Responsibilities in Buyers Role Research . Researching the competitors for the particular shop/range . Researching the target customer .Customer Demand (e.g. price, quality and availability) .Market Trends – New season trends as well as sales from last season .Store Policy – understanding your customer and brand is very important. Buyers should only buy product that is correct for the brand and customer. Not what they like themselves .Financial Budgets – how much money they have to spend per product and for the season
Sourcing .The experienced buyer’s role involves travelling, mainly to see clothing suppliers and negotiate the most competitive deal .Analysing and predicting future trends for the target customer to follow – WGSN prediction site .Attending Trade shows - exhibit the collections for the follow season, so buyers purchase products at least six months ahead
Communication .Communicate with other departments of buying at their head office for specialist input .Liaise with key departments like design, fabric technologists, merchandising and quality control to ensure that the fashion range is team effort and meets all standards .Negotiation and communication with the suppliers – prices, qualities, delivery dates (it is good to create a bond and good working relationship)
Retail is a very fast moving industry, trends faze out quickly and are replaced with new ones and just because one retailor is the most popular today doesn't mean that they will still be tomorrow. Fashion buyers are impacted on this issue as they need to ensure they are keeping up with what their consumers are interested in at that tine and keep the prices affordable so that they sell their ranges. Consumers are becoming less interested in spending their disposable income on fashion and therefore it is the buyers job to work with all the departments to get their target market to become interested in it again and purchase it.
This is an article from Sky News explain the decline in fashion retail sales. Fashion buyers are very affected by this as they have to find what consumers are shopping more for and clothing wise make what they need more excited and persuade them that they need the latest trends. Fashion shows, magazines and apps are a good way to do this, giving the fashion industry more press will allow fashion buyers to link their consumers to their products and overall get them to purchase the collections they are producers. A lot of people these days are more focused on holidays and social events, therefore the buyers have to ensure that what they are producing links to them and they overall purchases, e.g. producing collections on holiday attire. (Sky News, 2016)
This article explains how clothes buying is becoming less popular in the UK (2016). “Profits have dived at the biggest retailers, as the number of clothes sold has dropped precipitously, by an average of 4.4 per cent in five of the past six months.� It also explains how the retail consumers are switching spending their money on fashion and apparel to holidays and food. For fashion buyers this is a huge issue that they need to overcome to get people interested in buying clothes again, get them interested in resorting to spending their money on apparel. This means that the buyer will have to promote the collections and ranges in a way that gets their target market excited, maybe bringing in celebrity endorsements or special offers that they cant refuse. This will also mean that the buyers will have to work closely to the merchandising deparment and visual merchandising to ensure that there collection is presented in the correct manner and see what is selling and what isn’t. https://www.ft.com/content/5c274b28-7f3d-11e6-8e50-8ec15fb462f4. (2016). 1st ed.
All of these articles explain how the economy is affecting the fashion market on the high-street for consumers. As a buyer this impacts you a lot on a huge scale as your collection within the shop wont be selling as much as usual i9f the economy s suffering. Visual merchandising within stores needs to be the main pull of consumers to get them to be interested enough to spend what little money they have on fashion. Underneath is an article stating that online purchases have gone up by 2.4% in October 2014 as oppose to in store of 0.1%, this shows that the buyer would have to have more replenishments and quantity of stock online rather than in store as this is where people are going to buy their fashion now.
Above shows on article on how weak economies are affecting the retail margins. For a buyer they would need their cost price to be as low as possible and their quantity to be quite small if there are only a small percentage of consumers purchasing their items.
Overall fashion buyers are affected majorly by the economy because this affects peoples (consumers) disposable income and makes them prioritise what most needed i.e. food, shelter and necessary clothes like school wear, coats for winter etc. so making the range affordable and worth it to the consumers is very important.
Britain has had a good supplying chain with other countries within Europe being part of the Union. They have also allowed to have good communication with other big supplying countries like Asia and Russia has they have a lot to offer within the Europe supplying industry. Now that Brexit is happening, Britain is facing the consequence of having to pay more for their products from suppliers all over the globe who usually would not be as expensive. Because of this, the prices on apparel in the UK stores will also increase leaving consumers to stop spending money on unaffordable fashion. This is due to the pound becoming less valuable and therefore increasing the costs of U.S dollas that suppliers would usually pay in. “The declines raise sourcing costs for fast-fashion retailers like Hennes & Mauritz AB. The Swedish chain gets about 80% of its products from the Far East, where suppliers for international brands are largely paid in U.S. dollars, according to data from RBC Capital Markets analyst Richard Chamberlain. Costs also will rise for Primark, owned byAssociated British Foods PLC, which gets 75% of its apparel and accessories from countries such as China, Vietnam and Cambodia, according to RBC.” (Chaudhuri, 2016)
This has an impact on UK Fashion buyers as the price they pay for the suppliers they are getting their products from will increase, therefore increasing the cost of their range and seeing s decrease in the profit made because consumers will refuse to spend their disposable income on the latest apparel.
