What is a buyer?

Buyer is a profession at the forefront of fashion trends, which originated in Europe in the 1960s. According to the internationally accepted saying, finger buyers are people who travel around the world, always pay attention to the latest popular information, master certain fashion trends, pursue perfect fashion and hold large orders in their hands. They are generally people who keep trading with suppliers on basic commodities such as clothing, shoes, hats and jewelry. And organize goods to enter the market to meet the different needs of consumers. They must stand at the forefront of fashion trends, understand industry norms and earn some profits in time. In China, the positions similar to those of buyers are commodity sales and purchasing, but these two occupations are only a small part of the work of buyers. It can be said that China has long lacked professional clothing buyers.

brief introduction

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The so-called buyer [1] travels around the world according to the international common saying, always pays attention to all kinds of information, grasps a lot of information and orders, keeps in touch with various suppliers, organizes some sources of goods, and meets the different needs of various consumers. The industry that this kind of person is engaged in eventually creates amazing market value. Buyers must stand at the forefront of fashion trends, understand industry norms, have the ability to distinguish goods, take sharp shots at the right time, buy the goods they think are suitable at low prices, sell them at high prices, and earn certain profits. This is the basic quality that buyers must have. Buyers often buy some goods or go to the cheapest store of a certain brand during the promotion, and then go to the right place to raise some prices for sale, which requires a very strong understanding of fashion.

The job of buyer in the new clothing market is out of fashion. According to the information provided by American and British retail trade associations, in the retail industry, the work of buyers is divided into data processing, data analysis, sales supervision, inventory logistics monitoring and other information. Because the retail industry relies on goods and sales to improve sales every season and every year, buyers are more linked to interests. People in the same trade call them [2] "fashion sellers".

2 system

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The buyer system is still popular abroad, especially in some department stores such as clothing, shoes and hats. It's just that the so-called "complete system" has not yet formed. It's just that some specialized merchants can't digest the unsalable, overstocked or large-scale goods in their own image stores with some big brands, but adopt a method acceptable to both sides to reasonably digest these goods in stock.

3 professional quality

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Because buyers are very sensitive to goods and market reactions, every buyer is required to have a high degree of foresight about the goods, brands and market reactions he buys. Know when to buy those goods at what price, and then when to sell them at what price. This requires a good understanding of this market, a good understanding of the operation of this industry, and a good understanding of what kind of goods will have good returns. So an excellent buyer must be an expert in this industry. In addition, as an excellent buyer, you should always know the market, often go deep into the market to understand first-hand information, analyze and forecast. Pay attention to market trends and changes at any time and adjust your purchasing policy.

Since the birth of Europe in the last century, the word "buyer" has been associated with fashion, uniqueness and individuality. It is also the most concentrated place for buyers at present. They choose different brands of fashion, accessories, jewelry, purses, shoes and cosmetics according to the unique fashion concepts and tastes of their target customers, and integrate them in one store. This kind of shop is usually located in the shopping center. It is an independent shop-in-shop, the so-called "shop-in-shop". Every product in the store can be regarded as a unique style label, and the store itself has a special original design to reflect its respected trend. Compared with large-scale comprehensive shopping malls and specialty stores that only sell one brand, "boutique" provides customers with rich and personalized consumption space and is regarded as the vane of urban fashion temperament. Become a buyer! Excellent buyers have such characteristics: always pay attention to fashion information and have a keen sense of trend; Have design talent, have certain professional quality, and can quickly and accurately tap fashion hotspots; Able to work under high intensity, travel frequently, choose goods, and be good at business negotiation and interpersonal communication. If you want to be a fashion buyer, see what you have:

1. is a loyal practitioner of fashion;

2. Have a keen insight into fashion trends, advanced predictive power and accurate judgment;

3. Good communication skills, innate curiosity and awareness of being brave in inquiry;

4. Know one or two foreign languages;

5. Be competent for frequent long-distance business trips.

6, understand the design concept of clothing style, fabric function, auxiliary material production process.

7, proficient in clothing collocation, master the display skills and display methods.

4 procurement methods

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Buy, sell.

