Job Description

Established in 1973, Roots is a proudly Canadian lifestyle brand that celebrates authenticity, quality, and community. Inspired by the great outdoors, we create timeless, sustainable apparel and leather goods designed for comfort and everyday adventure. At Roots, we believe in fostering a culture of inclusivity, creativity, and teamwork – where every team member plays a role in shaping our brand’s legacy. If you bring passion to everything you do, lead with integrity, and believe in the power of collaboration to drive growth, we’d love to have you on our journey!

Nature & Scope → Your Role at Roots

The Merchandising Assistant plays a key support role within the merchandising and buying functions, helping to ensure product assortments, pricing, purchase orders, and reporting are executed accurately and on time. Working closely with cross-functional partners, vendors, and internal stakeholders, this role contributes to the effective planning and delivery of seasonal assortments while supporting sales, margin, and inventory objectives across the business.

Key Responsibilities → How You’ll Make an Impact

• Supports both the merchandising and buying teams in achieving sales, gross margin, and inventory productivity goals throughout all levels of the business.
• Collaborates with cross-functional teams including planning, allocations, visual merchandising, and retail operations to gather key information that helps create and execute brand vision.
• Conducts market research, competitive analysis and other miscellaneous projects to analyze consumer purchase patterns to aid in identifying future trends and opportunities.
• Assists in the development of product assortment plans, new collections and seasonal launches in partnership with both the merchandising and buying teams.
• Formulates retail and costing strategies to ensure targets are met for departmental profitability.
• Builds and maintains strong vendor relationships while evaluating samples, purchase needs and determining product availability.
• Ensures accuracy of purchase orders and resolves any delivery issues.
• Generates on-order and product flow reporting, inventory analysis and ad-hoc reporting to ensure business demands are met.
• Executes purchase order management, price management and item creation.
• Supports in driving a cohesive consumer experience across all categories and channels.
• Acts as a connector between the merchandising and buying functions, ensuring alignment on priorities, timelines, and brand direction.
Qualifications & Experience → The Skills You Bring

• Diploma/degree or equivalent in Business, Commerce or Fashion Merchandising.
• 2–3 years related experience in retail merchandising or buying highly preferred.
• Strong analytical skills, including the ability to interpret data, problem-solve, and make critical decisions.
• Able to work in a fast-paced, results-oriented environment and meet tight deadlines.
• Extraordinary attention to detail, organized, and able to efficiently complete tasks.
• Proficient in MS Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint).
• Excellent communication skills – interpersonal, written and verbal.
• Goal-oriented with a desire for constant self-improvement.
• Excellent sense of style and fashion trends and embodies the Roots brand.
This role supports our Fair Labour Association accreditation by applying Responsible Purchasing Practices that promote fair labour standards and responsible sourcing.

At Roots we appreciate that skills and expertise are cultivated through a range of experiences. We are committed to reflecting Canada's diverse landscape in our products, team, and workplace culture. We value your unique perspective and encourage you to apply, even if you don't meet every listed requirement. Accommodations are available for applicants throughout the recruitment process.
Please note: Roots uses technology-assisted tools, including artificial intelligence (AI), to support parts of the recruitment process. These tools may be used to help review applications, assess qualifications, and support interview documentation. All hiring decisions are reviewed and made by our Talent team and key leaders involved in the recruitment process.
The posted salary range is intended to reflect the competitive market value of this role and is provided to support transparency in our hiring process. Final compensation will be determined based on a variety of factors, including but not limited to internal equity, relevant skills, demonstrated knowledge, experience, and overall fit for the position.