The Art of Being a Good Buyer

by Peggy H Taylor

The decisions of the person who purchases merchandise for your store can make or break your business. Successful buyers ought to stay on top of the changing market place by reading trade journals, staying tuned in to online retail events, by going to trade shows, and by maintaining a good relationship with their reps. 

To be effective, buyers must be knowledgable on all aspects of the business they are buying for so they can ensure they have the right stock at the right price at the right time. To accurately achieve this goal you must know about inventory management, sales planning, forecasting, and open to buy planning.

Buyers must consider style, price, quality, and availability when ordering merchandise; in addition, reliability and support from suppliers is also a key factor. Feeling confident about the reliability of your supplier is critical for buyers since the well being of your store is in both your hands and theirs. Delayed deliver of inventory could result in a loss of business and customers.

Good buyers have the uncanny ability to assess which styles and merchandise will sell in their store by anticipating what their customer’s appetite will be the following retail season. Failure to be a good picker could result in a loss of profits and customers for the company. To work through this process successfully, the buyer needs to study past sales, inventory levels, and the historical sales performance of product manufacturers. 

In most small independent retail stores, the owners are also the buyers. More often than not, they do a good job of selecting the goods to sell in their stores. Buyers who fail to be successful at picking good merchandise for their store should be replaced or at lest assisted by someone who is good at selecting merchandise, even if it is the owner who has to step aside for the good of their store.

How do you rate yourself as a buyer?