Different from the traditional procurement mode, the previous procurement mode usually simply found out what is needed, organized the supply according to the needs, sat in the office waiting for the manufacturer to find it, and then put the goods in the shopping mall to sell to consumers, which was not sensitive to market demand. Based on "buyers"

The procurement mode of the system is what kind of goods department stores buy according to the actual needs of consumers, and it must sensitively capture the needs of consumers and the needs of the market. "Buyers" must first understand consumers and understand the market, instead of passively waiting for manufacturers to come to the door.

In addition to attracting investment, another important job for buyers is "discovery". Buyers often go to large shopping malls around the country to check product information, as well as understand the situation of competitors, look at home and abroad, and look for potential "dark horse" brands. Many foreign brands have never been to the mainland market. At this time, domestic buyers will help him to establish a complete marketing system in the China market. At present, large retail investors from China, Beijing and Shanghai have started to go to Hongkong and even to attract investment abroad.

The most fundamental competition in department stores is management competition. After the commodity is produced, it is the standard of its success to be recognized by the market. Because department stores are in direct contact with consumers, buyers of department stores know how to run this market better than buyers of department stores.

The disadvantage of the current department store retail industry is that it is basically run by manufacturers. The quality of business seems to have nothing to do with retail terminals, stores and department stores. Manufacturers come to the door, sign contracts, provide places and operate. Then the purchasing link is just to sign a contract with others, that's all. As for the follow-up work of the store, the sales training of the shopping guide and the equipment of the goods are basically ignored.

However, as a manufacturer, it is impossible to know all about the daily situation of the store, and only the store buyers know best. For example, what is the inventory situation and the quality of goods? Display, place and train sales staff, including the requirements of shopping guide for sales.

[3]

Workflow before purchase: (job description before purchase) sales data analysis (sales life circle of fashion products) trend forecast (in). G) seasonal and stage analysis of goods (numerical and exponential analysis) terminal data management tools (pre-purchase work: (purchase preparation) purchase time plan (purchase time p plan) OTB distribution (OTB distribution) loading plan (loading plan) loading time (loading time) loading proportion (loading proportion) Teacher: Yang Peiyi.

Historical data analysis, market research, making sales target, product structure design, making purchasing plan, style collection, fund selection and ordering, big goods follow-up, delivery date monitoring.

12 class hours 12 class hours

Analyze the sales data of last quarter, and allocate the purchase plan and purchase amount of this quarter according to the sales data of last quarter.

Predict fashion trends, and predict the popularity of patterns, fabrics and clothing. The division method of different commodities by quarter and season.

Data management method of terminal store. Gross margin analysis, price structure, discount rate reduction. Calculate and count weekly coverage and inventory turnover rate, inventory sales ratio, sales rate, sales pass rate and gross profit margin.

OTB purchase amount allocation

Determine the accurate loading plan, determine the loading time according to data analysis, and determine the loading ratio according to different business districts.

The practice of advanced foreign retail enterprises is that after the buyer introduces branded goods, it helps the merchants to operate, which is the fundamental essence of the buyer. Buyers in department stores are in charge of this market, while manufacturers only care about the supply of goods and will gradually fade out of management. However, there are some jobs that buyers cannot do. On the one hand, the workload problem; On the other hand, the whole management system is not perfect and cannot be standardized and institutionalized.

5 purchasing strategy

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retail

In recent years, this industry is recognized as one of the most dynamic industries by business and academic circles, and some scholars call it "the king of retail"-the retail industry is more active in bargaining with the wholesalers and manufacturers in the upstream, because they have mastered the terminal of sales and are closest to consumers. However, as far as individual retailers are concerned, they should not lose their sense of crisis. Because the threshold for joining the retail industry is very low, the competition within the retail industry has reached a white-hot level, and there are many examples of retailers' failure. Therefore, retailers urgently need to improve their management level.

An important part of retail enterprise management is purchasing goods. Because China's retail industry is in a dominant position, the purchasing function of retail enterprises is weakened. Its main manifestations are as follows: because most retailers use consignment, after-sales payment and counter rental, buyers (called "buyers" abroad) basically don't have to go out to find goods, and their suppliers come to you; The quality of buyers is generally not high, the market research and analysis ability is insufficient, and even some buyers accept kickbacks, which damages the company's interests. Due to the poor ability of buyers to find goods locally, in different places and even globally, the phenomenon of waiting for customers to come to the door is serious, which also leads to the phenomenon of "one shop at a time" in stores everywhere, because almost all of them face the same supplier.

