National Union Catalog

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CAREER AS A

RETAIL MERCHANDISE BUYER

Institute Research Number 78 ISBN 1-58511-078-7 DOT Number 162.157-018

CAREER AS A

RETAIL MERCHANDISE BUYER MARKETING BUSINESS SPECIALTY Filling Stores Shelves and E-Commerce Web Pages With All Kinds of Things Americans Want and Need IN AMERICA, WE LIVE AMIDST A SEEMINGLY ENDLESS STREAM OF AVAILABLE GOODS.

Stores are open around the clock and the Internet never, ever sleeps. You can order a pair of snowshoes for next day delivery, or buy a reading lamp at 2:30 in the morning by calling a toll-free number from a catalog. Mouse clicks will bring a dozen roses. Books arrive at your doorstep. You can get special catnip for your favorite pet, or order special Indian rice by the kilogram. Wouldn’t it be great to get up in the morning, go to work, take part in all that buying, spend all kinds of money that isn’t yours – and get paid for it? Wouldn’t it be fun to find something in a wholesale catalog or examine a sales representative’s sample, realize that it’s exactly what you’ve been looking for, and then order 200 of them, whether the item in question is a hair barrette or a 4-post bed frame? And wouldn’t it be satisfying to see all 200 of them fly off the shelves and have your department store manager tell you what a good job you’ve done – and then find a big bonus in your check at the end of the year? If you’re a buyer for any kind of retailer, from an international chain to a small store that you own yourself, that’s the kind of day you’re going to 2

enjoy to the max – when everything is clicking along and all your decisions turn out to be the right ones. You have the satisfaction of knowing that you’re doing something that keeps a lot of people happy, from the customer who buys the item to the supplier you bought it from, to your bosses, to yourself. You get to see the newest products before anyone else does, get to know what the next big thing is, do some traveling (maybe overseas!) and get to use your own judgment and creativity.

HOW TO FIND OUT IF THIS IS THE CAREER FOR YOU DO YOU THINK ABOUT WHY YOU BUY THE THINGS YOU BUY? WHY YOU CHOOSE ONE

pair of shoes over another? Why you like a particular car? Well, some of the reason is the seller’s efforts at marketing. You see the product advertised and after a while, you make a decision to buy it, or you buy it on impulse. But what if you were looking for an item, say a particular designer’s line of spring clothes, but you couldn’t find it? You might try another store or you might switch to another brand.

The store buyer doesn’t want that to happen. The buyer is part of the team that works very hard to direct your attention on their products and keep you happy as a consumer. While buyers can’t read your mind, it might seem like it sometimes, or it might seem they are trying. They have to anticipate your wants almost before you know you even want something. The next time you’re in a store, why don’t you try noticing what’s for sale and what isn’t for sale? Go to similar shoe stores, department stores, and clothing stores to informally compare merchandise. You know where you like to shop the best, but do you know why? Is there someplace that used to carry your favorites but doesn’t any more, or someplace that just started carrying something you’ve seen advertised? Do your purchases drive what the store stocks, or does the store’s stock determine your purchases? How do buyers know what to buy to stock the store to draw consumers? To get an idea about the history of retailing, look at some old newspapers, the oldest ones you can find in your public library. Most libraries have a local history section with past newspapers preserved on microfilm. You could make your own informal survey of trends in everything from automobile styles to the declining consumer interest in ladies hats. The old advertisements are also fun to look at, and the prices are so low it seems unreal. 3

Read business-oriented magazines and newspapers, such as the Wall Street Journal and Fortune, for information relevant to the retail industry. Don’t worry if the language seems to technical, or you feel like you can’t follow the details. Learning the language and vocabulary of an industry or discipline is a big help and by familiarizing yourself with current news and projections for the retail segment of the country’s and the world’s economy, you’ll make yourself more competitive in the job market. You’ll also feel more comfortable since you’ll know some of the jargon. The biggest change in retailing has been the rise of the Internet. Look at some Internet sites for your favorite stores and compare them. How easy is the site to navigate? Can you find what you need in terms of pricing, the return policy, selection, shipping, and other customer service factors? You need to be familiar with what’s out there on the Net since it has become such an integral part of consumer shopping behavior. If a site is hard to use or confusing, people don’t come back to it, preferring to stick with the Web sites they know or the stores they know.

HISTORY OF THIS CAREER IN 19TH CENTURY AMERICA, LONG BEFORE MOST PEOPLE WERE THINKING THAT

something like a computer would ever be in millions of homes, most towns had a few sizeable stores carrying a broad range of consumer goods. In the big cities of Europe, you could visit major department stores such as the Bon Marché (the “good deal”) in Paris (founded in 1838); El Corte Inglés (“the English Cut”) in Barcelona, Spain; or Harrods in London. In America, Marshall Field’s in Chicago, Macy’s in New York, and Lazarus in Columbus, Ohio, were some of the big names that are still in business today. But if you didn’t live in a big city, you went to smaller stores or maybe the one small store in your town. Depending on the size of your community, there might be a single “general” store that sold some foodstuffs, a few items of clothing, nails for horse shoes, canned foods, etc. Larger communities would have specialty shops. Dry goods stores sold all kinds of clothing, from underwear and coats to hats and hosiery for men, women, and children. Butcher shops sold meat; the stationer might sell books, paper, pens, and envelopes. Most stores paid very little attention to how their goods were displayed. Store interiors were dark with few windows. Items were stacked on shelves and hard to see, or were behind a counter so that the store owner had to bring out what the 4

