Role Summary
Owns the buying side of store operations: placing and tracking purchase orders, keeping automatic replenishment running correctly, staying in regular contact with vendors, and watching store-level sales and inventory data closely enough to know what to order, when, and how much.
Key Responsibilities
1. Submitting Purchase Orders What it involves: Creating and sending orders to vendors to restock items before they run out, based on current stock levels, sales velocity, and upcoming needs (promotions, seasonality, etc.). This includes checking supplier order minimums, lead times, and confirming orders were received. In Catapult: Purchase orders are built in Catapult’s back-office Purchasing module, either from suggested-order recommendations (system-generated based on sales history and current on-hand counts) or built manually. Orders are to be created for over 12 stores and over 25 different vendors using the sales history provided by Catapult Purchasing module.
2. Managing Auto Ships / Automatic Replenishment
What it involves: Setting up and maintaining the rules that let fast-moving, staple items reorder themselves automatically instead of being ordered by hand every time, then reviewing those automatic orders regularly to catch anything that looks wrong (over-ordering, under-ordering, an item that should no longer auto-ship, etc.). Some items are to be ordered due to new inventory or required by the manufacturer therefore it is the responsibility of Purchasing Coordinator to order those items with the vendor to ensure all stores receive it.
In Catapult: Automatic replenishment runs through Catapult’s DemandFill® engine, which forecasts demand using sales velocity, seasonality, and lead times to generate suggested/automatic orders per item, per store. The coordinator maintains the underlying settings (par levels, min/max thresholds, vendor lead times) and reviews DemandFill’s suggested orders before they go out, adjusting quantities or pulling items out of auto-ship as needed.
3. Communicating with Vendors
What it involves: Staying in ongoing contact with suppliers about order confirmations, delivery windows, backorders or substitutions, cost changes, and resolving invoice or shipment discrepancies (wrong quantity, wrong price, damaged goods, etc.).
In Catapult: Sending orders, and receiving shipping notices, invoices, and cost/price change files directly into Catapult, where any discrepancy against the original PO can be flagged and reviewed. The coordinator communicates directly (email) and enters confirmations, cost updates, or invoice corrections into Catapult by hand so inventory and cost records stay accurate.
4. Reviewing Sales and Inventory at Each Store
What it involves: Regularly checking how each location is selling and what it has on hand, to catch stores that are running low on key items, sitting on too much stock, or showing unusual sales trends that should change what gets ordered next. If one store is not doing too well with inventory, we can transfer the stock between stores rather than buying inventory from the supplier
In Catapult: Uses Catapult’s Web Office reporting suite (300+ built-in reports) and comparative drilldown reporting to compare sales and inventory levels store-by-store. Catapult’s perpetual (real-time) inventory means on-hand counts are current rather than estimated, and the system’s item grading (AF, based on sales velocity, margin contribution, and revenue) helps quickly flag which items and stores need attention first.
Required Qualifications •
4-5+ years of experience in retail purchasing, inventory, or supply-chain coordination, ideally in grocery, convenience, or multi-store retail. • Comfortable working inside a POS / retail back-office system; prior ECRS Catapult experience is a plus but not required. • Strong vendor-facing communication skills – comfortable on the phone and in writing with suppliers. • Good with numbers and spreadsheets (Excel); able to read sales and inventory reports and act on them. • Detail-oriented and organized – tracking multiple open orders and vendors at once without things slipping.
Job Timing
Work from Home
7 AM to 7 PM