In America, retailers demand more and more buyers. Business managers believe that in the global village economy, every corner of the world has goods suitable for the American market, goods from developed countries have markets in the United States, and goods from developing countries also have markets in the United States. Therefore, it is not enough for buyers to attend several global commodity fairs a year. Buyers must also constantly scan some new product information in markets around the world. At the same time, we should compare the prices of similar products in different markets in order to seek higher gross profit margin.

6 status quo

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However, even for large retail enterprises in China, the situation of personnel quality is not ideal, let alone small and medium-sized retail enterprises. Take a large retail enterprise in Guangdong as an example. Of its 65,438+000 department managers and above, only 65,438+00% are college graduates or above. It is useless to talk about the buyer or the quality of the buyer with such a low education above the department manager. Therefore, enterprises must purposefully introduce talents, such as students who have just graduated from business schools, to exercise in retail positions, so as to become a new generation of commercial buyers in China.

Even if there are high-quality buyers, the company's active purchasing policy is one of the success factors. Because for the retail industry, a unique corporate image is very important, and an important part of a unique image is the uniqueness of goods. However, because the supply of goods in our retail enterprises is basically the same, it is difficult to establish an image about the characteristics of goods in the minds of consumers.

7 cases

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Taking the direct procurement of Japanese department stores and large supermarkets as an example, this paper illustrates the importance of overseas direct procurement to retail enterprises, hoping to inspire domestic retail enterprises.

Japanese department stores have many years of experience in purchasing goods directly from foreign manufacturers, and the procurement arrangements are very careful. Setting up overseas offices in major fashion centers around the world is a basic step. The most popular places are Paris, Milan, new york and Hongkong. The main function of overseas offices is to monitor international fashion trends. The second step is to organize a group of buyers who specialize in overseas purchasing and go to major fashion production centers to find suitable products every season. The buyers of the head office in Japan are in close contact with the staff of overseas offices and cooperate in product planning. The quality of imported products is supervised by another expert group in Japan.

Products directly imported from Asia can occupy a place in Japanese department stores, mainly because the quality of goods from Asian manufacturers is constantly improving and the prices are suitable, which is attractive to Japanese consumers in recession.

Supermarkets in Japan also purchase goods directly from overseas manufacturers. In addition to considering price concessions, they also hope to establish the style of the store itself by buying special goods overseas. Most foreign products in Japanese supermarkets are imported through trading companies or wholesalers, so similar goods are likely to be sold in other supermarkets. Consumers can't tell the difference between different supermarkets. For supermarket groups, it is difficult to establish a style without their own brand-name goods, let alone attract and maintain a group of regular customers. In the retail industry, establishing a unique image is an indispensable means to expand the market. Department stores have been very successful in this respect, but supermarkets have not made full use of this marketing skill.

It is worth mentioning that Japanese supermarkets have a new view on their roles as retailers and buyers. In the past, trading companies were almost entirely responsible for selling goods and selecting products, but now individual supermarket groups have realized that this may not be the best arrangement. Although trading companies are familiar with international and Japanese fashion trends, supermarket staff may have more knowledge in store promotion, product display and customer response. Therefore, the management of Japanese supermarkets believes that their employees are more capable of selling goods for supermarkets than trading companies after proper procurement training. Therefore, many supermarkets in Japan point out that purchasing goods directly from overseas is definitely their policy to expand their business in the future.

From the buyout operation of Gome's chain stores (or self-management, that is, the order system and distribution system corresponding to consignment and after-sales payment), scholars and business circles are delighted to find that commercial capital is back! The return of commercial capital will inevitably lead retailers to attach importance to the role of buyers and formulate active purchasing policies. I believe that the business and academic circles will constantly sum up China's purchasing theory and practice, so that local retail enterprises can continuously enhance their competitiveness against international enterprises.

8 evaluation and supervision

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At present, domestic large-scale retail enterprises are usually composed of a team of buyers. Generally speaking, it is reasonable for a professional buyer to manage 40 to 60 brands. In terms of professional titles, most of them are managers and directors. The international buyer system usually divides the buyer into the following three levels:

1. Establish professional buyers. A commodity category has a buyer, and the buyer's main job is to make a purchase forecast according to the commodity demand trend and sales statistics. Feedback market information in time to prevent unsalable and overstocked goods in time.

