Category Assistant (Everyday Essentials)

About this role

Clicks Group is looking for a permanent Category Assistant to work in its Cape Town office. You will report to the Category Manager. The role helps the buying department run smoothly and keeps the category profitable through good admin and clear analysis.

What you’ll do

• Manage the merchandise admin steps, such as listing new lines, tracking the product development process, and getting buyer sign-off on promotions.
• Set up and maintain co-ops, imports, letters of authority and paperwork for new store openings.
• Answer questions from stores and vendors about pricing, stock availability and promotions, and act on them quickly.
• Coordinate internal marketing, including ClubCard activity, and check samples, images and pricing for promoted items.
• Prepare the merchandising manual for buyer approval and collect supplier confirmations and TEM bill-backs.
• Review weekly product launch results against key performance indicators and prepare reports for the scorecard.
• Keep the product database up to date, and handle general office admin such as filing, account queries and minutes.

What you need

• Essential: A B Degree or Diploma in Retail, Purchasing Management or a similar field, or successful completion of a Merchandise Graduate Programme.
• Essential: 3 to 6 months of administrative retail experience.
• Essential: At least 3 to 6 months of administrative process experience.
• Essential: About 1 year of knowledge of buying and planning principles.
• Previous experience as a category assistant.
• Previous experience working with critical paths and project deadlines.
• Knowledge of query resolution.
• Strong problem-solving, analytical thinking and attention to detail.
• Good computer skills in Outlook, Excel and PowerPoint.
• Time management, planning, organising, decision making, and clear verbal and written communication.

Is this job for you?

This job suits someone with retail or purchasing training who has already done admin work in a retail setting. You should enjoy detailed work with product data, and you should be comfortable working to deadlines across several teams.

Tips before you apply

• Have your degree, diploma or graduate programme certificate ready to upload, along with your CV.
• On your CV, list the admin tasks you handled in retail, such as product listings, promotions or reports, with clear dates.
• Show your Excel and reporting skills with a short example, such as a report you built or data you tracked.

”