The fashion industry has changed its gender colours to unisex colours, creating ranges that can be bought by both genders and therefore expanding their market and upping its profits. Making clothes gender neutral allows for people to feel more comfortable in their own skin and avoid being judged by society. This is also affecting fashion buyers in the way they try to distinguish their items between the genders either for both or one or the other. “Retail brands, from global fast- fashion to high-end couture, are now racing to capture and market to the new wave of shoppers - having noticed the cultural shift.” (VARMA, 2016)
This is a policy for retailers set by the Government. Using more efficient land of low carbon activities will have less impact on the environment and so buyers have to ensure that they are doing the same when sourcing from other countries to be sure that they are protecting the environment the best they can. With the buyers is impacts on were they source from which also impacts their spends.
"Since [Mr. Trump] seems to be a fan of everything for and in America, the European luxury brands might face a challenge of increased tariffs on foreign goods, which will indirectly result in a big drop in American revenues for these brands," said Ambika Zutshi, CEO of Fashionbi, Milan. (Luxurydaily.com, 2016) Donald Trump for president in the United States means that he could change the way global exchanges are made and up the price of America trading with other countries. As a buyer this means that higher cost prices means higher RRPs and therefore because of the icrease in prices on appaerel and footwear, mant consumers will no longer be able to afford the luxury of buying new clothing. The buyers will have to negotiate and maintain a good relationship with the suppliers in order to keep the business making a good profit.
Retail – Consumer Spending Black Friday is an annual ‘all shop sales and discount’ day. Basically, right before Christmas, towards the end of November, all shops have discounted prices on some of their products. This is a day were consumer spending rises highly and the shops stock on these product has a high replen. This is seen as a holiday day to most customers, there Christmas shopping is starting or finishing and they are getting ready foe Christmas. As a buyer for this, you need to be sure that you are pricing products correctly and the correct products, new in store is a tricky one to discount as if out put the price too low then the profit margin decrease leaving a decrease in profit. This is the main reason that new products do not get discounted and is really a day for the buyers and store to get rid of ‘old’ stock.
Consumer spending has dropped dramatically between 2011 and 2012 when the ‘credit crunch’ was a major issue. This article shows how in this time the retail margins were “far from flattering” as nobody had the disposable income to buy the latest fashion. This has a huge impact on the buyer as they have to find a needed gap in the market that target a specific customers needs to either cheap affordable school wear for their children or the more elite fashion that the credit crunch just lowers their budget of fashion spending not takes it away all together like it did to the regular high-street consumer.
Retail–Technology This link takes you to an article explaining the latest technology advancements for powering retail into the future. Nowadays shoppers no longer need to physically shop but can however do it all online. There are new ways to get people to start physically shopping again, for example; VR (Virtual Reality) expensive for the shop but engages customers to the product even more and making them want to purchase it. There are robots, build-to-order, interactive screens etc, even though this is better for toys and gadgets it also works well for fashion. Showing catwalks in store, get the feel of the fabric and sneaker brands like Nike and Adidas give customers the chance to customize their own trainer and apparel.
This article taken from the ‘Financial Times’ explains how high end brands are transforming their shop windows to hi-tech to keep an eye on their passing shoppers and consumers. For example, the shop window could have a sensor in it, allowing the products to move or light up whenever it detects a by passer or smartphone. This helps with making the product look more in sync with the modernised world, interacting with the window shopping consumers to make the products more interesting, it’s a very good way to sell your product.
http://www.dmnews.com/marketing -strategy/the-five-techadvancements-powering-retail-intothe-future/article/548364/
All in all, technology for shopping is becoming more and more advanced. It helps customers engage and interact with their product before purchasing, giving them an opportunity to make they product more personal. To the left shows an article on how Karen Millen launched a retail technology concept in London's store, showcasing existing in-store technology and giving consumers a look into the future technology of fashion stores.
POLITICAL
ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMIC SOCIAL
TECHNOLOGICAL
LEGAL
POLITICAL Marks and Spencer was fined ÂŁ1m for failing to protect customers, staff and workers from potential exposure to asbestos. This had a high impact on the buyer as many of their customers may avoid coming into the shop and purchasing items which will mean a smaller profit margin. This will also have an impact on the budget the buyer has to buy in their stock and other industry requirements to get their collection out on the shop floor in time for when it is trending with the high street style among consumers.
This incident with an employee getting injured in Marks and Spencer’s work place by a door falling on them, puts the company at risk of failing safety regulations that the law has put in place to secure safety for both employees and customers. This has a high impact on the buyer due to the Government increasing their VAT meaning that Marks and Spencer have to increase their prices to keep their profit margin. However, this trail was pled not guilty because of the way in which the organisation believes in working closely with the government to keep their historic values and was the first company to achieve fair trade policy. Because this company is known for well valued and quality products within its whole business, other competitors find it very difficult to keep up with their standards.