2. Set up commercial buyers. A professional buyer with rich experience, strong ability and good quality is responsible for the planning and arrangement of a certain kind of goods and business negotiations.

3. Set up a freelance buyer. Freelance buyers are not specially designed for a certain kind of goods, but have more purchasing rights in the face of the overall business, mainly undertaking particularly important and exceptional purchasing business, playing the role of "loach" in business, causing internal competition and improving purchasing efficiency.

Every professional buyer has the main control over the purchase, sale and storage of certain commodities. In addition to the necessary business scale and examination and approval system, regular conversion between professional buyers and between buyers and senior buyers is also implemented to prevent "personalization" of positions and black-box operation of business.

The purchasing principles of international buyers are: ordering on demand, advancing with sales, promoting sales, storing and protecting sales, and diligent and quick sales. Economic accounting, stable supply and guaranteed sales. And the synchronous assessment system is implemented: commodity sales involve two departments, namely the store and the purchasing department. Therefore, the two departments should be bundled for assessment, with the same indicators and different weights. The sales target is 70% for stores, 30% for purchases, 70% for gross profit and 30% for stores.

Whether or not to make a brand in the end is done by the buyer, and then it is usually decided by the product selection team. The team consists of experienced buyers, as well as senior leaders, general managers, directors and bosses. On the one hand, the assessment project is brand investment, on the other hand, contract review. This is also a constraint.

9 interview

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Amy, professional international buyer of Cohim:

Graduated from BOURNEMOUTH UNIVERSITY, majoring in fashion design and fashion marketing.

Studying and living in Britain

She used to be a fashion designer and brand buyer of British fashion brand New Look.

He used to be a full-time fashion designer, fabric and ready-to-wear buyer at TopShop.

After returning to China, he served as the chief fashion designer and brand exclusive buyer of a well-known customized clothing brand in China.

Many large-scale stage plays, musicals, film and television clothing collocation guidance, chief stylist.

8 years working experience in fashion design, brand planning, visual merchandising and buyer.

Although fashion buyers are in the glamorous fashion industry, exposed to clothes and fashion, attending various fashion conferences and hanging around various fashion parties, there are countless hardships behind the glamour, because fashion buyers are exposed to a large number of goods and data, and daily and weekly sales are constantly changing. Real buyers should know how to find problems through these data, so as to adjust goods, adjust inventory and use sales skills according to market reaction signals.

Many buyers interviewed by the media are mostly employed by foreign brands, and they must be employed by the headquarters of foreign brands, because foreigners are open-minded and hope to promote their brands to some extent in the media and fashion industry; In China, there are two kinds of "fashion buyers" who can be exposed. One is a fashion blogger specially hired by the brand to enhance their position in the fashion circle through their own collocation, dress and media appearance rate, so as to promote the brand; The other is the so-called buyer professor, who has some retail knowledge.

10 process

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After refining and analyzing the professional articles of Professor Cohim and the information provided by Amy, a professional buyer of NellyRodi fashion trend forecasting agency in Paris, it is concluded that the specific market behavior of clothing buyers is reflected in the following process:

The buyer's pre-purchase workflow:

(Job description before purchase)

Sales data analysis (sales data analysis)

Fashion product sales life circle.

Fashion trend forecast

Law of season and stage of goods.

Numerical and exponential analysis

Terminal data management tool (data management tool)

Work before purchase:

(preparation for purchase)

Procurement time plan (procurement time plan)

OTB allocation (otb allocation)

Loading plan (loading plan)

Loading time (loading time)

Load ratio

Historical data analysis, market research, making sales target, product structure design, making purchasing plan, style collection, fund selection and ordering, big goods follow-up, delivery date monitoring.

Analyze the sales data of last quarter, and allocate the purchase plan and purchase amount of this quarter according to the sales data of last quarter.

Predict fashion trends, and predict the popularity of patterns, fabrics and clothing. The division method of different commodities by quarter and season.

