Vendor Manager (All Genders)

More than 20 years ago, zooplus was one of the first to bring the pet category into the world of eCommerce. Today, we stand strong as Europe’s leading online pet platform, delivering moments of happiness to more than 9 million pet parents each year.

We're on a mission to create joy for pets and their parents, driven by our core values of Care , Courage , Openness , and Simplicity . At the heart of everything we do, they inspire us to grow, raise the bar for our customers and fuel a pet-first business.

Job Description

We are looking for an exceptional  Vendor Manager  who will grow the Local Champion Brands of zooplus across Europe. You will have full flexibility in managing customer experience, topline performance, and profitability of your vendors, taking the relationship with them to the next level. By scaling and automating all interactions with the vendor base, including identifying and signing up new vendors, creating items in the catalog, negotiating contracts and terms, managing promotional activities, and resolving operational issues, you will have a direct impact on the business, thus, setting zooplus apart from its competitors.

Are you ready to take on this challenge?

As a  Vendor Manager , you will:

• Develop, implement, and control a product range strategy in close collaboration with the manager and local sales teams.
• Implement an attractive presentation of the products (local product content as well as brand presentation).
• Manage payment terms and cost structure in contractual agreements; audit for best-in-class terms for assigned vendors or categories.
• Create opportunities for growth, customer acquisition, and retention by conducting market, competitor, and range analysis.
• Influence vendors to prioritize customer experience by lowering costs, improving the supply chain, reducing defects, and driving efficiencies in close collaboration with the manager.
• Increase vendor participation through deep knowledge of program opportunities such as saverplan, bonus points.
• Review results of promotions and change course of action and negotiates new promotions if needed.
• Act as an escalation point to respond to vendor needs for categories; identify and communicate trends.
• Audit metrics (e.g., traffic, conversion, search results, customer return) and read customer reviews/feedback to identify trends or issues in vendor or category; communicate root cause to manager.
• Deep dive into customer pain points across vendors and categories; make recommendations for scalable solutions.
• Network cross-functional with the local Sales team, as well as Purchasing, Replenishment, Supply Chain Development, and Masterdata to ensure efficient assortment management along the whole product lifecycle.
• Support project management for intra-functional projects as well as smaller cross-functional projects.
• Build and maintain knowledge management tools such as wikis and shared drives.
• Seek opportunities to develop deeper or multiple areas of expertise; share knowledge in and outside of the team.

Qualifications

• Graduate degree in a business-related discipline
• 3+ years of relevant work experience in Category Management, Vendor Management, or Purchasing; experience in e-Commerce and international companies is advantageous
• Fluency in German and English
• Strong analytical and strategic thinking with ability to structure complex issues and propose solutions
• Excellent communication, negotiation, and vendor management skills
• Experience in project work and guiding business partners
• Ability to understand customer needs and enhance customer experience
• Proficiency in MS Office, especially Excel and PowerPoint

Additional Information

With more than 1,000 passionate professionals located across 6 European offices, we believe our success comes from working together and leveraging our international strengths. Expect a hybrid work setup: 60% in-office, 40% remote , collaborating with colleagues across locations.

Our benefits:
20% discount in our zooplus shop
Internal and external training
Team events
#LI-Hybrid
✈️ 28 vacation days and days off on 24th and 31st of December
️ Corporate rates at a local gym chain (Body & Soul)
Company mobile phone for work and personal use

zooplus is committed to equal opportunity. We value and embrace diversity and inclusion of all Team Members.