customer wished to purchase. There were far fewer choices than today, and people bought what was available. Then, around 1900, things began to change. Stores began to compete much harder for their customer’s business and looked for different ways to make their wares more appealing. One of the innovators in selling was L. Frank Baum, author of the famous Wizard of Oz books and founder of Show Window magazine, a trade publication dedicated to making stores visually appealing. Baum created samples of window displays, a new form of advertising at the time. In fact, people had to be encouraged to stop and look in store windows, an activity previously regarded as rude. Stores also displayed their prices, an innovation from the days when customers had to ask the clerk or manager how much something cost. The turn of the century also saw the rise of catalog shopping, the most famous probably being the Sears, Roebuck and Company. Sears began selling and repairing watches and quickly expanded into an entire, full-service, one-stop-shopping enterprise. If you want to get a quick overview of modern American history, look at reproductions of old Sears catalogs. The catalog has, literally, something for everyone; books, horseshoes, clothing, furniture, butter-churns, table settings – you can spend hours looking and you will be amazed over and over again. Sears even sold house “kits,” with the walls, floors, roofs, and fixtures delivered by train for the buyer to assemble! Naturally, Sears also sold the wiring, the pluming, the windows, and the carpets and furniture to make the house a home. By the 1920s, the big department stores were shopping Meccas, a tendency we still see in malls today where the bigger stores are considered “anchors” for the mall as a whole. The big stores had restaurants (sometimes more than one), play areas for children, tailoring services, book departments, furniture, and clothing. There were elaborately redecorated areas during the Christmas season where children could visit Santa Claus – and parents would be drawn into the store to see, and buy, the available toys. This all-encompassing strategy was still in evidence in the 1970s, but began to decline as the customer base moved out of the cities and into suburban areas. Modern shopping malls now must compete with the resurgent mini-mall or strip mall, as shoppers weary of the traffic and congestion difficulties presented by the enormous parking lots required by enormous malls.

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The 1980s saw the expansion of specialty catalog shopping as consumers sought unusual goods and found them in their mailboxes, a return to the good old days of Sears. It’s probably not too much of a stretch to see mail order as the bridge to the biggest modern development in retailing: e-tailing, or shopping and buying on-line. The Internet has opened many avenues for consumers but probably won’t entirely replace a real “bricks and mortar” store with real goods in stock. So far, some of the most successful online retailers are “clicks-and-mortar” stores – established traditional retail businesses that have expanded into the electronic realm (“clicks”) while maintaining a physical presence (“bricks”). L.L. Bean is a good example of a company that started small, selling mostly to hunters and fishermen, then gradually expanded, reaching a broader market. They have an extremely low error rate in their shipping, which translates into a high consumer confidence rate.

Buyers have always been in the forefront of new

product lines since it’s their job to know what sells and what doesn’t, and even occasionally what’s needed from manufacturers. Retail buyers who worked for large department stores envisioned the tea bag and panty hose, both items representative of shoppers’ demand for convenience in any form imaginable.

Naturally, all this retail expansion is the result of a similar expansion of the American middle class with disposable income. As people can afford more comforts and are no longer forced to worry about necessities like food and shelter, they can respond to fashion and technology as consumers, buying better durable goods or surrounding themselves with the finer things of life. But when people don’t feel confident about their personal finances, they don’t spend as much. When they don’t spend as much, stores can’t sell, and when stores don’t sell, they don’t place orders with manufacturers. You can see the impact of economic downturns on retailers when consumer confidence is low, and see how economic systems are connected and dependent on one another. Most retailers also depend on a good Christmas season to make enough money to carry them through the rest of the year, worrying plenty if the economic indicators are less than ideal. 6

WHERE RETAIL BUYERS WORK WHEN YOU’RE AT THE OFFICE, YOU’LL BE IN A MODERN BUILDING WITH LIGHTS,

heat, air conditioning, and all the comforts workers take for granted in the business world. You’ll have a desk, chair, telephone, and computer, so that you can research products, check on what’s selling and confer with colleagues. As a retail buyer, you’ll be dealing with salespeople from the manufacturers and wholesalers of the items your store sells. You should have enough room in your office or at your desk for one-on-one meetings, or access to company conference or meeting rooms. Some salespeople will bring samples of their offerings to show and demonstrate to you, so you will need enough space to accommodate this. Depending on the particular structure of the retailer you work for, your office might be located in the store or you might be at an office or headquarters some distance from the point of sale to the consumer. If you are the buyer for your own store, then your working space will be your place of business, from the front door where the public enters to the loading dock in the back where the merchandise comes to you. If you’ve started an e-tailing business and are going completely virtual, you might stay at home in front of your computer all day, making an occasional visit to the distribution center that packs and ships the actual goods. That’s how some businesses operate today if there is no physical storefront. If you travel in your job, you’ll receive an expense account, have a corporate charge card, or receive reimbursement for travel expenses. If a company car is available, you’ll avoid wear and tear on your own, or be eligible for mileage reimbursement if you must use your own vehicle. You might also spend time on the floor, seeing what sells and how, maybe even directly observing consumer behavior. If your store is small, or it’s your store, you’re going to perform more than one function. You might buy, restock, arrange window displays, hire and train employees, do the books, run the vacuum cleaner and dust shelves. As you go up in a large organization, you’ll be responsible for how the merchandise looks on the showroom floor (or on the company Web site), so you’ll need to spend time in real space or cyber space to be familiar with the appearance of the stock. Depending on your rank in the hierarchy of buyers, you might go to trade shows which could be close by or far away, depending on where you live or work. Trade shows usually occur at large conference/civic centers or 7

other good-sized facilities with plenty of room for displays. You might also go overseas, especially if you’re in charge of buying the latest in clothing fashions. Some companies sell exotic, hand-made goods produced by craftsmen participating in a long tradition of art and design, and you might go to their village in Indonesia or Guatemala. Overseas buying trips can be a lot of fun, but are also a lot of hard work. You’re not on vacation taking in the sights and soaking up local culture; you’re responsible for major financial decisions that affect your company, your job, and your career. You’ll go from store to store, factory to factory, and cram in as much work as you can with very little time left for leisure. The idea is to make money for your company and since time is money, you’ve got to make the minutes count. You will be working with other people every single day. You’ll talk to co-workers and sales reps one-on-one and you’ll attend meetings in conference rooms, in restaurants, in stores, and maybe on the airplane over the Atlantic on your way to and from Milan, Italy. The workweek will run at least 40-hours, frequently more. During busy seasons (Christmas, Christmas, Christmas), you will work more than 40 hours, possibly later in the evening and on weekends. If there is a shortage of employees, someone has called in sick, or someone moved on to another job, you might find yourself doing the work of two.