Data management method of terminal store. Gross margin analysis, price structure, discount rate reduction. Calculate and count weekly coverage and inventory turnover rate, inventory sales ratio, sales rate, sales pass rate and gross profit margin.

OTB purchase amount allocation

Determine the accurate loading plan, determine the loading time according to data analysis, and determine the loading ratio according to different business districts.

Workflow of buyer's procurement

(The buyer works during the purchase period)

Mid-term work of purchasing goods:

(buyer's activities during the purchase process)

merchandise control

Product series purchase

On-site procurement:

(on-site purchase)

Scope purchase

Distribution of goods in different stores.

Point-to-point purchase of goods

Buyer's judgment on market signals.

Knowledge of commodity management in the middle stage of procurement, and the buyer's mastery of collocation commodity procurement.

Specific procedures and skills of commodity collocation procurement.

Goods on-site procurement process and point-to-point procurement process.

Buyer's judgment of market signals, control of purchased goods, purchase plans of different stores and business districts, and distribution of goods.

Buyer's analysis and judgment on business circle and store location

(business analysis)

Buyer's analysis of business circle;

(business analysis)

Buyer's analysis of business circle.

The way goods are grouped in different stores.

Business circle sales information:

(Business Sales Information)

Department store buyer:

(department store buyer)

Development and present situation of foreign department store acquisition.

China department store is in China.

The function of a buyer in a department store.

How do buyers judge the business circle and choose the way to assemble goods in department stores through different business circles?

According to the shops in different business districts, judge the mode of commodity assembly.

The information of different business districts, the judgment of their consumption level, and the specific commodity assembly method of this business district based on the investigation of consumption level.

The development model and brand combination of top foreign department stores, as well as the development of buyer-made department stores.

The present situation of department stores in China and the reality of the development of buyer-made department stores.

Department store buyer's function

VM planning of sales terminal

(visual merchandising)

Sales terminal virtual machine planning:

(visual merchandising)

Matching Purchase Criteria (Scope Purchase Criteria)

The VM is displayed in the relationship of matching sales (visual merchandising and series sales).

Terminal sales:

(retail terminal)

Structure of retail terminal.

VM's Promotion to Terminal Sales (visual merchandising and Promotion)

The relationship between terminal sales and display, and how to improve terminal sales by understanding the display mode.

The specific content of buyer's collocation purchase and designer's collocation design. Matching procurement and matching design can promote the complete VM display of the store and realize the final matching sales.

The specific forms of terminal sales and how to improve the sales rate by using VM.

VM display technology formed by different stores and brands according to sales.

Criteria for buyers to choose fabrics

(fabric)

Fabric:

(fabric)

Basic knowledge of fabrics.

Fabric styles of different countries.

The identification methods of different fabrics and accessories and the corresponding fabric identification and clothing.

Fabric technology appraisal and fabric and material appraisal.

Structural channel:

(Supply channel)

Fabric supplier channel (supplier)

Import and export trade of imported fabrics.

Purchase channels (prices) of fabrics with different prices.

Fabric trend:

(Fabric trends)

Influence of fabrics on fashion trends.

Brand image and brand pricing fabric and brand image.

Fabric positioning and brand image promotion, basic fabric knowledge and cognition

Fabric characteristics of different countries and international fabric procurement routes

The technology of fabrics and accessories are all related to the actual clothing.

Fabric design and clothing design

Purchase channels of different fabrics

Fabric leads the fashion trend

Buyer's selection of suppliers

(supplier)

On the processor side:

(manufacturer)

Internal management process of the processor (management process)

Selection criteria of processors for fabric suppliers and accessories suppliers.

Characteristics of different processors at home and abroad.

Information integration of supply channels

Characteristics of different processors at home and abroad

The workflow of the processor is related to the actual work of the buyer.

Buyer's judgment on version

(Cut contour)

Version-dependent:

(Version of this type)

French cut and Chinese flat cut versions.

Upgraded version (upgraded version)

Classic cutting profiles of well-known brands.

Development trend of cutting profiles.

According to different programs, we can infer the popular law of silhouette and judge the next season.

Buyer's judgment on fashion:

(How to choose the fashion trend)

The development of fashion.

International fashion market (international fashion market)

Analysis of China Fashion Market.

Buyers of the four major fashion weeks

The difference between fashion signals, concept models, best-selling models and long-selling models.