ECONOMIC
Marks and Spencer are raising awareness and money for Breast Cancer research. This is a good way to increase sales as many women are more likely to buy the products if they know that 10% of their purchase goes towards Breast Cancer Research, as it is a good and well known cause that a lot of people are affected by. This article explains how and why Marks and Spencer want to do this, they have gathered ‘seven inspirational women’ to model the collection and have hand picked them especially due to them all been affected by breast cancer. They are doing it to ‘spark something good’ and show support for the Brest Cancer Awareness month of October. The affect this has on the buyer is that 10% of the usual profit wont be going to the company, however more profit should be made as more stock will be sold because it is a good cause and therefore many people are a lot more likely to be willing to purchase the collection. It has a short time frame as it is only for a month that this is happening and has a positive impact on the buyer as the sports wear is trending now in the fashion world due to health and fitness becoming more popular as a lifestyle and therefore this collection will target all ages of women.
Marks and Spencer are giving £350000 to help energy community energy fund for the second year running. This is good for the economic side of Marks and Spencer as it promotes them as an eco-friendly company, it is also good to keep their prices of their shop down like their energy bills therefore helping them and helping the community. This affects the buyer in a good way as they can use this as part of who they decide to purchase stock from in terms of their energy use and also keep this is mind when creating ranges ad concepts for new collections. http://corporate.marksandspencer.com/media/press-releases/2016/mands-teams-up-with-seven-inspirational-women-to-call-on-customersto-get-active-to-help-prevent-breast-cancer
SOCIAL Marks and Spencer’s activity on various sites has clearly defined roles. Facebook hold customer reviews and community building and Twitter is used for promotional activity, notifications and for instant customer feedback. Therefore Marks and Spencer’s presence is medium but with high and low self presentation. Firstly, choosing the right sites, it is clear that M&S use Facebook and Twitter as they can be used for direct communication with customers. The discussions page is a great forum for two way communication between brand and customer. M&S have chosen the right sites to show customers their quick response to any issues or concern.
As a buyer social media is a great way to keep customers updated and informed on all things going on with their brand. Using platforms like Twitter and Facebook allows the buyer to contact customers personally, either to answer questions or inform them on a specific item. “91% of Retail Brands use two or more social media channels”. Buyers are able to promote products and announce information quickly and efficiently to customers by using social media as you can share information in seconds, this heavily increases sales. If retailers are able to connect with customers meaningfully on social media they increase their visibility with an audience that’s already inclined to buy or looking to buy products. Social media can help build brand awareness and extent the amount of time potential customers spend interacting, browsing and considering a brand by engaging them in conversations.
https://katiethorpe.wordpress.com/2011/04/25/a-casestudy-of-marks-and-spencers-social-media/
TECHNOLGOICAL Marks and Spencer have created a ‘life size’ iPhone that makes your in store shopping experience that much easier. This new technology called ‘The Hub’ allows you to browse and order in store. These hubs debuted in Marks & Spencer’s Cheshire Oaks stores in 2012 and are rolling out across more UK stores. They allow users to browse the catalogue or scan barcodes on items and explore product information. Customers can choose to order on the device and collect at a later date or have the product delivered. “These touch screen devices resemble huge iPhones and come with a card payment machine”. Familiarising offline customers with the M&S catalogue online is a smart move as M&S has 6m customers that have never used its website. “This project not only demonstrates the breadth of our-in-house manufacturing teams capacities, but also highlights the vast range of materials and processes we can work with e.g. metalwork, LED screens and acrylics” SDI managing director Ian Wright
This development came from Marks and Spencer being appointed to remodel an existing design of the unit, before manufacturing the installation in a number of stores. This is an on-going, positive development from a buyers perspective due to the fact of how accessible technology is and how much easier it makes the buyers role. As more and more retailers are using a type of “Browse and order” system, it will enable more profits for all retailers using them.
(Sdidisplays.co.uk, 2016)
SDI CREATES CUTTING-EDGE BROWSE & ORDER UNITS FOR MARKS & SPENCER
(Econsultancy, 2016)
LEGAL This is a key legal case for Marks and Spencer, due to the “important test of how UK trade mark laws apply to keyword advertising”. Interflora, the worlds largest flower delivery firm, sued Marks and Spencer for sponsoring the word “Interflora”, as a search engine key word. Michigan-based Interflora and its UK trading are seeking an unspecified sum of damages and a court injunction to stop M&S bidding on its brand name. Interflora says that the British retailer has taken an unfair advantage of Interflora’s brand, in breach of trade mark law. The lawsuit names Flowers Direct Online as a second defendant. The company, based in Morecambe, England, runs a flower delivery service from flowersdirect.co.uk.
In the lawsuit filed yesterday, M&S and Flowers Direct are accused of bidding for the words 'Interflora' and misspellings such as 'Intaflora' and 'Inter-flora' in Google's AdWords programme. When users searched for these terms, adverts for M&S and Flowers Direct appeared as 'sponsored links'.
