Buyer

Location: London, N1 1QP

Hours: Full-time

Monday to Friday 9am to 6pm

Start Date: flexible, early 2025 

About the Company

Borough Kitchen is the UK’s leading premium retailer for people who love to cook and entertain by providing carefully selected products for the kitchen and table alongside trusted advice and inspiration through stores, online and cook school. With five award-winning stores across London and a significant e-Commerce presence, our products are sourced globally and each piece is meticulously chosen and tested based on function, quality, and durability. Our commitment has won us a unique, trusted position in the industry and strong partnerships with premium brands.

About the Role

This is a career-defining opportunity for a passionate, visionary and experienced Buyer to lead our product selection; always thinking ahead but staying true to Borough Kitchen’s values. If you thrive on the thrill of uncovering the world’s best products for our customers, building deep relationships with all brands we work with, and are committed to excellence in cooking and entertaining, this role is unmatched in its scope and potential. Here, you won’t simply follow trends; you’ll set them, influencing the future of kitchen and tableware retail. We are conscious of maintaining the high standards we have built over the last eleven years, both with our customers and vendor partners around the globe. 

Borough Kitchen is at an exciting, pivotal stage as we look to build on our fast-growing own-brand products range with h trusted manufacturers and craftspeople.  We remain true to our values of function, quality and durability. Confidence in cooking and entertaining, a keen eye for detail, knowledge of how to source the world’s best cookware and tableware, and strong negotiating skills are key to this role. The energy, passion and perseverance that you will bring to the company will shine through when you see the product on our shop floor and in the hands of our customers. It is about ‘how we can do better’ rather than copying what we see. 

Reporting directly to our Founders, this role is fundamental  to our brand identity and reputation.  You will also work closely with our purchasing and inventory team as well as with the senior management of the business across physical retail and e-commerce.

• Recognising and dissecting the perfect products to ensure they warrant being added to our range. Meticulous attention to the nuances of details to maintain our extremely high standard of finding the right products that perform and last 
• Proactively gathering, analysing and driving insight from local market knowledge and the competitive landscape across all channels and by maintaining and expanding relationships with industry contacts and peers
• Ability to live and breathe our customer segmentation and constantly review, refine and optimise our product offering to ensure our customers know that they can shop with confidence and trust that we have worked for them to find the best of what is on the market at a fair price
• Working with brands, designers and our team to build and refine our own product range through the Borough Kitchen brand and collaborations
• Upholding robust terms with vendors whilst maintaining a very close relationship 
• Championing our company culture and leading by example 
• Working closely with our Inventory manager and developing a deep and cohesive working relationship to:
• Following the sales data on inventory turnover and making changes where necessary to optimise revenue
• Keeping an eye out for price changes, currency fluctuations, changes in terms of business with vendors to ensure we maintain our  margins 
• Being the main liaison between the Inventory, Retail and Marketing teams to advise on new products, and communicate product information with all team members 
• Supporting the Inventory Manager monitoring the out of stocks and planning ahead for replacements in place if required

• Proven experience in buying practices, merchandising strategies, and supplier negotiations in the housewares or premium retail industry for a minimum of five years 
• Strong negotiating skill set 
• Exceptional attention to both product and process detail 
• Excellent communication and relationship-building skills 
• Solutions-focused, 
• Ability to work independently
• Works with a sense of urgency 
• Ability to analyse sales data, detect market changes and act upon them 
• Focus on driving revenue and maintaining margins
• A very strong passion for cooking and entertaining

• Competitive salary based on experience
• Annual pay review
• Industry-leading discount programme on products for our employees
• Complimentary Cook School classes
• Access to our employee assistance programme, which includes free counselling sessions, free financial and legal advice, discounts and cashback offers for over 1200+ brands, and many other offerings around health and wellbeing
• Referral scheme
• Company events