A fashion buyer is responsible for making
sure the merchandise that consumers want
is available in stores.
 Buyers purchase goods from manufacturers
and vendors.
 They must be able to predict what
consumers want six months before the
goods reach the stores.
 They constantly monitor items that are
selling as well as the latest styles and trends.
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Merchandise Planning: estimating, as
correctly as possible, consumer demand
and how it can best be satisfied.
› Resources they can use are:
 Sales Records: Tells the buyers not only the quantities of
specific styles soled, but also the sizes and colors.
 Vendor Information: Buyers depend on information supplied
to them by vendors.
 Market Week Previews: Buyers attend market weeks to
preview the upcoming season’s merchandise and to buy
merchandise.
Design Center: A district in a city where
fashion design and production firms are
clustered together.
 Fashion Weeks: Periods during each
year when fashion designers present new
designs or collections. The most
important collection shows are held
twice a year, featuring spring-summer
and fall-winter lines.
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Haute couture: French term for high
fashion, which is expensive, trend-setting,
custom-made apparel
 Couturiers: professional fashion
designers involved in designing, making,
and selling high fashion
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Buying center: a central district in a city
where businesses sell products to retail
buyers
 Market weeks: the major times
scheduled by fashion producers to show
fashions to buyers
 Mart: a building that houses thousands
of showrooms for a specific
merchandise category
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Merchandising cycle: a circle of
ongoing planning, buying, and selling
activity
 Departmental buying: Activity of
department store buyers who purchase
merchandise for only their own
departments.
 Classification buying: Activity of
purchasing only one category
classification of merchandise, often
done by chain store buyers. Also called
central buying.
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Buying plans: A plan that describes the
types and quantities of merchandise to
purchase for a department or store for a
specific period of time and for a set
amount of money.
 Assortment Plan: a buying plan that
projects the variety and quantity of
specific stockkeeping units to be carried
by a store or department to meet
customer demand.

Stock-keeping unit (SKU): The smallest
unit for which sales and stock records are
kept.
 Specification buying: When a retailer
submits definite specifications to a
manufacturer about the quality of
materials, workmanship, style, and fit of
items, rather than looking for goods
already produced
 Vendor-managed inventory (VMI):
situation in which suppliers control stock
level replenishment from retail POS data
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Stock Turnover
› Number of times the inventory is sold and
replaced in a given period (how fast the
merchandise goes in and out of the store)

Stock-to-Sales Ratio
› Set figure for a specific time (ex: beginning of
the month)
 Stock-to-Sales= $value of stock at retail at beg of
month
$projected sales
for the month

Open-to-Buy
› Ongoing dollar amount that buyers are
permitted to order

Using Internal Information:
› Past Sales Records
› Salespeople
› Want Slips
› Consumer Opinions and Behavior
 Surveys, panels, customer counts

Using External Information:
› Vendors
› Trade Information
› Comparison Shoppers
› Resident Buying Offices

Retailer buyers “go to market” to meet
with a large number of vendors. They
can compare merchandise and try to
get the lowest prices. Vendors
encourage buyers to make
appointments to view their lines during
market weeks. Producers exhibit their
new lines with as much flair as possible.
Fashion shows are presented during
market weeks.
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Gaining a sense of the market
Seeing entire lines of vendors’ latest merchandise
Discovering new sources of lines from previously unused
manufacturers
Meeting and consulting with manufacturing-firm
management
Getting special terms and purchases, including lower prices
Gaining promotion or selling help from manufacturers
Networking with other buyers
Getting ideas for merchandise displays
Attending educational seminars, meetings, and other
planned events
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Trade shows are periodic, temporary
exhibits that are scheduled throughout the
year in various trading centers. They usually
last 2-4 days and are typically attended by
buyers from only one region of the country
or that deal in one specific type of product.
They might be held in hotels, civic centers,
or small exhibition halls. An advantage of
trade shows is that they cover areas of
fashion that might otherwise be lost at
major market weeks, such as tennis or golf
wear, or big and tall men’s wear.

New York: Known for:
› US Fashion Capitol
› More merchandise selection than any other
market
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Los Angeles: Known for:
› Has an apparel market center
› Fashions are innovative and trend-setting
› Casual “California-style” sportswear and
swimwear
› Hollywood “glitz” evening wear
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Dallas: Known for:
› Apparel market
› Sportswear and “western wear”
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Chicago: Known for:
› Headquarters of Sears and Montgomery
Ward
› Market Center attracts buyers from
midwestern states
› Chicago Apparel Mart
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Miami: Known for:
› Reasonably priced childrenswear and
“sunshine sportswear” such as cruise
fashions, swimsuits, and lightweight
activewear.
› Link between US firms and low-wage offshore
production in the Caribbean Islands and
Central and South America
› Miami International Merchandise Mart
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Atlanta: Known for:
› Atlanta Market Center-home furnishings,
floor coverings, apparel, and giftwares
› Includes: Atlanta Merchandise Mart, Atlanta
Decorative Arts Center, and the Atlanta
Apparel Mart
› Variety of merchandise, especially better
apparel and sportswear lines.
Purchase order (PO): A written
document authorizing the delivery of
certain goods at specific prices and
times.
 Advance orders: Merchandise orders
with a longer lead time before the
delivery date.
 Reorders: Additional orders of the same
merchandise as ordered previously
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Back orders: Merchandise orders that
have not been filled within the time
specified and have note been canceled
by the buyer.
 Open order: An order placed with a
resident buyer or vendor with no
restrictions as to style, color, price, or
delivery
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Special orders: Orders for merchandise
to satisfy individual customers rather than
for a regular stock
 Blanket orders: Promises to buy from
favored vendors over a period of time,
with no detail of colors, sizes, or shipment
until later.
 Approval buying: An arrangement in
which merchandise is shipped to a
retailer’s store for inspection before the
final purchase decision is made.
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