Purchasing Manager Career Information and Job Description.Parts 2

**Career job information for job seekers and find good   employment job 

 

Wholesale and retail establishments employ purchasing specialists who buy finished goods for resale. These specialists, commonly referred to as buyers or merchandise managers, play a crucial role in a complex distribution and merchandising system that serves a wide range of consumer wants and needs. Wholesale buyers purchase merchandise from other wholesale firms or directly from manufacturers and resale it to retailers, commercial establishments, and other organizations. Buyers employed by retail firms purchase merchandise from wholesale firms or directly from manufacturers for resale to the public. Because buyers are largely responsible for determining which products their establishment will sell, they must know what will attract consumers. It is crucial for them to keep current with the latest trends—not doing so could endanger profits and their company’s reputation. Buyers monitor competitors’ sales activities by following advertisements, and they anticipate consumer buying patterns by monitoring general economic conditions. Buyers employed by large and medium-sized firms usually only focus on acquiring a single line or a few lines of merchandise; in small stores, buyers might purchase the entire inventory.
Retail buyers have seen their responsibilities increase with the advent of private-label merchandise and the consolidation of buying departments.

Private-label merchandise, created for a specific retailer, obliges buyers and vendors to work closely together to produce the desired product. The demands placed on buyers have further increased because of the downsizing and consolidation of buying departments: the amount of work stays the same, but it must be done by fewer employees. Consequently, everyone’s workload and level of responsibility increases.

Many merchandise managers help develop and implement sales promotion programs. They consult with merchandise executives to establish the sale’s character, purchasing items accordingly. Merchandise managers and advertising personnel sometimes collaborate to generate ad campaigns, deciding details like which media to advertise in and how long to run the advertisements. Merchandise managers also pay frequent visits to the selling floor to make sure that products are displayed appropriately. It often falls to assistant buyers to place orders and check shipments.

The work of purchasing managers, buyers, and purchasing agents continues to be influenced by computers. These machines can efficiently take care of much routine work (such as storing past bids and offers, tracking supplier performance, and issuing purchase orders), thereby freeing purchasing workers to focus on the analytical and qualitative side of their job. These workers also use computers to find current listings of products and prices, to track orders and inventory levels, and to help them make purchases.

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