Every Industry Needs Experts.

In the past two years, "

Just like the original display designer, many organizations have rendered this profession as a short term training for a few days.

In fact, people in the industry know very well that whether they are Chen Li Shi, or commodity planners, or buyers, they are all very professional positions in the industry. Without certain professional knowledge accumulation and certain industry practice experience, it is impossible to combine with the whole functional structure of enterprises in a short time.

In the guest room of the representative office of University of the Arts in London, the reporter had the honor to interview Mr. James Clark, a guest professor at the London Fashion Institute of University of the Arts in London.

On the day of the interview, the man was dressed in a suit, and a stylish London accent and a "sense of compactness" among fashion people, which made it impossible for him to doubt that he removed another occupation from the visiting professor of the London Fashion Institute, a senior consultant in purchasing and product marketing management in the UK.

What is meant by

"To be a buyer, you are required to have a certain educational background. In Britain, a buyer's position usually has a manufacturing technology degree, a marketing degree, or a special buyer's degree.

In addition to studying in schools, more experience for retail buyers may need to be cultivated in practical work, which will take at least 5 or 6 years.

Therefore, it takes about 10 years to work as a professional buyer, counting the time of education and experience accumulation.

Mr. James Clark, who said so, has very rich experience in strategic planning and management of commodities.

Since 1988, he has entered the largest department store in Britain, Debenhams, and he has more than 20 years of practical experience in retailing.

In 1994, Mr. Clark was specially appointed as the manager of the Viyella Planning Department of the British traditional senior women's clothing. He founded the comprehensive procurement team and refined the product procurement and marketing management process. In 1998, he was the chief buyer of the largest British brand retailer, House of Fraser, women's wear Department, children's wear department and Mei Rong business department.

For the job of "buyer" in the retail industry, Mr. Clark made a deep induction in chronological order: from the beginning, buyers should understand the strategic positioning of the product and the customer market faced by the brand, and the buyer needs to interpret the future trend and find the right development direction.

Next, buyers need to understand how people understand this trend and use trends.

This requires buyers to go to the market to see the popular brand press conference. He needs to decide whether the brand is suitable for the development of the company.

Next, buyers need to make financial planning. He decides what brands to buy eventually.

Then, negotiate with the corresponding development people in the market and decide the order.

If the buyer's financial planning conflicts with the plan given by the company's finance department, he is also responsible for consulting with his boss again.

Later, buyers also need to supervise the logistics to ensure that the goods purchased are finally pported to the store.

While buyers are carrying out activities like above, manufacturers are required to make, package, send, and then decompose to different stores, which may take at least 9 months, depending on the nature of the goods.

During this period, buyers need to think about whether logistics management is effective, whether the brand positioning is reasonable, what kind of training the shop assistants need, whether the visual communication of store decoration is effective or not.

These are all for the brand of the whole company.

Until the commodity enters the store, the buyer's task is not over. At this moment, the buyer should also consider the financial allocation and market reaction.

In the fashion season, buyers need to think constantly: whether the popular elements are developed according to the trend he has envisaged before, whether there are some new changes in the middle, how to adjust, how to communicate effectively, and how to cater for the brand positioning.

After all this is completed, the new season is coming.

Buyers and other industries

Like Topshop, H&M and Zara, known as McFashion in the United Kingdom, these "fast fashion" brands attract relatively young consumers. They may visit the street once a week with their friends. They are not very loyal to the brand. In order to attract customers, these fast fashion brands change the frequency of goods very fast. Therefore, the commodity supply chain of these brands must be close, if it is not enough according to the 9 month cycle mentioned above.

As buyers of these brands, they have to consider the key styles and key trends of this popular season. They need to book fabrics in advance, and make them in local factories (such as Eastern Europe and China, India), so that they can react to the market in a short time. At the same time, buyers should also consider shipping time.

For this reason, Mr. Clark especially mentioned the operation of Zara. Although Zara is also working like this, there are two ways to make it different. First, Zara owns its own processing plant, which greatly reduces the production cycle of fashion. Second, Zara has its own offices in every region. These offices have great autonomy, and local shops can independently purchase and design according to the prevailing local trends.

This not only accelerates the decision-making process, but also strengthens the target location in the local market.

As for the relationship between buyers and designers, Mr. Clark said: buyers and designers are closely related, designers may be lazy and casual. For an excellent design, they need to use expensive materials and technology, and buyers need to be more logical. They may more mentally control designers.

Buyers and designers work together to decide the trend of the season.

On the basis of extensive investigation and research, buyers should tell designers the fashion trend this season, and designers should try to make their designs commercialized and merchandised. The role of buyers is to remind designers to turn trends into commodities. In this process, buyers need to remind designers that some beautiful designs are not suitable for commercialization (for example, some special fabrics are too expensive).

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