Job Title: Hardlines Buyer – Collectibles & Video Game Merchandise
Location: Remote work
Department: Merchandising / Retail Buyer
Reports To: President
Position Overview
We are looking for a strategic, market-savvy Hardlines Buyer to lead our product acquisition, assortment curation, and sales strategies for video game collectibles and merchandise. In this role, you will own the commercial success of our high-end statues, figurines, replica gear, and lifestyle products.
Because we have a dedicated internal Production Team that manages factory selection and manufacturing, your primary focus will be on the retail side: analyzing fan trends, projecting demand, planning the product mix, and ensuring maximum profitability. If you have a passion for gaming fandoms, a razor-sharp commercial instinct, and a proven track record of hitting retail revenue targets, we want you on our team.
Key Responsibilities
Assortment & Trend Curation: Monitor the global gaming landscape to predict demand and select the best product lines (statues, figures, collectibles other hard goods) to align with major game releases, anniversaries, and community hype cycles.
Financial Forecasting & OTB Management: Manage the Open-to-Buy (OTB) budget, negotiate retail margins, and track key metrics (sell-through rates, inventory turnover, and gross margin ROI) to achieve aggressive revenue goals.
Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner closely with our internal Production Team to provide clear product specifications and volume targets, allowing them to execute factory sourcing and manufacturing seamlessly.
Licensing & Franchise Alignment: Work with brand managers to ensure the product selection maximizes the potential of our licensed video game IPs.
Inventory & Lifecycle Strategy: Collaborate with sales and logistics to plan high-impact product launches, promotional calendars, and inventory exit strategies for older product lines.
Supply Chain Collaboration: Partner closely with logistics and inventory teams to navigate the unique, often extended production and shipping timelines inherent to the high-end collectibles industry.
Replenishment & Sell-through: Responsible & accountable for ensuring top performing products remain in stock and poor performing products are discounted and cycled out. Ensure acceptable sell-though and inventory turns across all skus.
Qualifications & Skills
Experience: 3–5+ years of retail buying, category management, or merchant experience—ideally within premium collectibles, toys, pop-culture merchandise, or licensed consumer goods.
Collectibles & Gaming Fluency: Deep knowledge of what drives value for passionate collectors (scales, exclusivity, limited runs) and strong familiarity with major video game IPs and fanbases to accurately predict demand for specific characters and IPs.
Commercial & Analytical Prowess: Highly proficient in retail math, spreadsheet analysis, and demand forecasting/inventory forecasting, and budget management. You know how to turn historical sales data into a future buying strategy.
Collaboration Skills: Proven ability to work hand-in-hand with an internal production/sourcing department to bring a product roadmap to life.
Vendor & Brand Relationship Management: Strong skills in managing wholesale vendors, distributors, and retail partners to secure optimal allocations and terms. Ability to negotiate minimum order quantities (MOQs), coloar variant, cost-of-goods-sold (COGS), and exclusive product lines.
Collectibles Fluency: Deep familiarity with the collectibles market, including top manufacturing brands, scales (e.g., 1/4 scale, 1/6 scale), and what drives value for passionate collectors.