DUTIES OF A RETAIL BUYER distinction between a BUYER AND A purchasing agent. A purchasing agent procures supplies and services for use by the company they work for. A graphics design firm, for example, needs to purchase the supplies necessary to run their company and create a product. They need cameras, computers, light boards to look at slides, paper, and ink cartridges. They might also need to contract with a service to clean the offices or set up an account with a courier service for mailing and delivery. So, at this graphics supply firm, the designers and other employees would go to the purchasing agent and give the specifications: we need computers with 21 inch monitors, a hard drive faster than the speed of light, and the following software bundle. The purchasing agent then shops around for the specific items, looking for the best deals and offering alternatives if the price is right. The purchasing agent makes the buy using whatever means the firm prefers– corporate credit card, written purchase order, cash, etc. The agent might also track the delivery and follow up on delays or problems with the new equipment. THIS IS A GOOD TIME TO MAKE A

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A buyer, on the other hand, purchases supplies from a wholesaler specifically for resale. If you’re responsible for buying the stock for a privately owned grocery store, then you buy your bread, canned goods, candy, meats, and other items, directly from warehouses or several different suppliers who specialize in a particular commodity like dairy products or beef. You also have to know what your customers want or are likely to buy, what they don’t want to buy anymore, and try to anticipate their needs. Just like the purchasing agent, you need to find sources of supply; the manufacturers or wholesalers who can provide the goods you need to keep your stock up-to-date. The bottom line is the bottom line, which, in business, means money. As a buyer, you have the responsibility to get the best item for the best price, which will result in the greatest profit for your company when the item is resold to the end-using consumer. Sometimes you’ll need to engage in a little haggling and negotiating. Simply asking for a lower price will often get a lower price. We’re so accustomed in America to paying the amount on the sticker that it feels rude to try anything else, but getting a better deal is part of doing business. As a buyer, you choose the goods for resale. That makes you the top decision maker, or one of the top decision makers. But how do you know what kinds of decisions to make? If you work for a new business, how do you determine what sells? If you come into an established business, do you keep buying the same things or do you branch out? How much risk is acceptable? Is it professional death to buy something that didn’t sell? These decisions sound difficult, but you will learn the techniques of doing it successfully. Buyers get to know their product and their market. Product and market are two sides of the same coin, and one can’t exist without the other. Buyers learn what sells and what doesn’t. Some of this is by experience; some of it is by keeping up on trade journals and statistics on consumer desires and satisfaction. Buyers also study past sales records and inventory records. Inventory records are vital, since they show what’s selling (or isn’t) and how quickly (or slowly). There’s lots of analysis in this field of work; what if something is so expensive that it makes little or no profit, but it’s popular with customers? Should you carry it anyway because it brings people in, or discontinue the item to make room for items with a faster turnover? How much should you buy? Will they all sell before they go stale/go out of fashion/are imitated at a cheaper price? How much can you mark up the item to make a profit for your business and keep your customers happy? 9

You will need to know something about demographics, which Webster’s dictionary defines as: “the statistical characteristics of human populations (as age or income) used especially to identify markets”. If you know for whom you are buying, you can do a much better job of focusing on what they need or what they might want. You also need to look at advertisements in magazines, newspapers, on-line retailers, and television – just about any place that advertising exists. Not only will you learn what’s popular, but you’ll be “shopping the competition,” meaning that you’re keeping an eye on what works for other businesses selling the same or a similar line of goods. There will be obvious seasonal variations; air conditioners will sell out during the summer, for example, when no one is buying salt to melt the snow. In the winter, this trend would reverse. Location will also matter. It might be winter in Key West but that doesn’t mean an air conditioner won’t come in handy, and the local home supply store has probably never stocked a bag of salt to melt snow that never comes. Even in a place where there doesn’t seem to be a lot of seasonal variation, there’s enough to make a difference to the people who live there. Keep this in mind if you grew up in Wisconsin but are making your career buying for stores in Florida. As a buyer, you will always be on the lookout for new sources of supply. While you might get used to working with a few tried-and-true manufacturers or suppliers, smaller companies start up all the time and just might have something new and different to offer you and your customers. A smaller toy manufacturer might have unique items for sale, something that fits just the right niche for your company, something you can’t get from a big name like Mattel or Fischer-Price. It doesn’t mean you should (or even can) ignore these large firms. They became large for good reasons like satisfying the customer and successfully promoting their products. But by thoroughly understanding sources and perpetually scouting new ones, you’ll be the market expert for your company; a real resource to them and they’ll want to keep you on as an employee. Some of your product research will involve the Internet, as many wholesalers now use electronic means of advertising. However, a printed catalog is still a good idea and whatever you specialize in, it will be handy to have paper for reference. Trade shows are very important research points as they give the buyer a chance to see and test the items to help in the decision-making process. Trade shows are also a great opportunity for buyer and seller to meet and discuss their needs and requirements, increasing future opportunities for all. 10

The reliability of your source of supply is an important factor. Do they ship when they say they will? Are they willing to work to solve problems? Do they deliver the goods they’ve promised when they promised? Sometimes buyers visit the supplier’s facility, which might be a workshop, a factory, or a distribution center, to check on these vital, logistical functions. Everyone has problems and bad weather can halt shipments, but if shipping and delivery problems get to be chronic then it might be best for you, the buyer, to seek alternative sources. Buyers often specialize in a product line or particular goods, like women’s shoes or dresses. They learn everything they can about what’s selling, what’s up and coming in fashion. They meet with other buyers who specialize in their field and keep up on trade magazines specific to their product line. There are many levels of buyers within an organization. Some companies have a hierarchy that ranges from the very beginner to the very top. Every company is unique and every company tries to utilize employee strengths to the maximum.

