management skills, with the ability to prioritize and meet tight deadlines in a fast-paced environment.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint; experience with retail buying, planning or product lifecycle systems is an asset.