This type of case is of high impact on a buyer due to bringing to light how as a buyer, you must always ensure that you have permission from designers and other retailers to use any existing names and designs etc. As a buyer, if you are unlucky enough to be caught up in a similar situation as to this like using an existing name without contacting the brand, you could be at risk of a lawsuit and losing your job.
Marks and Spencer was due to shut down many of their major clothing stores. This article explains how Northen Ireland escaped the closing of their store due to executive Rowe campaigning for the store to be saved.
http://www.out-law.com/page-9638
ENVIRONMENT
This article explains the award Marks and Spencer got for being a successful sustainable business for the Environment and Energy Awards in 2013. All in all this shows the business as caring and recognises the external influences that their business may affect, like added fuel to the environment (leading to global warming) and wasted energy that many businesses lose everyday. Winning this award allows their customers and stakeholders to notice them more as a environmentally friendly business and makes them aware of the extent Marks and Spencer go to, to ensure that they are successfully performing strategies to control the damage that they may cause to the environment when transporting, manufacturing and packaging their products. This has a high impact on the buyer as they need to make sure that they follow the regulations and strategies when choosing the products they are buying in, for example they need to check the manufacturers working environment to ensure that they are using as less energy as possible when making the products, choose the correct materials and check how it will be transported in a way that uses less fuel (i.e. in buy in bulk and make few journeys). As a buyer you need to know the impact of Green house gases emitted by transport vehicles, manufactured goods etc. you also need to be aware of Fair Trade which Marks and Spencer are involved in. Fair trade measures the carbon footprint left by businesses and now all organisations have to take important steps to help reduce their carbon footprint.
http://corporate.marksandspencer.com/media/press-releases#
ENVIRONMENT Marks and Spencer are helping the environment by encouraging their customers to help reduce the impact on the environment by lowering their washing temperature. This business came to realise that to be environ mentally friendly their customers has to be also, so by re-labelling ¾ of their products to ‘Think Climate Wash at 30°’ they are familiarising their customers with the regulations they need to follow to ensure that they are keeping energy levels low. This small change that Marks and Spencer are making to their labels and advertisement will have a huge affect on the reduction of energy used by UK home residents, as the message will come across many people and make them aware of the importance of the environment. The time frame will be on-going as the business will not stop being environmentally friendly and tackle the issue of global warming and carbon footprints. As a buyer this has a huge impact on the suppliers that they chose to work with and the manufacturers of Marks and Spencer products. They need to ensure they are following all the regulations and strategies for buying in Fair Trade and reducing their carbon footprint, i.e. examining the manufacturing factories and transporting vehicles to keep the fuel consumption and wasted energy to a low level.
http://corporate.marksandspencer.com/media/pressreleases/archive/2007/23042007_mshelpscustomerstothinkclimatebyrelabellingclothing
VISION OF A TOPSHOP BUYER
CUSTOMER DEMANDS TARGET MARKET: I found an article on Topshop for the Guardian online and came across an informative quote from – Jane Shepherdson, (previous) brand manager for Topshop: ‘Officially our target market is 15- to 30-year-old women, but internally we target everyone who loves fashion, regardless of age or income.’ She adds: ‘I think the biggest change [in the high street since the 1970s] is one the consumers have driven, in that they are much more fashion-savvy these days, and demand much more than they did. The impact of the media has meant that everyone knows what the celebrities are wearing, where they got it, what the designers are showing on the catwalk and so on, so they want a bit of it too.’ On the Topshop website I also found an enlightening description of ‘their customer’: “An extraordinary retail phenomenon, Topshop appeals to students, professionals, fashion taste makers and high profile AList stars alike. United by their desire for the latest forward thinking trends, these shoppers enjoy both the store’s exclusive cult status and accessibility simultaneously. With over one million customers visiting stores every week in pursuit of an up-to-the minute fashion fix, the average customer is a loyal follower of the brand. She cannot be defined by her age – which can range from early teens to fifty something’s – but instead her attitude. Style conscious and independent, she is addicted to fashion but is not dictated to. Instead she throws away the rulebook and aims for a unique look.” The key words I extracted from this information regarding their target consumers were: – YOUTH – their main customer is within the range of 15 – 30, and mainly students – this is also revealed through their 10% student discount, they also appeal to women older than this with a youthful outlook on fashion – FASHION SAVVY/FORWARD – people with a passion for fashion, who like to keep up-to-date with the latest trends – INDIVIDUAL – people with their own personal sense of style, that can use Topshop products to create their own individual looks (http://jonquil.myblog.arts.ac.uk/2014/02/20/brand-research-topshop/)
What’s trending? Topshop provide a page named ‘Trending now’ which displays the range that is trending in the fashion industry at this time. They provide a new page every week of the new trend looks and what their selling to keep their target market wanting their products. Topshop go by demand by customers on the high street and therefore will keep producing items that are in demand by their typical consumers to compete with their competitors like River Island who will have similar products for similar prices. For Topshop to be successful, as a buyer you would need to look into catwalks for the season and what's trending in terms of patterns ,colours and products and see what is in demand of your target customer.
