Head Office Jobs

Retail Options brings you hundreds of new jobs in retail every day of which a large percentage are Head Office jobs.

Head Office Jobs

The Job of the Retail Buyer is to purchase Merchandise that appears in their retail stores. In essence they select the merchandise product range, plan the flow of the product and the quantities that will be required according to a number of variables such as:

Consumer demand
Price and mark up
Consumer trends and future market potential trends
Budget and brand policy

Buyers will source exciting new product and review current ranges to maximise a competitive and commercial edge over their rivals. This is achieved through considerable market research, liaising with Retail Merchandisers, studying trends and reacting in the quickest possible way to market changes and price fluctuations. A Retail Buyer has an immense amount of responsibility and autonomy and will be required to make the right decisions in an environment that is always pressured.

The work activities of a Retail Buyer will vary according to the seasonality of the product. You can imagine the different schedule of say a Christmas range buyer from that of a summer Sportswear buyer. You will spend your time in the office and a considerable amount of time away from the normal work place to pull together new merchandise collections, often overseas.

Throughout the year, tasks typically involve:

analysing consumer buying patterns and predicting future trends
regularly reviewing performance indicators with sales and Merchandisers
managing plans for stock levels, reacting to change in demand and Logistics
meeting suppliers and negotiating terms of contract and maintaining those relationships, also sourcing new suppliers
attending trade fairs to select and assemble a new product collections
writing reports and sales forecasts, and analysing sales figures;
liaising with Store Managers to ensure product supply meets demand
seeking merchandise feedback from customers
training and mentoring Junior Buyers and Buyers Assistants