ALBENA IVANOVA

Charlotte, NC ***** 404-***-**** adjvzs@r.postjobfree.com www.linkedin.com/in/albenai

Professional Summary

Retail professional with experience leading cross functional teams to build balanced and profitable assortments in store and online. A keen negotiator skilled in vendor relationships, with expertise in:

Product Assortment Planning and Development Marketing

Supply Chain Management Trend Analysis Merchandising

Professional Experience

Off Broadway Shoe Warehouse, a Deichmann Company

Women’s Casual/ Dress and Kids Buyer Charlotte, NC 2013-2021

Kids Buyer Atlanta, GA 2008-2021

Accepted additional responsibility in 2013 to buy, merchandise and forecast Women’s Casual and Dress Footwear, in addition to Kids footwear - with total annual sales of $42M in 67 stores across the country.

Consistently projected and achieved sales, receipts, margin and turn over goals:

•Launched Kids department in 2008, with a 5-store test and grew it to a very successful all door program now representing $5M in annual sales volume. Won Skechers award for merchant of the year in 2013.

•Collaborated with marketing to create a kids shoes awareness campaign in 2009 resulting in over 300% growth. Showcased key brands from the athletic and fashion industry by creating mommy and me stories and delivering great value to the customer that exceeded expectations.

•Secured numerous high profile brands and relationships, and introduced Aldo, Hey Dude, Sam Edelman and Toms in 2020 to increase variety and profitability.

• Motivated, trained and developed direct reports through a collaborative approach. Promoted two direct reports, 2016 and 2020.

•Grew direct private brand products from 15% to 25 % TTL buy. (2018, 2020) Shopped Europe and the US markets, identified fashion trends, selected best styles, materials, colors to incorporate into our collection, then worked closely with agents and factories in Asia to develop it.

Assistant Buyer Men’s Shoes Atlanta, GA 2001- 2008

Promoted to assist the men’s buyer with all purchasing, merchandising and planning needs. Attended shoe markets to identify emerging trends and choose the best product for our collection.

•Negotiated with vendors: Achieved best cost, markdowns and RTV’s, product selection, transfers, and reorders from vendors.

Buying Coordinator Atlanta, GA 2000-2001

Worked closely with the buying team, provided administrative support to the purchasing process.

Education And Skills

PLOVDIV UNIVERSITY “Paisii Hilendarski “ Bulgaria

Bachelor’s degree in Russian Literature

Languages Fluent in English, Russian and Bulgarian. Conversational Italian and Spanish

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