Some of TOPSHOPS trending now products from week 07/11/2016
Customer Profiles As a buyer you would have to create customer profiles of Topshop's target audience for their collections to match what is in demand amongst them at that time. Creating customer profiles allows the buyer to visualise what the collection should look like and what products it should include, it also allows them to see what the main patterns and colour pallet should be featured in the range. Over 1 million customers visit Topshop stores every week, in the pursuit of the ultimate fashion fix. This is another reason why customer profiles are so important, buyers need to think in the mind-set of their target customer in terms of what the high street can offer them to fit in with the latest trend and style of todays fashion world. The buyer however, does not just focus on the catwalk trends and patterns but also on the celebrities that their target market are looking up to and ‘obsessed’ with in the media. For example, Kate Moss has modelled for Topshop on and off for years and is back on the scene now. This is because many young women view Kate Moss as a fashion icon, she is a top supermodel with great success and therefore is a perfect fit for Topshop as their consumers look up to her and try to imitate her looks and daily attributes. Topshop buyers need to look into potential customers also, and therefore have to be aware of what collections could attract potential and existing customers in order for their range to sell.
Competitors Competitors for TOPSHOP are other high street stores that target the same customer and similar products for similar prices. River Island, New Look and Zara are all competitors of TOPSHOP, making it important to keep an eye on what the other stores are stocking and for what prices. This can have a huge impact on whether their consumers by a product from TOPSHOPs store or a competitors store in terms of quality, look and price of the product and can vary due to these aspects. Celebrities modelling for a shop also has an impact on the customer, if the celebrity is in the public eye and is noticed for being around social media a lot then the customers are more likely to want to buy what they are wearing because that is the trend at that time.
Store Policies CIO (Customer Information Obligations) “Top shop is committed to reducing the impacts of its packaging on the environment. Our aim is to reduce our production of packaging waste, maximise recycling and reduce disposal to landfill as far as reasonably possible.” (TOPSHOP) WEEE COMPLIANCE (UK Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) Arcadia have contributed toward the development of recycling collection points through out the UK through their membership of the Distributor Take Back Scheme (DTS).
This is TOPSHOPs store policy for returns to the UK and International. This is important for me as the buyer to take into account because, many people order their products online and therefore don’t try them on for size or fit meaning that a lot of customers like to have the option of returning their products easily and free from charge. For the buyer this also means that consumers can purchase the products with the accessible option of returning them without any obstacles, this is a good way for buyers to see what is being bought and returned the most and therefore allow them to look into a particular item in more detail and see what's wrong with it and why its not selling.
Taking this into account as a buyer is very important. TOPSHOP buyers need to be very careful when choosing their products, they would need to investigate the product to make sure it applies to these policies so that it can be sold in the store. If they make a mistake and the product doesn’t pass the regulations then money is lost and their profits dramatically drop, this would be a huge loss for the company.
Market Trends TOPSHOP have a ‘what's trending’ page on their website which I have talked about previously. This is a great way as a buyer to see what their customer demand is and what they are going for out of the new released products. Staying with the trend is very important, if you lose focus of what the catwalk trend is, celebrity influences of the trend and how it has been reciprocated onto the high street than you lose your customer. 2015 London Fashion Week, TOPSHOP steps up its digital innovation by giving its customers the chance to shop for key trends from the event. As a buyer this is one of the best ways to see what their customer is wanting from the catwalk of their products, it displays a clear picture of what the trend is and therefore how much of what product is selling and why. The target customer will also be influence on certain products by what other main stream and high end designers are producing for London Fashion Week. Also having Jordan Dunn and Cara Delavigne modelling their products on the catwalk has a major influence on the particular products they are wearing because these models are famous for being super model, fashion icons and have been known for modelling for many famous brands, especially Victoria Secret.
Interacting with social media like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Snap chat gets TOPSHOPs brand a lot of publicity and enables the brand on keep on trend with their audience and communicate and take advice from their consumers. This allows the buyer to observe what the demand is on the high street, who the most hyped up model is at that time and what style is taking over the media internationally.
TOPSHOP stayed on top of the celebrity trend through social media and made a deal with Kendall and Kylie Jenner for a collection to sell in their stores and online. For a buyer this brings more publicity and attention to their products as the sisters will promote their line on social media, therefore creating a higher number of customers and bigger profit margin. https://www.arcadiagroup.co.uk/press-relations/press-releases-1/kendall-kylie-collection-launches-exclusively-in-topshop-stores-worldwide
Financial Budgets Arcadia is a fast moving business of eight of the high streets best-known fashion brands, eight online stores and growing international franchise outlets spanning Europe, the far east and middle east. This is were TOPSHOP get their financial As a buyer for TOPSHOP I will have to look at every aspect of the cost of fabrics, industry manufacturing, shipment etc. This allows me to work out how big my profit margin will be .
