Eric Ruff Email & Phone Number

Atlanta, Georgia, United States

Greater Atlanta Area

Perform as associate buyer for gifts and jewelry with additional responsibilities including taking ownership of stationary category and managing the brands Kentucky Bourbon Trail and Makers Mark for hardgoods and apparel for 3 platforms equating to $22 mil in volume.Drive sales in stationary by sourcing, developing, and launching corporate programs including pencil topper pencils and souvenir enamel pins from ground up as well as analyzing sales and trends, resulting in 10% increase year over year in regional pens and pencils. Drive sales in jewelry by fostering close relationships with branded watch vendors, work with visual department for visual and budget approval to introduce trending merchandising strategies, and expanded bracelet class from 20% to 25% of total dept sales.Manage budget through responsibility of all location’s replenishment and reserved funds for new stores, vendor programs, core programs, and test items.Awarded the title of “2019 Assistant Buyer of the Year” for Paradies Lagardere.

Greater Atlanta Area

Facilitated as the drinkware and jewelry buyer, equating to $12 mil in volume, for approximately 4 months taking full responsibility including department strategy, OTB, trade shows, and travel.Drove sales by expanding currently trending drinkware programs to additional platforms, by initiating product development, and managing inventory through revision of OTB and replenishment strategy.Developed the buying strategy and complete product assortment for 9 platforms for both drinkware and jewelry equating to $3 mil in volume and presented both final product selections and financial line review paperwork to senior management to roll out to locations.Drove sales in jewelry by developing key strategies including revision of replenishment strategy and identifying competitor merchandising trends while locating non-productive cash wrap space in existing store to test trends.

Greater Atlanta Area

Assisted in managing and driving sales in two departments, Gifts & Jewelry, equating to $20 mil in volume by supporting two buyers with developing weekly/monthly/yearly end recaps, vendor analysis recaps, managing ladder plans, managing OTB, and managing key subclasses like regional pens representing 10% of dept showing 10% year over year growth.Planned for short-term business objectives by developing assortments, planning promotions, regional refreshes, cross merchandising statements, product forecasting, managing inventory levels through replenishment as well as identify business opportunities through replenishment.Promoted sales by handling day-to-day operations including extensive store communication via e-mail/phone regarding product assortment/pricing/marketing inquiries, sign packages, overseeing all weekly/monthly/regional internal communication bulletins calling out business drivers, as well as, consistently improving best practices for example vendor service orders.Directly contributed to growth through fielding new vendor inquiries, sourcing promo product, and building strong collaborative vendor relationships with to increase 60 GM BPS year over year.

Greater New York City Area

New York, Ny

• Assist the buyer for TK Maxx, TJX European Men’s and Women’s division, who buys for the UK and Germany multi-million dollar businesses• Help to establish, analyze, interpret, and deliver weekly reports including but not limited to sales analysis, weekly trends, on order, and sku detailed reports to analyze the previous week’s business to determine the current week’s needs/buys• Partner with the buyer to identify top selling skus for the purpose of reorders in key department classes specifically focused on men’s t-shirts which contributed to 5% of both the UK and Germany businesses each• Partner with buyers/planners to analyze ladder plans and OTB to identify key trending classes in order to pull up goods in star classes as well as ensuring that OTB is being placed in the departments current business drivers regardless of plan • Generate purchase orders and ensure vendors are accountable to delivery dates, track shipments, procurement of shipping documentation, and manage logistic exceptions with third party international consolidator • Partner with buyer and vendors to establish great partnerships by providing excellent customer service including resolving AP issues, PO modifications, negotiating pricing and cost concessions as well as researching new vendors to help the buyer find new opportunities to expand the business

Columbia, South Carolina Area

Columbia, South Carolina Area