Overview
Buyer / Planner / Analyst Jobs in Santa Ana, CA at Alternative Retail | Tustin, CA
$80,000–$100,000
Candidate will own the buying for a portfolio of 200+ lifestyle and fashion apparel brands, using historical sell-through data and AI-assisted analysis to curate purchase orders that maximize sell-through at our required margins.
About Alternative Retail
Alternative Retail is a Southern California company that operates warehouse sales and sample sales for more than 200 lifestyle, fashion, and apparel brands. Our model is different from traditional retailers: inventory sells in short, high-intensity event windows rather than sitting on a floor year-round. That makes buying decisions — what to acquire opportunistically, at what depth, and at what price — the single biggest driver of our business.
About the Role
Reporting directly to a co-founder, you’ll be the analytical engine behind our purchasing. Twelve months in, success looks like this: you’ve built a repeatable, data-driven buying process; our purchase orders consistently hit sell-through and margin targets; slow-moving inventory is shrinking; and the founders trust your recommendations enough that reviewing an order takes minutes, not hours. This is a planning and analysis role — you will not be working the sale floor at events.
What You’ll Do
- Own the analysis of historical shipped and sold data across 200+ brands — normalizing messy, inconsistent vendor files into clean, decision-ready datasets
- Evaluate opportunistic available-goods lists from vendors and curate recommended purchase orders — quantity by style, broken down by size curve and color performance
- Compute event-based sell-through metrics
- Manage inventory position targets — balancing on-hand stock against expected demand so we buy deep on proven performers without overbuying unproven items
- Use Claude / Gemini daily as a core analysis partner — building and refining structured buying logic, reviewing opportunities, and generating draft orders for review by the team.
- Present recommendations to the founders with clear rationale, confidence levels, and flagged risks — and defend or revise them under questioning
What We’re Looking ForRequired
- 5+ years of experience in buying, merchandise planning, allocation, or inventory analysis for apparel, footwear, or accessories
- Highly technical: advanced Microsoft Excel proficiency (pivot tables, lookups, data cleaning, navigating large datasets) is non-negotiable
- Experience using AI tools for analysis — or demonstrated aptitude and genuine enthusiasm to make AI a core part of your workflow
- Strong retail math: sell-through, turn, margin, size curves, open-to-buy concepts
- Comfort with ambiguity — vendor data arrives in inconsistent formats, and you’ll need judgment where the data is incomplete.
- Be a team player — stepping in to assist the inventory team with reconciling orders or chasing down missing data from vendors when needed
Preferred
- Off-price, closeout, or liquidation apparel experience — you understand opportunistic buying, where hesitation means the goods are gone
- Exposure to event-based or pop-up retail (warehouse sales, sample sales, outlet)
- Experience with BI tools alongside Excel.
Compensation & Benefits
- Base salary: $80,000–$100,000, depending on experience
- Performance bonuses tied to event outcomes
- 401(k) eligibility
- Paid vacation and sick leave
- Santa Ana, CA based — with remote flexibility available for the right fit
Pay: $80,000.00 – $100,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- 401(k)
- Paid time off
Experience:
- Microsoft Excel: 5 years (Required)
- Clothing/Shoes purchasing/analyzing: 3 years (Required)
Work Location: In person
Title: Buyer / Planner / Analyst
Company: Alternative Retail | Tustin, CA
Location: Santa Ana, CA