This is TOPSHOPS marketing budget. Normally what they spend on their advertising and promotions of the brand and collections. As you can see the cost of advertising a business and product is expensive, meaning that the budget needs to be reasonable. Spending money as a buyer for the fabrics and production of the collection is a job that needs to be looked at in depth when deciding on how much it is worth to make a particular product. The profit margin cannot afford to drop and therefore it is the buyers obligation to understand the customer demands before financing their range.
Trend research and Analysis TOPSHOP have a event called ‘Trend Talk’ they allow consumers to come down to the big stores like Oxford Street in London and listen and talk about the latest trends seen on the catwalk for TOPSHOP. From catwalk to high-street the style keeps intact with the trending styles of TOPSHOPs consumers, and enabling them to engage in their stores fashion brings them closer together and makes them feel like they have a voice for the brand and the brand gets feedback.
TOPSHOP are inspired by global aspects, colour waves, fabrics, culture of the globe allows them to create new styles fit with the look of the brand. As a buyer for TOPSHOP you have to be able to spot the global communities and figure out colour pallets, shape and patterns for the style and collections set for the season. This is best done when you explore the culture yourself, taking primary research and personal pictures allows the buyer to get a feel of what the range should be all about. Creating this is important to connect to the target audience and communicate what the cloths are about. Buyers also work with celebrity endorsements within the brand, Beyoncé, Kylie and Kendal Jenner, Kate Moss all have their individual styles and so getting to know the celebrity secret hacks into the world of fashion is important for the buyer to be successful when creating the range for a celebrity.
Las Vegas Trend stop Shop
Supplier relationships - communication It is important for the buyer to have a strong, friendly and professional relationship with a variety of suppliers. This requires having good communication skills both in person and online e.g. via emails, Skype etc. strong bond means that if the supplier falls through with an order than the buyer can contact their back-up suppliers and know that they have another source of getting their order and also know that the suppliers will do what they can to make sure that they come through with the order before other customers that they may not have a good line of communication with. This also helps with negotiating prices, if you have a friendly level of communication, the supplier is more likely to want to give you offers and deals on orders and negotiate a cheaper price than what other buyers will be getting it for. TOPSHOP are part of an organisation called Arcadia, this is were their suppliers come from. Arcadia group has 766 suppliers with their goods manufactured in approximately 985 factories.
Arcadia make sure that they have these programmes on-going to follow ethical trading within their organisation for all of their brands, TOPSHOP being one of them. TOPSHOP are very committed to helping the environment the best they can, therefore they have different sectors they need to follow before sourcing their products, Ethical Trading, Environmental Impacts and Animal Welfare.
Job Descriptions Own Label – Being a buyer for an own label retailor like Samantha Chong requires a less staff and is on a smaller scale than a high street chain like Topshop. Own label buyers
may be the owners, designers and buyer of the shop and therefore there may be only them an one or two other people assisting them due to the one off couture garments that they sell. They have to take into account all of the financial responsibilities of the store, so they need to but the fabrics, industrial equipment, embellishments etc. but even take into account the shop rental cost as part of the overall surplus of their own label. The owner of the store being the designer, manufacturer and buyer will have to visit suppliers themselves and having a smaller team can make the process easier as it is a close working environment that knows what their label is about and has fewer opinions to take note of. However, being only a small work force has the positive side of not loosing money on wages as there wont be many people to pay or even any to pay, meaning that there is more profit made for the business.
High Street Chain – A high street chain like TOPSHOP is on a bigger scale than an own label as they usually have a branch internationally or EU or UK based etc. There are
different types of high street chains, there are high end, medium and low end which means that they vary on the pricing. There products are not one off (unless they have an outside range or one off collection e.g. TOPSHOP unique), this means that there products vary over a wide range of sizes and there are a lot of them because they have to cater for a larger knit of people. As the buyer you would work within the head office, relying on figures as you yourself are not in the store seeing how the collection is set out. For a shop like TOPSHOP that is international, you wouldn’t buy for all of the stores you would buy for a small number of them where your head office is based.
Department Store – Working as a buyer in a department store wont be that you buy in a bit of everything. Because the store s so big you will work for a certain department like
the women's section, make-up or the shoes section etc. However you could also buy in for the brands that are sold at that store, for example Kurt Geiger in Debenhams which is a brand that Debenhams provide but the buyers for the business don’t buy in Kurt Geiger, because the buyer for that business buy in for that particular concession. The environment of the store is a much larger scale and targets a wide, varied audience.
Branded Buying – This type of buying is mainly online retailor buying for online retailors like VERY.CO.UK or Shop Direct which buy in a range of different brands like Nike
and Calvin Klein. The buyers need to be aware of what brands are trending rather than what style is trending, they need be make sure that they are keeping up with the brands that are targeting the right audience and selling a lot of stock. This is different to buying in for a high street chain as you don’t just focus on a certain collection but you more on different brands which carry different departments.