Assistant Buyer An assistant buyer performs many critical functions, doing lots of the legwork, phone calling, and information gathering for buyers on up the ladder. Assistant buyers obtain samples of items for evaluation. They also do everything they can to make sure that the merchandise they ordered gets to the store on time. This means understanding a little something about shipping. If you’re out of something today, something large perhaps, you can’t expect your supplier to get more to you tomorrow. Sometimes you can expect it tomorrow, but then you’ve got to expect to pay very costly overnight shipping expenses. When it’s time for a sale, assistants put the markdown prices on the tag and reprogram the computer to accept the new changes. Assistant buyers also: Analyze sales trends Proof-read advertising copy Evaluate the effectiveness of advertisement Shop the competition Learn what the customer wants and doesn’t want Keep the information flowing back up the chain of command Work with the vendors and their co-workers at all levels

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Associate Buyer/Senior Assistant Buyer An associate buyer has

more responsibilities than an assistant and might even direct a lot of an assistant’s work. An associate will be responsible for more financial information, overall merchandise development, and the direction of marketing. There will be less of the hands-on type labor and more decision-making. Associate buyer’s responsibilities include: Identify customer favorites Analyze sales trends on a larger scale Deal with older inventory Plan, manage and control mark-downs Make financial forecasts Work out marketing plans as they relate to seasonal buying patterns Work on the presentation and display of merchandise Work with other departments to keep all facets of the store functioning

Head Buyer These buyers are at the top of the accountability chain. They make over-all decisions about the product line and are directly responsible, in many cases, for performance and economic success. They plan, strategize, and direct the work of others, often directly supervising. Head buyers also: Train other employees Set department direction Develop marketing strategies Make sure that vendors are performing (deliver the right thing at the right time) Inform upper management of trends, successes, problems Direct promotions of seasonal items Figure out who the customer is and what they need Attend markets, both domestic and overseas As with everything else in business these days, you’re going to need to know how to use the computer. This shouldn’t surprise you, but don’t worry if you feel you haven’t had enough experience. You can get training in the basic word processing programs through local technical schools, 12

and some public libraries might offer skills-based classes if you might have missed them in high school. Learning a spreadsheet program, such as Excel or Lotus will at least make it easier to read spreadsheets, even if you never generate one yourself. Buyers don’t work in a vacuum. You will always be working with other people and sometimes you will be working very hard at influencing them to carry out your policies and procedures, or working to convince a supervisor or boss that your ideas are good. People are the constant, the center, the reason for the business, and for your job. Enthusiasm is a must, as is a willingness to listen. When an item ships from the manufacturer or a wholesaler, it will probably go to your company’s warehouse or to some kind of distribution center. The distribution center might be a large warehouse-type facility that serves several different companies by providing storage and shipping services. For Internet or catalog ordering, the merchandise never sees the inside of a retail store, but instead is packaged with the company-marked packing material and shipped to the customer. 13

BUYERS TELL YOU ABOUT THEIR CAREERS I Am the Book Buyer and Inventory Manager for a Major Book-Selling Chain “There’s a core

title base of products that are assigned by the main office, but if I think that I could sell something I see in a catalog, I’ll stock it. I buy locally produced items also; I’m a big believer in supporting the local community. I think it’s important for a business to be a part of the community. I actually take an active role, I track down people who’ve written something, a collection of poetry or maybe published a book of maps of local back roads, and then stock that item. I’ve been in this business awhile and I’ve never met anyone else who can smell something that’s going to do well like I can. Maybe my ability to choose best selling books is mystical? More seriously, books are what I do. I go home and read and I also write. I got my bachelor’s degree in English with a concentration in writing. I spent some time in the fast food trenches, minimum wage, drive-through grunt work. I was an assistant manager at a big fast food company and the money was good, but I hated it. I did spend a little over a year as a manager at a comic book shop. It’s different than this. You get a higher discount on your product, but you can’t return it if it doesn’t sell. That experience made me more conservative here. During the general boom in the comic business, if you had a few bad weeks of sales, you could wind up losing everything. In 1994 and 1995, speculators were all over the place, buying up books and planning on saturating the market, so if you didn’t have a diverse customer base and sold only to speculators, then more than likely you’d go out of business. Returns are a big part of the book industry, but just because a book is remaindered doesn’t mean it isn’t a good book or isn’t

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popular. They print Steven King’s books in such quantity that some of them are going to get remaindered. It’s uncanny: I can smell hits. For whatever reason, I can look at something and tell that it’s going to be a big seller. When Peter Jennings’ book, The Century, came out, I had a stack four feet high, while at the competitor’s store, there was a line to sign up for the waiting list for the book. Well, why do that when you can come to me and buy the book? I couldn’t really tell you what real quality is. Best sellers are not necessarily something I would buy for myself. I guess I can detect popular appeal. The ability to take a step back and acknowledge what others like is a real plus. I plan to do this for a long time. I’m really happy with the way things are. I enjoy this and I’m good at it. It’s great to be able to have confidence that I’m good at what I do. I’ve been in the book business consecutively for nine years, been in management for six years. I have a lot of work right now – we’ve got the post-Christmas sales to deal with. I have to coordinate getting rid of all that unsold inventory.”