(terminology)

The Development of Fashion Trend and the Analysis of Classic Popular Images

International fashion is related to the relevant elements of China clothing market, and how to introduce the buyer system into China market.

The role of buyers in the four major fashion weeks. Capture fashion signals. Determine the proportion of brand concept models, long-term sales models and best-selling models.

Workflow of international luxury buyers;

(Activities of luxury buyers)

Analysis of luxury brands.

Market share of luxury brands.

The buyer's role in luxury brands.

Sales model of leather and other luxury goods (leather goods)

International purchasing of luxury buyers.

Top brand management mode (management mode)

Optimize the cooperation process of enterprises.

The market operation mode of international buyers.

Terminal data analysis (data analysis)

International buyer activities of luxury brands.

Team building of luxury brand buyers.

The workflow of the buyer's work.

Regional buyer, a well-known Italian luxury brand in China.

Product catalog (product catalog)

Handling inventory (inventory management)

The workflow of international luxury buyers, the actual work of luxury buyers

Luxury brand analysis, luxury brand market share, the actual role of buyers in luxury brands.

Buy and sell luxury goods such as leather goods, and connect product knowledge of different luxury brands.

How to optimize brand association with the introduction of brand management mode and buyer system? Characteristics of international buyers' market operation mode

Team building for international buyers of luxury brands, work for luxury buyers, and combing and refining the workflow of fashion buyers.

Top luxury brands act as buyers in China and purchase lines all over the world.

The sublimation of buyer's work, forms, contents, functions, inventory management, processing, terminal data monitoring and other related knowledge.

Buyer's control over logistics and supply chain

(logistics)

Logistics and supply chain:

(supply chain)

Logistics (logistics)

Clothing brand logistics Link (link)

Goods storage mode (inventory mode)

Delivery (delivery)

Import and export related to CIQ:

(Import and Export and CIQ)

International logistics system:

(International Logistics System)

International Customs Related Vocabulary (INCOTERMS)

Special inspection entrance for fashion industry.

Types of international and domestic logistics

The characteristics of sea, air and land transportation and the loading and unloading methods of different goods.

Mode of transportation and storage of clothing

Vocabulary related to import and export management, international logistics system and international customs.

CIQ clothing special inspection project

1 1 How to build a design home?

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Design-oriented source of home buyers:

Professional interior designer, soft-fitting designer and design director (at least 5 years experience), with successful works; Owners and investors of major design, home and furniture products attach importance to the importance of international channels and contacts for business development, and open up new business ideas and horizons.

The choice of design-oriented home buyers;

Buyers

The most precious products and channels for home buyers;

Understand the latest market information, design fashion, and grasp the trend of customer demand;

Well-known local home buyers in the United States explain their work and negotiation skills in detail to improve their knowledge and ability in an all-round way;

See the most complete and thrilling products and model rooms of many top brands;

Professional lectures by famous designers and visits to design studios;

Seeing the largest and most luxurious private residential castle in the United States, whether it is architectural design or interior furnishings, is a classic worth seeing by many designers;

Gaodian University in the United States has a formal study of home furnishings, as well as a wealth of furniture factories, exhibition halls and other visits.

Practical experience of international home ownership

Sponsor: Cohim Fashion Training Institute Zhonghe Fashion

Co-organizers: High Point University, High Point University, NCDC, North Carolina Department of Commerce, and American MBID Interior Design Office.

The Minister of Furniture Export Department of the North Carolina Department of Commerce will give lectures on the market environment and product characteristics of American furniture trade to soft-fitting designers and entrepreneurs from China. How to establish contact with household enterprises in the international market and realize trade cooperation; Provide professional training to international home buyers in terms of trade analysis and operation skills, and lead the team to visit famous American furniture companies to practice the international procurement process on the spot. Upon completion of all courses, the learners will receive the certificate of international home buyers issued by the Department of Commerce of North Carolina, USA.

Many excellent American home furnishing companies will once again issue an "olive branch" to the team of Chinese and Swiss fashion soft-fitting designers, and arrange special personnel to provide VIP-level reception services for the Chinese and Swiss fashion teams, so as to ensure that members can successfully complete product inspection without obstacles and obtain unexpected product channels and benefits.