Independent Stores and Boutiques - Pearl Boutique. These buyers work on a smaller scale and buy in from independent labels that carry a very unique products and one-off couture products. Some boutiques may have a small team who within are designers and manufacturers for the shop and because the work team is small all of them may have many different roles and responsibilities and help out in every aspect of the business. The products may only sell one in each size and although the sizes are varied it wont cover all sizes.
Assistant Buyer An assistant buyer works close with the senior buyer, giving their opinions and comments about what the latest trends are and how their competitors are coping. The skills required are, being able to build effective relationships both internally and externally, working with merchandisers and review department performance, has a wide knowledge and understanding of the business, looks further ahead to come up with solutions if problems occur and presents range to senior management. This job also has a list of ‘Must Haves’ including a good eye for fashion, the ability to communicate effectively with working departments, pre-existing experience. Doesn’t include a salary.
Junior Buyer for womenswear in rhr. Salary of £25,000 - £30,000 per annum plus Contributory and staff discount.
Have to have a background in the buying industry, have strong interpersonal and influencing skills and a proven track record from your last job of delivering sales growth.
SHOPFLOOR ORGANISATIONAL CHART
CEO Regional Manager
Area Manager
This chart displays the relation of the roles within the shop floor environment. The CEO of the shop is always the first on this chart, showing that everything gets reported to him but only from the Regional Manager. This allows the communication to be understood within the business because, the regional manager can get information from the area manager who gets their information from the store manger and so on. This is a good way to keep the business successful if this chart is followed, as decision making will be easier if not everybody can have an impact on their comments to the CEO of the organisation.
Store Manager Assistant Manager
Supervisors
Sales/Stockroom Assistants
Key Holders
Visual Merchandiser Junior Visual Merchandiser
Maintenance, Security and Cleaners
HEAD OFFICE ORGANISTIONAL CHART Head of Finance
Head Merchandiser
Finance Analyst
Assistant Merchandiser Junior Merchandiser Trainee Merchandiser
HR Recruitment and L&D Managers HR Recruitment and L&D Offices
CEO Assistant of CEO Marketing Manager
Designer
Head Buyer
Marketing Coordinator
Junior Designer
Assistant Buyer
Marketing Assistant
Designer Assistant
Junior Buyer
HR Recruitment and L&D Assistants
Head Office organisational chart explains the structure of hierarchy within the head office environments of fashion retail stores. Basically, it is a diagram showing the relation from one department to the other and who reports to who in each sector of the department, for example, the designer assistant will report and assist the junior designer and they will report to the designer for the overall review before the designer shows it to the CEO assistant who will confirm that it is acceptable with the CEO to produce for the shop. This structure is important as it lays out a clear visual of the relation from one official to the other. This structure has a wide span of control meaning that there are many different managers that control their own department making it easier for the sections to be clear.
Trainee Buyer
Admin Assistant Buyer
Head of Customer Services Customer Service Assistants
Store Operations
Significance of Buying Environments Merchandisers – A buyers relationships with a merchandiser within head office is important because, they need to communicate the figures and budgets of the collection. They buyers and merchandisers work very close together, face to face due to the high level of communication they need to have about the stock levels, ratio of sizes and the target market they are aiming the collection at so that they know the prices that this particular market pay in this particular store, getting the figures wrong could be damaging to the profit made. They also need to know how much stock to order in, so the buyer needs to communicate what is best selling and most popular so that the merchandiser can budget the range correctly, not buying enough stock or too much stock will leave the collection unsuccessful.
Visual merchandisers - Also work close with the buyers, however they work in the stores setting up the layout of the collection the mannequins etc. It is important for the buyer to communicate the trends and the most popular trended item of the collection to the visual merchandiser so that they know what to focus on when laying out the collection on the shop floor.
Design Teams – Buyers and the design team also work close together. They have to in order to understand what the collection is going to be about and who it is targeted to, they discuss the trends, past look books and the season that the products are being made for. The designers as well, have to know about the shops competitors and the collections that they have in store so that they know what the latest fashion trends are in terms of styles and fabrics. They then need to know the costs of what the competitors are selling their collection at and try to make their products so that they can have similar prices. For example, a competitor could be selling a faux fur trim coat but the designer of your shop wants to use real fur (the prices will be a lot different). Design teams communicate with the buyers about the production costs and time limit they have for the collection, not knowing this information could cause the collection to not be completed in time while it is still trending and the profit will be at a loss because they haven’t budgeted their production correctly.
Retail – Retail and the buyers relationship is crucial. The buyer needs to know what is selling the most so that they can communicate with the merchandiser to buy in more stock for the shop. Store figures are sent back to head office to report on sales of what's selling and what's not, however it is the buyers role to find out why something isn’t selling compared to something that is, is the collection set out neatly and coordinated properly? Are the staff making sure that as much stock as possible it out on the floor and helping customers to find what they are looking for within the collection? It is the buyers responsibility to keep the retailors knowing what needs to be promoted more in terms of the trend and the retailors responsibility to communicate the level pf stock needed.
