Walgreens hiring Associate Category Manager - Candy in Deerfield, Illinois, United States | LinkedIn (2024)

Job SummaryCollaborates with the Category Manager(s) to select and purchase merchandise and services within a limited number of categories, and at the lowest possible cost. Assures that these purchases are made with a thorough analysis of general business economics and conditions, sources of supply, merchandise requirements, and overall Company policy. Responsible for providing the necessary merchandising, promotional plans and programs, and distribution services to assure that merchandise meets consumer and store needs. With direction or input from the Category Manager, develops and implements merchandising techniques and procedures.

Job Responsibilities

• Plans, develops, and recommends sales, gross profit level, inventory control, and merchandise turnover objectives for the assigned department(s) and item(s).
• Develops and recommends merchandising, display, advertising, distribution, packaging and sales plans and programs for assigned items and merchandise departments.
• Negotiates buying contracts on categories or subsets of categories as determined by the Divisional Merchandise Manager (DMM) or Category Manager (CM). Reviews contracts with the CM.
• Analyzes market, competitive, and customer perception data, and provides recommendations to the DMM and CM regarding price levels.
• Reviews and analyzes historical and YTD category performance data. Recommends performance goals for categories, and manages category performance as assigned by the DMM and CM.
• Works closely with Store Experience and merchandise planning to build and review category insights. Utilizes data to make recommendations to Category Managers and DMMs on planograms, ROTO spots, promotional programs, merchandising assortment, forecasts, and other key category initiatives. Takes the initiative to elicit insights from data and recommend programs to division leadership.
• Develops an understanding of Walgreens and WBA private brands, including assortment and projected sales forecasts, gross profit level, and merchandising and promotional programs. Works with the Category Manager and/or DMM to project sales forecasts and gross profit levels within the assigned categories.

About Walgreens and WBAWalgreens (www.walgreens.com) is included in the U.S. Retail Pharmacy and U.S. Healthcare segments of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (Nasdaq: WBA), an integrated healthcare, pharmacy and retail leader with a 170-year heritage of caring for communities. WBA’s purpose is to create more joyful lives through better health. Operating nearly 9,000 retail locations across America, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, Walgreens is proud to be a neighborhood health destination serving nearly 10 million customers each day. Walgreens pharmacists play a critical role in the U.S. healthcare system by providing a wide range of pharmacy and healthcare services, including those that drive equitable access to care for the nation’s medically underserved populations. To best meet the needs of customers and patients, Walgreens offers a true omnichannel experience, with fully integrated physical and digital platforms supported by the latest technology to deliver high-quality products and services in communities nationwide.”

The actual salary an employee can expect to receive, plus bonus pursuant to the terms of any bonus plan if applicable, will depend on experience, seniority, geographic location, and other factors permitted by law. To review benefits, please visit jobs.walgreens.com/benefits.

"An Equal Opportunity Employer, including disability/veterans".

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree and at least 2 years’ experience in two or more of the following: retail, procurement/purchasing, merchandising, vendor relations, pharmacy operations, or retail marketing OR a high school diploma/GED and at least 4 years of experience in two or more of the following: retail, procurement/purchasing, merchandising, vendor relations, pharmacy operations, or retail marketing.
• Experience working with P&L concepts – revenue, cogs, gross profit margin, operating expenses and income.
• Knowledge of customer centric retailing principles and the analytics of customer purchase behavior.
• At least 2 years of experience developing programs in merchandising, vendor relations, and marketing in the retail business.
• Intermediate level skill in Microsoft Excel (for example: using SUM function, setting borders, setting column width, inserting charts, using text wrap, sorting, setting headers and footers and/or print scaling).
• Basic skill level in Microsoft PowerPoint (for example: inserting, rearranging, hiding and deleting slides, navigating between slides, increasing list level, adding, centering and editing text, changing views, inserting a table or a note, moving objects, printing outline view and/or running a slide show).
• Basic level skill in Microsoft Word (for example: opening a document, cutting, pasting and aligning text, selecting font type and size, changing margins and column width, sorting, inserting bullets, pictures and dates, using find and replace, undo, spell check, track changes, review pane and/or print functions).

Preferred Qualifications

• At least 1 year experience of cross functional team leadership.