1. Copyright © 2006 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved Ch. 2: The Roles of Buying Groups The different types of buying groups The functions, services, & programs typical of these buying groups The role of centralized buying in group purchases The detailed activities involved in the buying-selling cycle

2. Copyright © 2006 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved What Buying Offices Do Information exchange, research assistance Product (private-label brand) development Import programs and/or international purchasing functions Promotion services (advertising schedules, display advice, catalog production, etc.) An overall “consulting firm” with retail stores as its client base

3. Copyright © 2006 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved Types of Buying Offices Independent Works for individual stores or small chains May have a specialty or niche market Corporate Represents one large store chain (“syndicated”) or a single large store (“private”) Associated (Cooperative) Owned jointly by a “co-op” of multiple retailers, who share its costs and use it for centralized buying

4. Copyright © 2006 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved The Buying & Selling Cycle - BUYING Deciding specifically what & how much to buy Deciding when to buy & when to bring items into stock Deciding details: where to get it, how much to pay for it, how to pay, how to ship it Actually performing the above tasks and/or delegating them to others Training assistants in these activities

5. Copyright © 2006 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved The Buying & Selling Cycle – Stock keeping Handling the goods from their arrival at store to the time they are sold Receiving functions: Checking incoming orders for accuracy, quality Marking, ticketing with price and SKU information Storing goods until moved to sale location Moving and distributing goods Notifying stores of incoming shipments Checking & authorizing invoices for payment Authorizing returns, if necessary, to vendors

6. Copyright © 2006 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved Stock keeping (continued) Protecting goods from theft or damage Cleaning, repairing items as necessary Inventory control: Decisions about how to group items, both in storage and on display Determining (and monitoring) staple stock levels Reclassifying items that sell more quickly (or more slowly) than planned

7. Copyright © 2006 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved The Buying & Selling Cycle - Pricing Setting markup and margin goals Setting price lines and ranges or “zones” Pricing individual items Repricing as necessary

8. Copyright © 2006 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved The Buying & Selling Cycle - Selling Management of sales force and workload Decisions about what to promote & when Informing & motivating sales teams Working with advertising & display teams; some input into advertising types & space Planning or requesting signage & display contents; negotiating allowances for these Deciding where to place fixtures, items on those fixtures, & displays of certain products

9. Copyright © 2006 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved The Buying & Selling Cycle - Planning & Control Providing input into all store policies: image, services, target customers, sales margins, etc. Analyzing & forecasting consumer demands Budgeting & building model stocks Tracking all goals, plans, policies & budgets against actual sales data