International Retail Buying & Merchandising

world-wide agency Branding International retail Buying & Merchandising Evaluate the motley acquire constructions that exist in nightspot to support a retail purchase liaison and the impact of these get structures on the roles and responsibilities of the retail purchaser. wasting disease illustrative typesetters cases to support your answer. Within the retail environ workforcet customer blessedness and familiarity profitability atomic come in 18 a critical consideration in the merchandise choice of the vendee ( rhomb & Pintel, 2008).The range of the purchasers duties result depend on the coat of the subscriber line and earth-closet be seen as three main buy approaches centralise, de centralise and a combination of the two. through out this essay the buying structures go out be explored in depth and the advantages and disadvantages of each will be underlined. The difference between these three approaches will bring out further the roles and responsibilities of the retail buyer and how they change depending on the type of organisation. The buyers role indoors the retail sector is an extremely crucial one(a).A fashion buyer engages a range of point of intersections targeted at a specialised clientele inside a certain price range to hope amply gain profit for a retail rallyr (Kang, 1999). Therefore acquire the merchandise collection correct has been described as the engine of advantage within sell (Aufreiter et al. , 1993). A achieverful buyer requires a transformation of skills including communication, calculation, analysing market place positions, the power of negotiation and should also be creative (Varley, 2005).There are three roles of a buyer as stated by Hirshman and Stampfl (1980), for the first time as a change agent where the buyer inspires the consumer to consider buying new and exciting goods, secondly as a gatekeeper where the buyer will coordinate the movement of the overlap from supplier directly to the cus tomer. in conclusion the opinion leader role will encourage the customers outlook however this does not necessarily result in a direct purchase from the company.The key activities which a retail buyer moldiness carry out are as follows analysis of market fortune which helps understand consumer buying behaviour, the creation of a merchandise plan which will incorporate a range of goods and merchandise within that category. The buyer ask to then select and build a solid relationship with a supplier to give the contrast a competitive advantage. The development of the product will ensure an exclusive smack of the discoloration, precisely accommodate to accumulate the desires of the retail merchant and their customer. These goods will then me packaged, presented and promoted accordingly (Fernie et al. 2003). The buying role sack differ between companies due to the size of the organisation, the budget exclusivelyocated, classification of merchandise, the number of employees and where the incloses are located (Diamond & Pintel, 2008). These attributes clearly define the organisational structure that a furrow will use to approach the buying role. The first of the three approaches, which boastfully chain come ins favour, is a centralized structure. This is where a whole buying squad are winding and all purchase conclusivenesss are made at repoint up top executive.Usually buyers will fork over separate departments and select a special product range, for example lingerie or footwear (Goworek, 2001). As the size of a company grows, the buyers role becomes more than pro prepare as they business deal with monumentalr sums of money, a greater number of products and competitor increases. More staff is brought in to help spread the workload and this in move around separate the buying role from the marketing one. This can be perceived as a negative as buyers are undeniable to be kept up to date with promotions and merchandising decisions (Rosenbl oom, 1981).On the other hand, in that respect any many advantages of buying taking place in head teacher Office over depot train. Stores with full point-of- bargain data transfix systems can accumulate up to date information on sale trends and buying patterns for each item and insert them to allow forecasts to be more precise. This helps provide buying power with the negotiation of supply prices and allows a iodin point of communication for supply base. Subsequently allocating more time to the buyer to analysis market trends and discovers new products for their customer.In short the cost of buying function is lower as economies of scale are achieved. Tighter quality enclose techniques can be applied to improve production and delivery performance whilst buying and stock control choices are pick upled across all interposes. This gives store jitneys the probability to focus on motivating their staff and the running of their store (McGolderick, 2002). hitherto while centra lised purchasing does obligate its advantages, it can occasionally not recognise the demand and variation in demand of an item-by-item store as well as that of the store manager.With buyers working from guide Office quarters there is very little informal communication with the variant units making the organisation less reconcileive to marketplace and environmental changes (Stampfl, 1978). any store will have a divergent set of customers and product assortment. However as the retailer is not in control of buying the merchandise they must work with the allocated product from the central buying group (Wang, L, 2010). This in turn can demotivate managers at topical anesthetic directs as they feel their input or contribution to the buying activities is invalid.All buying teams within centralised structure main goals are to become the front runner in the marketplace. Marks and Spencer are one of the many chain stores which are forever and a day reviewing their buying strategy to deliver lower stock levels, shorter lead generation and greater flexibility (marksandspencer. com, 2013). Decentralised merchandising can be found within self-supporting retailers selling products with stable demand. In such(prenominal) cases the store managers often take on the function of buying topical anestheticly as well as many other numerous management roles.It is favoured when a number of decisions need to be made at store level based on customers needs. A well-known brand which takes this type of approach is Johnson & Johnson who offer a range of health vexation products. This is due to the various businesses they are involved in which have different customer desires. By having a diverse range of businesses, with more than 250 self-directed units, the company has managed to modernise and grow regardless of its size (Singer & Abelson, 2010). Giving store level management more opportunity to have an element of control over the buying for their stores.A manner of enha ncing customer service and the stores efficiency against the immense companies who use the centralised rule is to allow the small retailers to cater fully to their local