Becoming a Buyer?

[JJohnson]

Originally Posted by couturecate

A college degree is a must for any decent career. Obviously the more well-known and more highly-regarded the university the better. You would be easily intimidated and drown in a corporate buying environment without said degree and therefore appropriate number of years to your age that it takes to get one.
Sears, K-mart, Target, Walmart will all give you an incredibly solid training (as well as cash), but having worked as a buyer who distributed to all of the above stores, their buyers were pretty much forced to beat up on suppliers until the desired price was achieved. With those stores being so powerful, we all had to comply, even if it was a losing proposition--then they would attempt charge-backs, fees on late shipments that were their fault, etc, etc.
Retailing is such a competitive business these days that things often get kind of nasty, so documentation for your every move/decision is necessary (cya).

Any employer who really cares about the fashion aspect of it assumes that you've generally come by it on your own & they know that most fashion people will put up with all kind of cr*p to work in what they love. That is why asst. buyers pay is so awful and the position takes so long to work out of--& why buyers often treat their assistants so poorly (b/c they were treated badly as assts). It's a pathetic and lousy tradition.

JJohnson, get your degree & suck it up & work for boring Sears for a little while--then move on to a place that you love. Perhaps an internship or part-time job at Sears while you're in school would expedite the process. Whatever you decide, good luck!

Wow this sounds scary...lol I plan on getting a nice degree from a good school. Sears is based in Chicago so I should be able to work with them then. I have good fashion tastes so I guess I would be a good buyer. Does there have to be an opening at the department store as a buyer? Or do they just hire someone because they feel they may be a great buyer. I think i can get an internship at a nice place hopefully beceause there are many stores in chicago such as Sears, and even some top boutiques like Ikram Chicago, Ultimo, and Blake. Is the treatment in a bigger firm like Sears bad? Well plz tell me more couturecate and thx alot!

[mtwelve]

do you mind sharing your career path and background with us?
i'm interested in buying/merchandising, and would love to hear about your personal experience of how you got where you are.

Originally Posted by chanel_girl

Well I'm a buyer for Dolce so here:

I choose the sizes and looks by past sales from previos seasons and sometimes guess what would be the most appropiate for the typical client of the store

And yes I do use the past sales figures to choose sizing. sometimes I do order 4 sizes usualy 4,6,8,10 but I can't do that all the time [Like with $$$$ items] and I do have a limited budget a limited but reasonable budget

And like Lena said the buying starts way before the shows like through the showroom in my case in Milan or New york

[J2garage]

Originally Posted by water_daisy

Probably the hardest place in the world to start a new boutique. Rent is also a huge factor. Between, Lane Crawford, Joyce, Harvey Nicks,IT, D-mop & Seibu they have the entire market sewn up. You'll have to find a niche....these guys have such buying power and buy diverse. It is difficult but not impossible. Guess you will really have to have a market and image in mind. What sort of brands were u looking at?

hi water_daisy... i still have not got a precise idea of what brand to source. i am still looking around for tradeshows to attend. do you know where close to hong kong which they had good tradeshows? i guess the cloestone would be tokyo right?? at the time being, i only got isabelmarant which is able to give me their wholesale info.

any advice ??

[velcro]

What about being a buyer for somewhere like Urban Outfitters? Do you guys think it would be as difficult to get to the top compared to NM and Nordstrom? Also, how well do assistant buyers and buyers get paid at Urban Outfitters?
Thanks

[DP_woman]

Originally Posted by JJohnson

BTW I know Sears is in Chicago, but I didnt know that Kmart was

Sears bought Kmart. So I guess thats why....

[JJohnson]

Originally Posted by DP_woman

Sears bought Kmart. So I guess thats why....

Actually Kmart bought Sears but the thing is that Sears is losing a lot of $$$ i heard. My friend works there and she says that managment is all concerned about sales, and if stuff isnt really selling, then ppl get fired..this is normal in business, but she said that it is worse. Also, I heard that Nike will stop selling their shoes to Sears beacuse they are afraid that it might end up in Kmart causing the brand to lose some of its 'luxury' That is a big hit to Sears as well...I dunno i still would like to be a buyer for them

[DP_woman]

Originally Posted by JJohnson

Also, I heard that Nike will stop selling their shoes to Sears beacuse they are afraid that it might end up in Kmart causing the brand to lose some of its 'luxury'

Interesting! Nike's marketing dept. is on the job!

The economy is terrible right now, so Im no surprised Sears is doing bad. Lots of people I know are struggling with heating bills and car notes.

[northern_song]

I am considering be a buyer and I am thinking about going to a "regular" 4 yr. college and getting a degree in business management/ administration and then going to Parsons or FIT. I want to shadow someone at Nordstrom's in a buying position for my junior year shadowing project. Does anyone know how stores like Nordstrom or Target place their buyers, like do they only have buyers at their headquarters, or are they all over the country at individual stores???

[JJohnson]

Originally Posted by DP_woman

Interesting! Nike's marketing dept. is on the job!

The economy is terrible right now, so Im no surprised Sears is doing bad. Lots of people I know are struggling with heating bills and car notes.

Yea I agree! its really bad... It is hard now..

[JJohnson]

Wow no one really posts her anymore...if ur a buyer let us all know, also may buyers tell what its like in a normal day

[pinnie]

i wanna be a buyer.

[water_daisy]

Originally Posted by J2garage

hi water_daisy... i still have not got a precise idea of what brand to source. i am still looking around for tradeshows to attend. do you know where close to hong kong which they had good tradeshows? i guess the cloestone would be tokyo right?? at the time being, i only got isabelmarant which is able to give me their wholesale info.

any advice ??

Sorry I haven't been looking at this section for a while. Well looks like you are doing clothing? If you need to travel to Paris to visit the IM showroom you may as well go during fashion week and visit all the tradeshows as well as make as many appointments with commerical showrooms as possible. The tradeshows have many emerging labels. If you are looking at labels close by, you could consider Australia, they have a few good labels which are not already taken up (perhaps they are now?) such as lover, alice mccall.....
you just need to research the labels you like.....

[JJohnson]

Originally Posted by water_daisy

Sorry I haven't been looking at this section for a while. Well looks like you are doing clothing? If you need to travel to Paris to visit the IM showroom you may as well go during fashion week and visit all the tradeshows as well as make as many appointments with commerical showrooms as possible. The tradeshows have many emerging labels. If you are looking at labels close by, you could consider Australia, they have a few good labels which are not already taken up (perhaps they are now?) such as lover, alice mccall.....
you just need to research the labels you like.....

Ok I got that down, but how does one go about getting enough money to open a store? Like take for instance downtown Chicago. On michigan ave for like a 2000 sq ft store its like $48,000 per month. Thats just for rent. Remember there needs to be $$$ for renovation and etc....Someone plz tell me

[Bran16]

I am looking into a future of retail buying or merchandising for major clothing company. I am curious to find out how to get started, and what the career is really like. If anybody has any thoughts, please spill...

[JJohnson]

Any idea ppl?