Marketing – Buyers and the marketing team have clear communication about the specific products in the collection that need to be on the advertisements more than others, this is because they need their audience to be interested in it at first sight and so communicating about what will sell best is crucial for the collection to get any sales. They talk about what's trending and who's trending in the lime light. Buyers also create concept boards of the collection for the marketing people, this is so they know what the advertisements need to include for the target market to be interested in the collection and make sales.
Method
Date
Business plan
15/11/2016
Mind map of brand
15/11/2016
Brand History (Both written report and imagery)
15/11/2016
Customer Profile
21/11/2016
SWOT/PESTLE analysis
07/12/2016
Concept Boards
22/11/2016
Trend Forecast
22/11/2016-29/11/2016
Competitive Shop
30/11/2016
Marketing Strategies
30/11/2016
Buying Cycle
06/12/2016
Range Plan
01/12/2016
Financial spreadsheet
23/11/2016
Merchandising spreadsheet
23/11/2016-27/11/2016
Peer Assessment
07/12/2016
Complete
Urban Outfitters is a public limited company (plc), the company is shared and managed by a number of people. They all work together and keep focused on different aspects of the business to ensure that it is successful both in the U.S. were it started and globally.
Richard Hayne is the founder and CEO of Urban Outfitters. He started up the business with his ex-wife back in 1969 with their first shop opening on Pennsylvania University.
http://www.urbn.com/who-we-are/executive-officers/richard-hayne
Product
Number of colours
sizes
Faux fur coats
2
10,11,12,13,14
Metallic leggings
1
10,11,12,13,14
Bomber Jacket
2
10,11,12,13,14
T-Shirt
4
10,11,12,13,14
Ankle Boots
1
12,13,1,2,3
Jeans
2
10,11,12,13,14
Knee High Boots
1
12,13,1,2,3
Jeans
2
10,11,12,13,14
Hairband
1
ONE SIZE
Scarf
1
ONE SIZE
Across body bag
3
ONE SIZE
URBAN TWEENS
The bomber jacket is a trend coming for Autumn Winter 2017. The lightweight windproof material, or fluffy cotton with quilted lining allows the jacket to be worn in winter. “The bomber jacket persists as the must have jacket for boys and girls, proving it has an all-ages commercial appeal ranging from MA-1 inspired styles to full-on fashion favourites. Plush- high-pile materials add tactile interest. Bold Patterns such as zebra stripes or leopard spots trickle down from womenswear and are accented with the sporty striped knit trims that nod to the industry-wide influence of Alessandro Michele's Gucci effect.� WGSN
“Inspiration: traditional animal prints and teddy-bear fur coats remain important. Fur moves forward in 1970s-influenced styles such as hippy-inspired gilets, as well as kaleidoscope mixed colours and graduated panelling Colour: milky off-whites continue from previous seasons, along with an influx of new core neutrals such as grey and navy. Key fashion colours include a range of soft pinks and a 1970s-inspired golden yellow Trim & Detail: high-collar and collarless jackets are still key for girls and tweens. The fur jacket remains a timeless classic, featuring simple, discreet fastenings. Toggles, exposed zips and leather ties bring newness, along with bold back-interest appliqués and set-in shapes” WGSN
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£
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£
£
Nylon fabric Padded outer Pink faux fur collar Oversized fit Zip front fastening
£
£
£
£
£
£
Rose printed graphic T-shirt. Short sleeved Available in sizes 9-13years
£
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Bibliography http://jonquil.myblog.arts.ac.uk/2014/02/20/brand-research-topshop/ https://www.arcadiagroup.co.uk/press-relations/press-releases-1/kendall-kylie-collection-launches-exclusively-in-topshop-stores-worldwide http://www.urbn.com/who-we-are/executive-officers/richard-hayne https://www.wgsn.com/content/board_viewer/#/69343/page/2 (https://www.ft.com/content/5c274b28-7f3d-11e6-8e50-8ec15fb462f4, 2016) Sky News. (2016). Fashion sales suffer worst decline since 2009. [online] Available at: http://news.sky.com/story/british-fashion-sales-suffer-worst-decline-in-seven-years-10621291 [Accessed 1 Dec. 2016]. VARMA, A. (2016). Fashion goes gender neutral. [online] The Straits Times. Available at: http://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/fashion/fashion-goes-gender-neutral [Accessed 1 Dec. 2016]. Chaudhuri, S. (2016). U.K. Shoppers Brace for Higher Prices after ‘Brexit’. [online] WSJ. Available at: http://www.wsj.com/articles/u-k-shoppers-brace-for-higher-prices-after-brexit-1467050262 [Accessed 1 Dec. 2016] VARMA, A. (2016). Fashion goes gender neutral. [online] The Straits Times. Available at: http://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/fashion/fashion-goes-gender-neutral [Accessed 1 Dec. 2016]. http://www.slideshare.net/mahakhalid1/topshop-a-marketing-management-project-for-mba