Morgan Buckner

Own assortment strategy in partnership with Director, negotiating exclusivity agreements and vendor terms to drive revenue, margin, and long-term category growth Partner cross-functionally with Marketing, Site, and Creative to plan and execute major product launches, aligning go-to-market storytelling and brand positioning with assortment plans Identify whitespace, build seasonal retail features and promotional moments to expand the assortment and drive customer engagement

Associate Buyer – Kitchen Electrics - Williams-Sonoma

(2025-03)

• Own assortment strategy in partnership with Director, negotiating exclusivity agreements and vendor terms to drive revenue, margin, and long-term category growth
• Partner cross-functionally with Marketing, Site, and Creative to plan and execute major product launches, aligning go-to-market storytelling and brand positioning with assortment plans
• Identify whitespace, build seasonal retail features and promotional moments to expand the assortment and drive customer engagement
• Leverage customer ratings, reviews, and return-rate data to identify quality improvement opportunities, partnering with vendors to resolve product defects and packaging concerns
• Analyze sales, margin, inventory health, and return-rate data to uncover assortment opportunities and drive evidence-based go/no-go decisions on new product introductions
• Serve as category expert and customer advocate, presenting performance, seasonal hindsights, and forward-looking strategy to senior leadership
• Evaluate new vendor partners and product submissions against category strategy, brand fit, and margin requirements, driving quality improvements across the assortment

Associate Buyer – Cook's Tools - Williams-Sonoma

(2023-01 - 2025-03)

• Owned assortment strategy for classes accounting for 70% of department volume: Utensils, Silicone, Bar/Cocktail, Wine, Measuring & Specialty
• Drove assortment strategy and identified white space opportunities, weighing margin mix, IMU growth, inventory health, and retail-level performance
• Owned vendor relationships with key partners for merchandise-managed product development, negotiating cost, MOQs, and inventory flow while upholding quality and craftsmanship standards
• Led seasonal strategy development informed by hindsight analysis, trend research, and brand strategy
• Partnered cross-functionally across Product Development, Sourcing, Inventory Management, Packaging, Creative, Distribution, Retail Visual & Site through the full product life cycle
• Owned department seasonal and milestone hindsight reporting; supported weekly merchandising updates
• Identified opportunities to streamline processes and build team-wide efficiencies
• Updated site merchandising strategy to resolve shopping friction points across the category
• Onboarded and supported development of new team members

Associate Web Merchandiser - Rejuvenation

(2020-09 - 2021-10)

• Owned site experience and sales strategy for Lighting and Hardware, the brand's largest demand-driving and growth divisions
• Identified on-site customer experience improvements that generated an additional $250K in demand in the first year
• Led site and category merchandising strategy across all product types and seasonal campaigns
• Owned strategy, implementation, and reporting for site-wide seasonal and evergreen content campaigns
• Served as Web Development liaison, identifying bugs and feature needs and building a new tool to streamline Web Merch requests

Assistant Web Merchandiser - Rejuvenation

(2018-10 - 2020-09)

• Owned Antiques & Vintage division: weekly launches, top navigation, and category creation
• Delivered weekly, monthly, quarterly, and year-end reporting for Web and DTC channels
• Performed category-wide SWOT analyses and presented site recommendations to leadership
• Owned site selling strategy for product launches, including PIP presentation, facet strategy, and shop path placement

Assistant Buyer - Mark & Graham

(2018-03 - 2018-09)

Merchandise Coordinator - Mark & Graham

(2016-08 - 2018-02)

B.A. - Communicative Sciences & Disorders; Minor in Sociology & Anthropology - University of Redlands