I Am a Buyer for a Museum Gift Shop “I’m from this area and I know the history

of this museum. I’ve worked with the customers for a long time.

Buying for a museum forces you to focus on the museum’s collection, how the products reflect the collection. In fact, everything has to relate to the museum. There’s an educational focus to our products because that’s also one of the goals of our museum. The shop also carries Chinese export items because we have a large Asian collection at the museum. One of the shop’s primary goals is to support the museum financially. Our second focus is to educate people, including the skilled craftsmen in our area. We like to promote local artisans. I’m focusing on folk art at the moment since our folk art display is up. We’re having a new installation of art this weekend, so I’ll have things out in front that relate to it, like a catalog of the exhibition.

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Exhibition catalogs are books with photographs of the objects on display and accompanying texts. We have a conservatory so we have items relating to plants and gardening. We sell bamboo stalks. They’re really neat – you just stick them in water and they grow like a potato. We’re eclectic in the shop because our museum is eclectic. I go to trade shows in Columbus, Ohio and in Atlanta, Georgia. It sounds fun, but I’ve never worked so hard in my life! There’s a trade group for museum stores, but you have to be a member to get their information. It’s the Museum Store Association. The markets are only open at certain times of the year. The market in Columbus is held in a couple of buildings. You don’t bring the items home; you see samples and then place your orders. You’re shopping with someone else’s money. You’ve got to budget, know exactly what your current inventory is. There’s lots of advance planning, and you really have to study what you want to look for. A typical day at market starts at 9:00 and goes to 8:00 in the evening. I go full-tilt, don’t stop for lunch. You can get overwhelmed. The vendors have extensive exhibits showcasing all their offerings. The big companies have the same stuff you see everywhere, but the smaller ones have different unique objects. Yes, it’s confusing sometimes. You go back to your hotel room afterwards with the catalogs you picked up, your budget, your inventory lists, and you work on what to buy. Usually I check everything out the first two days, and place actual orders on the last day. It can get nerve wracking, and just like your own shopping, you’ll see the same product some place with a different price, so you look for the best deal. Sometimes things I’ve bought haven’t sold well in the shop. In a museum, there are certain things you have to carry, books, for example, but they tend not to fly off the shelves. When you’re working on the display in the shop, you try to get at least one special ‘Wow!’ item that will draw people’s attention, then they’ll buy the other items associated with it. Around here, people go for the lower price-points.

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It’s very satisfying, especially when you find that one hot thing that everyone wants. I love art and I love the museum.”

I Am a Purchasing Agent for a Federal Agency “I’ve been doing this for about 12

years now, and I’ve seen a lot of changes in the way we do things. I started out buying hospital supplies at the Veteran’s Administration. The different offices and departments told me what they needed, and I’d go to a supplier, get a price quote, and then place an order. I often did research for a requestor. Personal computers were just coming in, so I’d call local office places and get them to explain to us what we needed. We had weird stuff, like one computer with a regular floppy drive, plus several with the big floppy disks and we had to get the equipment so they could communicate with each other. I purchased all the drugs for the pharmacy, for example, and the clerk in the pharmacy who did the inventory would send me forms telling me how much of what to buy. If a piece of equipment broke down, I’d call around and get estimates on repairs. When I left the Veterans Administration and came here, it was a lot different. This agency needs contracts for services, like grass mowing and grounds keeping. But over the years, things have changed a lot. It used to be that my office bought almost everything for the 54 field offices; from typewriter ribbons to pencils. For people in the main office, we literally did buy everything. I went to one trade show, at a local Federal prison. The inmates make furniture for government agencies. Not only did we see the factory, but we toured the prison, saw where the men lived, saw finished pieces of furniture. Then my agency went over to credit cards, which really is convenient. Same rules and regulations (and there are a lot of regulations when you buy for the federal government), just a different way to make the buy. Then they gave more authority to 17

office staff and field people. It really streamlined the process – they could get what they needed faster, but it really cut down on my work. Instead of calling around and asking for quotes or sending quote requests out, we now do it electronically. You put your specs together, post them on an electronic bulletin board, then wait for the quotes to roll in. Still, you talk to people a lot; all day, every day. Communication is one of the most important things because if people don’t understand what’s going wrong with a buy, why it’s taking longer than they’d like it to, they tend to be very unhappy. So you have to keep the people you’re purchasing for informed and up-to-date.”

I Am an Associate Buyer for a Major Department Store Chain “I’ve worked here for

about six months, and I have a degree in marketing. I buy better handbags, like Fossil, Kenneth Cole, and Jones New York. The vendors are a big help when it comes to knowing what to buy. They know our customers pretty well, and what our customers want. Right now, we’re getting out of the ‘bowling bag’ style and into bags with more frame structure. We read trend magazines, like Glamour, and look at the ads for Gucci or Prada brands. We know that what the big designers show, other places will start copying, like the color or the fabrics. When we buy something, we think about how it’s going to look out on the floor, how it presents. A retail planner sets up the quantity to purchase beforehand with the vendor. It depends on the size of the “door.” Door means store size in a particular area. Some places have smaller doors than others. At the January market, we bought for spring, plus we also bought for back-to-school, so we buy from four to seven months in advance. Yes, you really need a college degree, definitely. That’s what the stores are looking for. I started working for the company as a sales manager, then moved up to associate buyer.” 18