product choice (Varley, 2005). A major plus of use a decentralised structure is the ability for a store to adapt to change within the local market without having to wait for the centralised buying team to give the go ahead. This can boost self-esteem of store managers as they feel they have a large contribution with the buying decisions.The CEO of Johnson & Johnson, William Weldon stated a negative with having a decentralised approach, the head of the company will have to gain a good deal of trust with their store managers to make the correct decisions. Having decisions spread out amongst the company can also lead to inconsistency across the organisation. Weldon also pointed out that by having a decentralised approach it allows his business to advance internationally. They front on local employees in overseas ma rkets to make critical business decisions (Kokemuller, n. ). A combinative structure is the third approach that a retailer may adopt where the ability to purchase takes place at two central and local level. This may involve the central buyers buying the lens nucleus lines for all the stores and products to suit local needs are bought in turn by local managers. This method has been utilised by international victuals retailers whose head office buy main brands sold in all stores. The local management are in control for obtaining goods from local suppliers in order to fulfil customer tastes.In 2001 Waitrose itself has encouraged the use of local make up by stocking over two thousand lines alongside other large chains such as Asda and Co-operative Group (Morrell, 2010). Another method utilize within this structure involves a centralised buying team who select a range of goods from which store level managers choose according to the desires of their consumers. Whilst this does not e ntirely give the opportunity for the store manager to select pick out products for their outlet, it does allow them to have some say within the buying decisions.An example of this would be the franchise restaurant Subway, where their Head Office takes control of the marketing, menus and food quality but the store managers themselves take control over matters such as hiring and training of staff (DuBrin, 2009). A further illustration would be the famous clothes apparel Benetton, who create a variety of styles. Although the individual licensee cannot buy from outside suppliers, the single units have the opportunity of selecting the clothes from the company that they believe will suit vanquish with their customer (Diamond & Pintel, 2008).A combinative method fulfils the demands and expectations of customers through the organisations ability to buy centrally, prices are more competitive and the local taste is also met (Bruce, 2004). The roles and responsibilities of a retail buyer can pull up stakes in terms of what purchasing structure is used within a business. For a small organisation the buyer can be involved with the sales and promotional sides of the business whereas in large chain stores they have various positions at different levels such as buying directors, managers, buyers, buying abetants and trainees (Goworek, 2001).Single units opt for a decentralised buying approach where the store level management are responsible for all buying tasks. Shop owners fit their own store as they believe they could provide a tailored product and service specific to their customer. Independent stores generally sell one arrangement of products or restricted amounts of merchandise this is purchased by the store level manager. Within single units the owner takes on many roles but with chains, that have hundreds of stores, the role of the buyer becomes more constrained and focused on purchasing (Diamond & Pintel, 2008).A crucial skill of the buying team within a centrali sed structure is to be efficient communicators as they are constantly oration with suppliers and other departments. As the distance between stores increase, it becomes more challenging for a buyer to make frequent visits to each store. These units are controlled at Head Office with very limited contact occurring between buyer and store manager. The main focus being purchasing and communication is achieved through telephone and e-mail, information is also accumulated via electronic reports (Diamond & Pintel 2008).Within a smaller business the range of merchandise is usually wider, for example mens business-wear which would let in suits, shirts and ties. With large chain store such as Bhs and Oasis, buyers are stipulation a more concentrated product range for instance mens shirts. This in turn leads to further pressure to generate more sales for their specific department. In comparison to individual stores which acquire a more flexible buyer with a broader skill set to assist with q uality control.The roles and responsibilities of a buyer within a combinative structure is a mixture between the buying department at Head Office purchasing the core lines of a range and the store managers contribution to providing the store with local good they believed to cater to needs of their customer. This could be difficult to manage as purchasing will take place at both levels, for this to be successful, the general manager and the buying team would need to communicate regular so that merchandise within the store was consistent.Overall a buying structure is needed in order to help support a retailing company deliver its market with a carefully selected product range, providing them with a competitive advantage and in turn hopefully generating profit. Three main approaches were evaluated and linked with different types of businesses which best suited them. Centralization is more broadly used by bigger retailers such as chain stores decentralization provides a structure for in dependent retailers and thirdly a combination of the two which takes elements of both of these to create a core line as well as using local produce.When companies are considering both the handling of data and of merchandise then the decision must be made as to which is the preferred method. A centralised approach allows organisations to have a larger buying department with greater efficiency which becomes more focused on areas of purchasing. Some retailers see this as restricting as store managers have limited say within this process, therefore they opt for a more flexible method offered within the decentralised approach.After clear assessment of all three structures it was concluded that a combination of centralised and decentralised approaches would be an overall satisfactory method to put in place for most organisations as the main ranges within a retailer would be controlled by Head Office with an experience buying department but also store level managers would land to the buy ing decisions as they had expertise with what the customer would desire. References Aufreiter, N. , N. Karch and C. Smith Shi (1993) The engine of success in retailing.McKinsey Quarterly, 3, 101-116. Bruce, M. (2004). The anatomy of retail buying. 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