Applications for this job are now closed
Since its launch in 1993 with a collection of six essential handbags, Kate Spade New York has always been colorful, bold, and optimistic. Today, it is a global lifestyle brand that designs extraordinary things for the everyday, delivering seasonal collections of handbags, ready-to-wear, jewelry, footwear, home décor, and more. Known for its rich heritage and unique brand DNA, Kate Spade New York offers a distinctive point of view and celebrates communities of women around the globe who live their perfectly imperfect lifestyles.
Kate Spade New York is part of the Tapestry portfolio – a global house of brands committed to stretching what’s possible.
Primary purpose
The Intern will be supported in gaining experience across all elements of the Buying, Inventory Management and Allocation departments within Tapestry Europe. They will work with the buying team on the execution of local product investment, helping to drive in season performance against sales and margin targets for Retail, Ecomm, Outlet & Wholesale channels across the region.
The main elements of buying which are included in the programme are:
Understanding the strategic and operational execution of product investment across the relevant channels, and understanding and suggesting methods of improving in-season performance against sales and margin targets.
Supporting and contributing to product investments and understanding which ones optimize drive consumer engagement in stores and online partnering with relevant cross functional partners
Understanding and contributing to product investment process with focus on a consistent product message across all consumer touchpoints and taking into consideration regional market needs and trading landscape in line with brand directives
Interacting with Ecomm team to optimize assortment opportunities and trading initiatives to contribute to delivering AOP / SMI ensuring activities and suggesting proposals to support ecomm trade for relevant product category
Support and contribute to the product selection to include raising orders for any channels required, product set up, order chasing in partnership with logistics and global product team.
Support preparation for seasonal buy reviews, hindsight meetings, and management of seasonal milestone calendar. To include running reports on CORA and other systems and product and numerical analysis as required in Excel.
Attend weekly team trade meetings to understand and support delivering financial overview with clear strategic actions and present to Buying Director.
Support buying team as required on analyzing and interpreting product performance, customer feedback, consumer trends, competitive landscape and local market knowledge to share with Global Merchandising – contribute to regional opportunities and provide competitor activity to support
Partner with wider teams in the business to contribute to market assets, marketing support and VM assets to include SAP and Joor uploads.
Our competencies for all employees
- Courage: Doesn’t hold back anything that needs to be said; provides current, direct, complete, and “actionable” positive and corrective feedback to others; lets people know where they stand; faces up to people problems on any person or situation (not including direct reports) quickly and directly; is not afraid to take negative action when necessary.
- Creativity: Comes up with a lot of new and unique ideas; easily makes connections among previously unrelated notions; tends to be seen as original and value-added in brainstorming settings.
- Customer Focus: Is dedicated to meeting the expectations and requirements of internal and external customers; gets first-hand customer information and uses it for improvements in products and services; acts with customers in mind; establishes and maintains effective relationships with customers and gains their trust and respect.
- Dealing with Ambiguity: Can effectively cope with change; can shift gears comfortably; can decide and act without having the total picture; isn’t upset when things are up in the air; doesn’t have to finish things before moving on; can comfortably handle risk and uncertainty.
- Drive for Results: Can be counted on to exceed goals successfully; is constantly and consistently one of the top performers; very bottom-line oriented; steadfastly pushes self and others for results.
- Interpersonal Savvy: Relates well to all kinds of people, up, down, and sideways, inside and outside the organization; builds appropriate rapport; builds constructive and effective relationships; uses diplomacy and tact; can diffuse even high-tension situations comfortably.
- Learning on the Fly: Learns quickly when facing new problems; a relentless and versatile learner; open to change; analyzes both successes and failures for clues to improvement; experiments and will try anything to find solutions; enjoys the challenge of unfamiliar tasks; quickly grasps the essence and the underlying structure of anything.
Our competencies for all people managers
- Strategic Agility: Sees ahead clearly; can anticipate future consequences and trends accurately; has broad knowledge and perspective; is future oriented; can articulately paint credible pictures and visions of possibilities and likelihoods; can create competitive and breakthrough strategies and plans.
- Developing Direct Reports and Others: Provides challenging and stretching tasks and assignments; holds frequent development discussions; is aware of each person's career goals; constructs compelling development plans and executes them; pushes people to accept developmental moves; will take on those who need help and further development; cooperates with the developmental system in the organization; is a people builder.
- Building Effective Teams: Blends people into teams when needed; creates strong morale and spirit in their team; shares wins and successes; fosters open dialogue; lets people finish and be responsible for their work; defines success in terms of the whole team; creates a feeling of belonging in the team.
Kate Spade is an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer and we pride ourselves on hiring and developing the best people. All employment decisions (including recruitment, hiring, promotion, compensation, transfer, training, discipline and termination) are based on the applicant's or employee's qualifications as they relate to the requirements of the position under the consideration. These decisions are made without regard to age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic characteristics, race, color, creed, religion, ethnicity, national origin, alienage, citizenship, disability, marital status, military status, pregnancy, or any other legally-recognized protected basis prohibited by applicable law.
