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Retail Buying

Notes 1.1 Role of Buyers

Many who wish to embark on a career in retailing do so with the intention of becoming a buyer.
The role seems to provide a wealth of excitement and, often, glamour. The buyer of electronics
and appliances may not have these expectations, but the would-be purchasers of fashion-oriented
merchandise often believe this comes with the territory. While some fashion buyers are fortunate
enough to experience some of these glamorous trappings—attending designer runway shows
and making trips to exotic destinations—this is by no means the norm for the buying profession.
On the contrary, the role of the buyer is multifaceted; many of the tasks performed are rigorous
and challenging.
Merchandise selection is just one of many activities that are regular parts of the buyer’s day. This
and other tasks will be explored in the following sections.

1.1.1 Determining the Scope of the Buyer’s Role

Before you can define the scope of the buyer’s role, factors such as the type of organization in
which he or she is employed, organizational structure of the company, the dollar volume, the
merchandise classifications, the number of staff personnel, and the location of the retail outlets
must be assessed.

Company Organizational Structure

Those who are familiar with retailing, either as practitioners or as students learning about the
industry, understand that each organization requires a specific structure to carry out its goals.
There are many different types of retail operation—those that are more traditionally oriented
such as department stores, chains, and single-unit independents; operations that exclusively
feature their own merchandise under private labels; franchises and licensed stores; and the
off-site variety, from which continued growth is expected. The latter classification is a typical in
retailing in that the operations do not have store locations. It is these retailers—specifically
catalog operations, home shopping networks, and Internet Web sites—that are expected to
make great gains in sales.
 Chain Organizations: In the early days of retailing, the general store was often the place
in which consumers could make their purchases. General stores offered a variety of
unrelated products. When merchandise became more plentiful, merchants began to
specialize in just one type of goods in new ventures called limited line stores. These ventures,
ultimately to become known as specialty stores, were greeted with success, and their
owners began opening other units. Thus, the chain organization, a name given to two or
more units (often as many as a couple of thousand) under common ownership, enjoyed
extreme financial rewards.
Today, the majority of the chains are centrally organized. They are managed from corporate
headquarters, where all of the decision making is made. The buyer operates from this
centralized facility and has very little in-store contact with the various units. The major
responsibility is purchasing, with communication coming by way of the telephone, faxes,
and e-mail.

Notes Some of the typical chains are Target and Walmart, each of which operates as
discount value-oriented merchants; Petite Sophisticate, a traditional operation that
specializes in apparel for the smaller-female figure; The Limited, a company that deals
exclusively with their private-label brands; and SteinMart, an off-price operation.

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