Ecommerce Buyer, Temp

Company Introduction

The La Jolla Group is a worldwide leader in the action sports apparel business segment with a fast paced, high-energy environment that is continually on the move. With prominent brands such as O’Neill, PSD Underwear, Mountain Khakis, Sol Angeles, and Hang Ten, La Jolla Group has proved to be a builder of great brands, a creator of innovative products, and a master of operational excellence.

General Summary

The E-Commerce Buyer is responsible for the tactical execution of product buying, assortment planning, and inventory management across La Jolla Group’s owned e-commerce sites and marketplace channels. This role serves as the merchant authority on product accuracy — owning seasonal asset review for trim and style correctness and managing pick-up shoots to ensure complete, accurate PDP imagery is ready before season launch. The E-Commerce Buyer works upstream of site presentation: decisions about what to buy, how much, in what configuration, and whether product imagery is commercially correct are this role’s domain. How those products are presented, sequenced, and optimized on-site is owned by the E-Commerce Site Merchandiser. The Buyer operates as the operational backbone of the Plan Center of Excellence (CoE), reporting directly to the Director of E-Commerce Buying & Merchandising.

Essential Job Functions

Buying & Assortment Execution

• Execute seasonal and ongoing buy plans across all e-commerce and marketplace channels in alignment with open-to-buy (OTB) budgets set by the Director.

• Translate assortment strategy into purchase orders: accurate style, color, size, and quantity selections reflecting channel-specific demand signals.

• Maintain the active assortment on owned sites and marketplace platforms — managing style adds, deletes, and status changes throughout the season.

• Monitor inventory levels by SKU and channel; flag stockouts, overstock, and aging inventory with recommended corrective actions.

• Support the Director in developing channel-specific assortment segmentation across DTC, Amazon, and third-party marketplace platforms.

Product Asset Review & Studio Production

Note: The Buyer owns merchant-eye quality control on product accuracy. The E-Commerce Site Merchandiser owns PDP presentation, content publishing, and on-site optimization once approved assets are handed off.

• Review final seasonal product photography assets prior to site launch, evaluating for trim accuracy, colorway correctness, and style representation against approved line sheets and purchase orders.

• Flag discrepancies — incorrect hardware, wrong colorway, misrepresented silhouette, missing SKUs — and escalate to the studio and product teams with specific, actionable corrections.

• Own the pick-up shoot process: identify imagery gaps across the seasonal assortment, prioritize by launch urgency and revenue impact, and coordinate shoot scheduling with the studio team.

• Brief studio on pick-up shoot requirements: specific styles, colorways, on-model vs. flat, and any marketplace-specific imagery standards.

• Review and approve pick-up shoot selects for commercial accuracy before assets are routed to the Site Merchandiser for PDP publishing.

• Maintain the pre-season imagery readiness tracker: style count, shot status, approved/pending/reshooting, and estimated live date by category.

Sample Management & Studio Coordination

• Coordinate sample pulls for seasonal shoots and pick-up shoots between the buying team, warehouse, and creative studio.

• Maintain the sample log: check-in/check-out status, shoot schedules, return timelines, and loss tracking.

• Communicate incoming sample shipment timelines to the studio team to support efficient shoot scheduling and minimize production delays.

• Manage post-shoot sample disposition: return-to-warehouse, donation, or disposal per company policy.

Data & Reporting

• Pull and synthesize weekly buy and sell-through reports; identify SKU-level trends and escalate risks and opportunities to the Director.

• Track and maintain OTB position by category, brand, and channel; surface variances versus plan with supporting data.

• Support the Director in seasonal hindsight analyses and post-mortem reviews that inform future buy strategy.

• Maintain buying and inventory trackers with current, accurate data to support planning meetings and leadership reporting.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Partner with demand planning to align buy quantities with inventory and sales forecasts across channels.

• Collaborate with the marketing team to ensure product availability aligns with campaign calendars and promotional events.

• Hand off approved, imagery-complete product records to the Site Merchandiser for PDP publishing and on-site sequencing.

• Work with operations and fulfillment teams to resolve product setup issues, inventory discrepancies, and marketplace feed errors.

Support the Director in preparing materials for leadership and cross-functional business reviews as needed

Required Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Strong understanding of e-commerce buying, assortment planning, inventory management, and sell-through analysis.

• Knowledge of apparel product details, including trim, colorway, silhouette, and style accuracy.

• Familiarity with DTC e-commerce and marketplace product photography standards.

• Strong merchant eye with excellent attention to detail.

• Ability to identify product inaccuracies across line sheets, purchase orders, samples, and photography assets.

• Proficiency with Shopify, Amazon Seller Central, and Excel or Google Sheets preferred.

• Strong organizational and project management skills with the ability to manage multiple priorities and deadlines.

• Clear written and verbal communication skills for cross-functional collaboration.

• Self-directed, adaptable, and comfortable working in a fast-paced environment.

• Collaborative approach when working with studio, merchandising, planning, marketing, and operations teams.

Required Education and Experience

• 2–4+ years of experience in e-commerce buying, merchandising, product management, or a related role within apparel, action sports, or consumer goods.

• Hands-on experience with Shopify and at least one major marketplace platform, preferably Amazon Seller Central.

• Strong apparel product knowledge, including the ability to review line sheets, samples, and product imagery for accuracy.

• Experience supporting or coordinating product photography, sample workflows, pick-up shoots, or similar studio production processes.

• Comfortable analyzing sell-through, inventory, and product performance data to identify risks, opportunities, and business recommendations.

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Merchandising, Fashion, or a related field preferred; equivalent experience considered.

This is a Temporary position. 

Physical Requirements

Seeing: Must be able to see well enough to read reports.

Hearing: Must be able to hear well enough to communicate with customers, vendors and employees.

Climbing/Stooping/Kneeling: Must be able to stoop or kneel to pick up products.

Lifting/Pulling/Pushing: Must be able to lift up to 20 pounds. (Sample boxes etc.)

Fingering/Grasping/Feeling: Must be able to type and use technical sources.

La Jolla Group provides equal employment opportunities to all qualified individuals in compliance with federal, state, and local laws. We do not discriminate based on race, color, religion, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, pregnancy, age, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, military or veteran status, or any other protected characteristic. Equal opportunity applies to all aspects of employment, including hiring, training, promotion, compensation, and termination. La Jolla Group is committed to maintaining a workplace free from discrimination, harassment, and retaliation, and to fostering an inclusive, respectful environment where all employees can thrive.

#LI-Onsite 

The statements above are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed and are not an exhaustive list of responsibilities, duties, and skills required of personnel in this position. This job description does not constitute a contract for employment, and the Company reserves the right to modify, interpret, or apply it in any way the Company desires at any time. Employment with La Jolla Group is at-will.