Rachel Weaver

I am extremely hard-working, self-motivated and enjoy working in a fast-paced environment with a variety of challenges. During my buying career, I have gained excellent organisational skills which have aided me to manage my time efficiently and assisted me to work to short deadlines. I equally enjoy working within a team and independently and have proven to be a strong support for my team and management. As a trusted and reliable member of the team, I have taken on extra responsibilities in addition to my role specifications and have shown willingness to learn new skills and experience. Skills and Experience - • Over 5 years experience working across multi-category buying teams – including clothing, beauty and footwear. • 8 years experience working across all departments within Matalan retail stores previous to buying career – including 2 years in a sales managerial role. • Strong communication skills- liaising and negotiating daily with suppliers across the world as well as internal colleagues within different departments. • Department representative for key business projects. • Trainer and mentor for new starters to the business on numerous systems and ways of working. • Attending multiple European competitive benchmarking trips alongside Buyer and collating report to present findings to the team • Responsible for sourcing a range of garments and negotiating costings in line with departmental KPIs and presenting to directors and management. • Responsibility for researching and range building short lead time products from Near East suppliers – identifying missed opportunities • Trusted with responsibility of running the dept in absence of line manager – including meeting with suppliers, costing and negotiating prices, making commercial decisions based on trade meetings and presenting to directors. • Administrative duties – answering all queries via email and telephone, filing and running of department. • Previous retail management experience – responsible for trading and running of department in store and customer service. Management of team - including recruitment, training and payroll. • Data Analysis – Range of sales data and market research to aid commercial decisions. Proficient in all Microsoft programmes – including Excel, Word, Powerpoint and Outlook.