I Own My Own Retail Business “Well, if I had to

define it, I guess I would call it an aromatherapy store, because we make our own incense. It’s also a contemporary hippie store. I buy what appeals to me, plus I talk to my customers and find out what they like. You need to get a taste of the people you serve. I go by what’s sold in the past, plus my own belief system, my own values. I don’t sell cigarettes, for example. It’s good karma to help people. Karma’s a great concept. It’s best to stock your store as fully as you can, keep it pleasing to the eye for your customer. How you set up your display is important. We buy from all over the country. You don’t want to limit yourself to just a few local suppliers. I buy rings in bulk, for example. I asked the supplier to send me an assortment – that’s cheaper than picking out each one. Then I see what sells, what sizes, and reorder based on that. Sure, I’ve bought things that didn’t move. That’s when you find those tremendous markdowns, on the stuff that didn’t sell. You don’t want to keep things too long; items get shop-warn, frayed, they don’t look as nice. It’s best to develop a relationship with your suppliers, to build up trusting relationships with people. That way, when you have to call if something came in broken, they know you’re not trying to rip them off. I talk to salespeople, go into other people’s businesses and see what they’re selling, look at catalogs, look on the Internet. We don’t sell on the Internet right now, it’s hard enough to keep stock in the shop without selling over the Net too. I find sources from talking to other businesses. Sometimes they’ll offer a source, sometimes you can’t discover where a particular item came from. We go to a lot of shows, arts and crafts, to look for items. We network with other crafters and artists, pick up sources. Sometimes people come in with jewelry they’ve made themselves, and we’ll buy it to sell it in the store. Of course, I trade a lot. I don’t always use money. I trade with friends. We’ll swap stock, and then resell it. I’ve been in retail for 25 years, mostly in sales and management. Sometimes I had input on what I bought, sometimes not. 19

I’ve got plans to expand, but some people expand too quickly, overstep their boundaries, spread too thin, I guess. You have to move slowly, be careful of what moves you make. I also have to buy fixtures and supplies for the business, paper clips and rubber bands, light bulbs, shelving, display. I buy second-hand when I can, and from flea markets and antique or junk shops. You have to decorate with a color scheme in mind, because you have to think how things are going to be displayed. You have to fit your budget.”

PERSONAL QUALIFICATIONS IF YOU LOVE THE THRILL OF A BARGAIN AND IF YOU LOVE TO SHOP, THEN YOU’VE

found the right career path. You won’t be spending a dime of your own, but you’ll have the satisfaction of purchasing consumer goods of quality, and sometimes in huge quantities. The more serious side of this is that you’re spending your company’s money, which means you need a heightened sense of responsibility and accountability. It’s necessary to have the ability to keep more than one ball in the air at a time; to be good at personal multi-tasking. On any given day you’ll have multiple priorities including sales meetings, budget considerations, preparations for the next season, employee concerns, and delivery schedules. Flexibility is a skill you will have to learn. You will need to cultivate a unique combination of humility and confidence. The humility comes when you try to understand what the customer wants, not what you want. Your preference and your own sense of style about certain items might cause you to reject a particular line or simply to overlook an item’s popular appeal. In that case, your own good taste and savvy could prove a liability. The confidence comes when you’ve researched your market, studied the trends, done as much planning and information gathering as possible, then gone ahead with the decision you’ve made knowing you’ve done your job. Some buyers also have a kind of “sixth sense” about what’s going to sell. Others will tell you that they are always drawn to a particular item that the sales clerks can’t move if they gave it away. Either way, good 20

judgment or the occasional misreading of market trends, the buyer’s success isn’t the result of magic but rather is based on how prepared you are, how much you have steeped yourself in market trends and results. This kind of attention to detail is honed during years of experience and by paying attention. You’ll need to enjoy working with people and be able to communicate with everyone, from the guy who whittles the neat little wooden statues that your store sells all year to the woman in charge of the warehouse, to stock holders and sales reps. You’ll probably supervise employees at some point, plus you’ll be under the supervision of others. Don’t forget problem solving and idea originating! Your business will depend on your originality in a big way. Creativity is a big plus when dealing with problems, as problems are often caused by old solutions that worked at one time, but not any more. Can you analyze trends? Do you pay attention to business news and watch what’s hot and what’s not? You don’t need to become a stockbroker or understand every word in the Wall Street Journal, but you will need to develop a keen interest in the US economy. An international outlook wouldn’t hurt, since so many items are manufactured overseas and trade is a global phenomenon. Do you enjoy popular culture? Think about sporting events and theater, movies and art museums. All of the objects in our daily lives were products on a shelf or in a storeroom before we obtained them. What are some trends in color, design, or style? If this seems confusing, go to your library and check out the book (or ask them to request a copy on interlibrary loan) Populuxe/the Look and Life of America in the ‘50s and ‘60s, from Tailfins and TV Dinners to Barbie Dolls and Fallout Shelters by Thomas Hine. When you’re looking at photos of stuff that was popular before you were born, it’s easy to see what was once fashionable, popular, and widely available, but in many cases just doesn’t exist any more. Doing this with the past is much easier than trying to analyze contemporary culture, where everything just seems like it has always been this way.

