So you want to be a Buyer? Top Five Tips from an Industry Expert
Hi Everyone, I’m Clare Horgan! I met the beautiful face and wonderful brains behind Relier about 7 years ago when we were working together on the shop floor at Kookai, in Brisbane.
Since then I have continued to grow my career with Kookai, having worked in the Melbourne Support Office for the previous 5 years as I buyer and now as the Merchandise Planner.
I’ll very quickly share a little of my story of how I’ve come from the shop floor to where I am today. It’s pretty simple really! I put my hand up and volunteered for anything any everything that I could! From little things like completing stocktake in stores, sale preparation and unpacking weekly deliveries; to volunteering as a helper at Kookai runway shows and doing work experience in the Head Office where I spent 3 days with a few different departments.
I honestly think that because of the work I put in early on (without even realising it at the time) I have got to where I am today. And that brings me to my first tip for you ….
#1 Involve yourself anyway you can to get as much exposure as possible – to the people, to the processes, to anything and everything.
I had no idea 7 years ago that separating stock in the backroom would help me with my career. But now when I am putting those sale lists together, I know exactly how to format and curate the list in a way that works to merchandise and markdown for the team, and to make it easy for customers to shop.
#2 It’s a huge help to have experience!
Now I don’t necessarily mean experience in the sense of prior work or study in buying. (Although there are some really great courses out there that would help to put you a step ahead – like the Certificate of Retail Buying and Strategic Planning offered at Australian Online Courses). However, I highly recommend building experience in knowing who the customer is and what the product is.
You can be taught processes and programs, but knowing exactly who the customer is that you’re buying for is invaluable knowledge that you can achieve from experience in store.
For example, working as a Buyer for a large retailer like David Jones you could be buying dresses in the Young Fashion department, or you could be buying dresses for Women’s Fashion. Either way, you are still buying dresses – but based on who you are buying for, your selections will be entirely different. And knowing what selections to make comes back to knowing your customer!
#3 Nailing key skills will help put you ahead!
To be totally honest, buying was completely different to what I had ever imagined! There is so much maths and analysis involved. Here are a few key skills (and tips to help you nail them) to put you ahead in a buying career.
a) Learn to analyse properly
There are programs, and reports, and spreadsheets, and calculators that will work out the numbers for you. But what these things won’t tell you is what the numbers mean. Anyone can pick up a report and tell you that sales were up 15% for the week, but what they can’t tell you from the report is why you were up! That’s your job!
Learning to analyse data properly will be the single biggest help for a Career in Planning & Buying!
b) Communication is key
Strong and clear communication is so important in buying. Whether it’s communication between you and a supplier, communication between you and your team, or the way you present your sales analysis in meetings – if you are clear and confident with the way you communicate you are guaranteed to get better results.
c) Remember your purpose
As a Buyer your job is to select products that are right for your customer! My biggest tip for doing this is to remove yourself from the equation. So often I catch myself out thinking, ‘do I like this?’
At the end of the day that’s not important. What matters is if I think the product is right for the customer – not for me – for the customer, and that’s why it’s so important to know exactly who the customer is that you’re buying for!
A little tip for how to practice this easily during iso – often designers, brands or influencers will put up ‘which do you prefer’ polls on Instagram, giving you the choice of a few options and you select your favourite. Next time you see one of these, answer not based on what your favourite is, but based on what you think will be the most popular answer and see how you go!
#4 Start every day with a bit of balance
As a Buyer things will often get chaotic, with timelines to stick to, sales targets to achieve, orders to raise, and budgets to finalise… I always like to start my day with a bit of balance.
The Good Trade is an online community for sustainability, slow living and self-love. They are great and 100% worth a follow! What’s even better is their newsletter – “The Daily Good”. It’s a 30 second read delivered to your inbox each morning with recommendations for conscious and sustainable living. Visit www.thegoodtrade.com for more.
Starting my morning with this is a great way to ease into what is likely to be a crazy day!
#5 Learn to trust yourself!
This is absolutely easier said than done. But to be a Buyer, you need to believe in the products you’re buying and you need to trust yourself that you are making the right decision.
People will question you and suggest changes all the time! But you need to learn to have the confidence in yourself to stand by your decisions.
To put it simply, there are two main elements of buying and planning; sales analysis and taking a gamble. The thing with reports is they will only ever tell you about the past. You can absolutely use this history as a guide, but at the end of the day the most important part of buying is taking a risk in the product you feel confident in for the future.
Trust yourself! The risk might be a high buy quantity, a higher or lower retail price, a new style, a new colour, a new trend. It could be anything at all! Just remember, you have to bet big to win big – sometimes in buying you have to take the risk to see the results!
Even if buying and planning isn’t necessarily a career path you see for yourself, I hope you find some of my tips and experiences helpful for your own journey.
Lots of Love,
Clare
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Want to know more? Find Clare on LinkedIn …
www.linkedin.com/in/clare-horgan-2412b2189/