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ATTRACTIVE FEATURES IF YOU LIKE CHANGE AND CHALLENGE, EXCITEMENT AND ACTIVITY, THEN YOU’RE

going to like working as a buyer. There’s always a change on the horizon, which means opportunities for learning and advancement abound. There’s always something to keep you busy, which gives you a sense of fulfillment and accomplishment. You will be providing people with things that they want and need Shopping is fun. Going to markets is fun. Looking at new products, comparing items, and making decisions is fun. And if you live for your product, like the book buyer you read about, you will find real satisfaction in the daily details of your job. Your creativity will be valued. If you see a place where some innovation is needed, your suggestions and ideas will be welcome. Buying trips are exciting. You see the new stuff first, meet with colleagues, and get out of town for a few days to experience a change of pace. Even if you are busy while you’re on a buying trip, you’re traveling, and traveling is always interesting, even if it’s only a few hours away. You will have relocation opportunities if your company has more than one store, opportunities that can take you all over the world. You’ll get to know a variety of people, making friends and future job contacts. When you receive praise, good performance evaluations, and bonuses and raises for your performance, you feel rewarded. This is a very hands-on, tangible process, one where you can look back at the end of the day and say, “I did this and I did that and I feel good about it.” If your line is outselling your competitor, you’ll get that “high-5” rush of satisfaction almost in spite of yourself. Success is addictive. Employee discounts are also a wonderful thing and a big draw for many people taking their first jobs as sales associates in retail.

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UNATTRACTIVE FEATURES THE PACE IN RETAIL, ESPECIALLY FROM ABOUT NOVEMBER ON THROUGH THE JANUARY

sales, can become frenetic. If you’re not willing to work overtime, or if you have other responsibilities that interfere with overtime work, your employer might not want to keep you. The pace of retail is also competitive. No matter what you or your company sells, someone else carries something similar. If your department is successful, some competitor who might even outdistance you in the market place will imitate you. If your competitor finds The Next Big Thing before you, your promotions, bonuses, or even your job might be on the line depending your placement in the company. What happens if items you ordered are late, don’t come in at all, or (maybe worst of all) come in damaged or wrong? What if what you buy doesn’t sell? Ideally, you’ve made the best decision you can, based on your research and experience. Someone else, however, might blame you for conditions that are not your fault. Consider such negative moments a learning experience and move on, either within the company you work for, or in the next one, if you actually get fired. Sometimes unpleasant experiences impel you into taking the kind of risks that will yield satisfying results in the form of a better job. It’s unfortunate but true of any organization with different offices and departments – sometimes people are less than cooperative in helping each other get the job done. In an ideal world, no one would jealously guard their own piece of turf, try to get someone else’s job, feel threatened and unhappy and therefore take it out on someone else, but people can get unpleasant if they think their livelihood is threatened. This happens at all levels of nearly all companies. Sometimes it seems as though it’s better to utterly ignore personality clashes and office politics, but it’s usually better to keep an ear to the ground while avoiding participation as much as possible. In the world of retail, the one constant is change. With the increasing importance of the Internet, many companies have jumped on the electronic bandwagon and almost as many have fallen off. This roller-coaster trend will probably continue for a few years before e-commerce, the concept and the reality, normalize. Also, if mobility is a problem for you, it might be difficult to attain the highest positions with your employer. Moving might mean getting the job you want but not in the place you want, a drawback depending on you, the location, and the job. 23

EDUCATION RECOMMENDATIONS WHILE A COLLEGE EDUCATION WAS NOT NECESSARY AT ONE TIME, THAT TIME IS OVER.

Most major retailers are looking for college-educated graduates who have the basics in a variety of areas. Some companies are especially interested in liberal arts graduates since they have a well-rounded background that includes psychology, history, sociology, mathematics, sciences, and writing. Many companies look specifically for students with a marketing or other business major, so that’s the kind of program you need to look for at the college of your choice. The better you do in school, the better you’ll look to a prospective employer. You’re not going to find a major in buying as a discipline unto itself, but you can major in marketing, a much broader category that will teach different aspects of retailing. Marketing is a term used to describe all aspects of selling, from advertising to anticipating and directing consumers. You’ll cover the basics for the first two years as a college undergraduate. You’ll take science and mathematics courses, plus get a background in accounting, economics, and government. Some schools require courses in international studies during your undergraduate years, which is a very good idea. Our world is much smaller than it used to be and goods are shipped all over the planet every day, increasing the interaction of peoples and nations. It’s good to understand that there’s more than our own way of structuring marketplaces. You might find yourself dealing on a daily basis with people from other countries. This isn’t surprising. Take a look at the labels on the inside of your shoes. Chances are they weren’t manufactured in America. At some point in the transaction that resulted in those shoes winding up on your feet, people from more than one culture spoke, made deals, exchanged money, and traded information. Customs and traditions are good to understand, including our own. We think of other people as having customs, not ourselves, and far from being something quaint, customs drive markets and economic systems. You will also take courses in psychology, English, the arts, and the humanities such as history and sociology. Courses in communications, specifically, will help you understand how people interact and how they listen (or don’t) to new information. And of course, there will be some computer instruction. As you move on to your third and fourth years, you’ll begin to focus more on your specialty. There will be classes in management to help you 24

understand the big picture of any business enterprise. Knowledge of business statistics is very important. You’ll need to know how to use mathematics and statistics to help your company’s bottom line; how much profit they actually make. Management classes cover the overall structure of an organization, how the different sections and departments fit into the whole, issues of human behavior within organizations, and how to deal with change. Classes in marketing will focus on the basics of retail management, how to maintain an inventory, issues in transportation, and how to get from raw material to store. Consumer behavior and market research will teach about what people buy and why they buy it. This is very important for a buyer to know. Consumers also grow more sophisticated all the time, expecting the best quality and wanting the best value for their dollar, but people also purchase based on emotions, previous expectations, nostalgia, memory – all kinds of intangibles that have nothing to do with actual needs. You’ll learn a lot about human patterns of consumption. Even with the advantages a good education gives you in the marketplace of employment, there’s no substitute for experience. As a senior, you’ll have an internship that will be the capstone of your undergraduate education. Your internship is the place and the time where you can try on the responsibilities of a buyer’s duties in a real business. It’s also the place where good grades and good interview skills will come in handy to help you get the internship of your dreams, or at least the one that comes closest to your interests. Once you’ve completed your course work, your internship, graduated, and landed your first full-time job someplace, you still face quite a bit of training. Some training takes a matter of weeks, but some companies, depending on your job or career-track, might want to train you for three months or even up to a year. Some companies consider you a trainee for five years. A major retail chain will work very hard and spend lots of resources on steeping you in the corporate culture so that you are an effective employee. Good training always pays for itself, so don’t be offended if after four long years of school you find yourself taking more classes.

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EARNINGS YOU CAN EXPECT FOR THE NEW COLLEGE GRADUATE, STARTING SALARIES FOR WHOLESALERS AND

retail buyers can run from around a low of $25,000 to a high of $30,000. The lowest you might be offered is around $20,000, which, in today’s economy, is pretty low. A few may start at around $50,000. Someone who earns that much will have had considerable experience in the field. In major metropolitan areas, an experienced buyer at an upper level can command a salary of $75,000 to $100,000. Such a salary range is only for people with experience and a track record of success. Specialization counts. A recent job opening for a gourmet food buyer in New York City had the potential to go to $110,000 a year. Your salary will reflect your geographic location and pay scale of your employer. Median earnings tend to be higher for groceries and related items ($35,000) and lower for miscellaneous stores ($25,000). You can see that your salary depends on the commodity or type of product you deal with. If you have a graduate degree, a Master of Business Administration, you could start between $50,000 and $60,000. An MBA degree takes two or three years to earn and the courses will concentrate on your area of interest. If you want to earn your MBA but can’t go to school full time, many universities offer weekend and evening programs created to fill the needs of working people. If you want to move up quickly within a company, consider earning one of these degrees. The more education you have, the higher salary you can command. Most employers have health insurance, retirement plans, investment plans such as a 401(k) or other options, vacation days, sick days, and other benefits to attract workers. These other benefits can range from stock options, employee discounts, health-club memberships and opportunities for continuing your education and earning an advanced business-related degree. Some companies provide child-care or make arrangement with local child-care providers, and are willing to arrange flex-time schedules for employees who need some flexibility during the day for family concerns. Other companies are concerned with giving back to the community, and provide employees with time off to serve in a volunteer capacity at local schools or other community service organizations. Not only do such initiatives help corporate appearance, but also they do some good.

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If you work for a company with offices in other parts of the country, you might have the option to transfer someplace, either for a promotion or to live somewhere you’d like to live – or both. Companies with stores and offices in other countries also have transfer opportunities. When it comes to the intangible benefits, it all depends on what the firm is looking for in potential employees and what you, as a potential employee, are looking for in an employer. People on a job search might say that jobs are hard to come by, and employers might say that it’s hard to find the right people to fit the available job. When the right employer finds the right employee, it works best for both.

OPPORTUNITIES WHAT PEOPLE BUY AND HOW THEY BUY IT IS ALWAYS CHANGING, ESPECIALLY SINCE

the mid 1990s. Think of the new products that have come on the market since you were a kid. Your parents probably never thought that they would need so many electrical gadgets just to get through the day, from home computers to cell phones, personal CD players, pagers, and all the accessories these items require to be fully utilized. Since America is the land of consumer goods as well as diversity, the retail industry in general and the field of retail buying in particular will require people with a wide range of cultural backgrounds and abilities. There is room for everyone in this career field, and employers will need an ever more diverse staff of buyers who will be up on the tastes and desires of the American population. Knowing more than one language is always a big plus. If you grew up speaking English and another language, any employer who deals with other countries will be more than happy to hire you, either in buying from foreign vendors or helping to market products to overseas customers.

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GETTING STARTED BRUSH UP ON YOUR COMMUNICAtion skills, everything from interview techniques to learning Power Point or some other presentation software. Even if you aren’t looking for a job at the moment, work up a resume for the practice. Do you have any volunteer experience? Have you participated in school plays? Do you help run the annual neighborhood garage sale? Every little bit counts, from the lemonade stand to selling candy and cookies for Girl Scouts or Boy Scouts, everything that shows initiative, enthusiasm, and communication ability will help you get into college or find a job.

Learn a little something about building a Web site. While you don’t need to consider yourself a web designer or specialist, learning some Internet basics can’t hurt. Since buyers have to think about how merchandise presents on the floor, try thinking about how it presents on a Web site, too. Do you have time for a part-time job? If and when you apply, be sure to mention that you are interested in a career in retail buying and mention some of the research you’ve done. That will impress any employer, or at least give you a slight advantage over other applicants who don’t express a similar interest. Check with your school vocational counselor to see if there are any cooperative programs with local businesses. Local retailers in your community might offer opportunities for on-the-job training. Contact associations in this field. Many publish newsletters and magazines and while you might have to join to get on a mailing list, they could possibly send you a sample copy if you tell them you are a student and why you’re interested. Some organizations have local chapters, another source of information and encouragement.

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ASSOCIATIONS n

American Marketing Association www.ama.org

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National Mass Retailing Institute

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National Retail Federation www.nrf.com/home.asp

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National Retail Merchants Association

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Sales & Marketing Executives International www.smei.org

WEB SITES LISTING RETAIL JOB OPPORTUNITIES n

http:/retail.monster.com/.

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www.museum-employment.com/jobsto.html

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www.retailjobmart.com

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www.retailjobnet.com

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www.retailresume.com

OTHER WEBSITES n

www.robertspector.com/NordWay_extract.html

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Student Internship Opportunities www.internmag.com

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www.sears.com

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http://hometown.aol.com/esc2000/esc2000.htm

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http://retailindustry.about.com/industry/retailindustry/libr ary/blcareer.htm

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http://retail-merchandiser.com/

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www.retailnetwork.com

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www.dsnretailingtoday.com

COPYRIGHT 2005 Institute For Career Research CHICAGO

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