Fashion Buyer Job Description, Key Duties and Responsibilities

This post presents detailed information on the fashion buyer job description, including the key duties, tasks, and responsibilities they commonly perform.

It also highlights the major requirements you may be asked to meet to be hired for the fashion buyer role by most recruiters/employers.

What Does a Fashion Buyer Do?

A fashion buyer is responsible for selecting, purchasing, and selling of goods, and managing the business affairs of the goods department.

The fashion buyer job description entails designing and development of goods as well as their distribution to dealers/retail outlets.

It also involves coordinating with designers and business partners to organize product promotion in target markets.

Fashion buyers manage inventory according to plan.

They ensure provision of quality goods by maintaining margins, criteria, and specifications while maintaining effective price control mechanism by keeping abreast with market conditions of goods supply and demand and changes in the market.

It is also the duty of the fashion buyer to source business opportunities by exploring new markets/channels, maintaining contact with dealers, and establishing and maintaining good business relationships.

They perform administrative activities assigned by superiors, such as coordinating with other related departments, including warehouse management and cashier department.

Fashion buyers maintain contact with clients and are responsible for ensuring timely delivery of goods and services to meet demands from their companies.

The fashion buyer work description also involves monitoring market trends to identify opportunities and products that their clients need.

It also entails checking the quality of goods to ensure that they meet company standards.

The fashion buyer is responsible for budgets assigned by superiors, coordinating with other departments, developing a marketing strategy and market research, as well as making reports on business transactions.

They may be required to analyze information to foresee trends and business problems, so they can develop plans, propose solutions, and negotiate and make decisions.

Fashion buyers may be required to develop and implement marketing strategies, such as price changes, product positioning, and advertising media placement.

Fashion Buyer Job Description Sample/Example/Template

The fashion buyer job description consists of the following duties, tasks, and responsibilities:

• Selects, buys, and sells merchandise
• Acquires merchandise
• Maintains and manages inventory
• Coordinates with clients, samples, and other vendors
• Negotiates the terms of sale with department buyers, buyers, salespeople, and others throughout the organization
• Keeps up-to-date on the latest trends in fashion and merchandising to be an active participant in all levels of fashion trends, as well as to offer recommendations to other departments interested in these areas of merchandising
• Offers suggestions for new store designs
• Prepares reports for various departments, such as design department or store management
• Manages assigned personnel within the department  
• Provides new merchandise to customers
• Participates in decision-making meetings and functions as a design contributor
• Utilizes merchandising expertise to recommend merchandise to the store manager and the rest of the department
• Supports sales efforts by assisting the buyer with tasks, such as sample purchasing, maintaining inventories and projects
• Evaluates new trends or changes in fashion or departmental needs, and presents recommendations, and outlines direction/plans for departmental plans as appropriate
• Conducts research to discover pricing information regarding items that are currently carried in stores and determines which items may be sold more profitably
• Manages production activities for all of the store’s apparel lines
• Administers finance and performs accounting functions for all departments within a store.

Fashion Buyer Job Description for Resume

If you are writing a new resume or CV as someone who has worked previously as a fashion buyer or are currently working in that role, then you can apply the sample fashion buyer job description provided above in making the Professional Experience part of the resume.

You can highlight the duties and responsibilities you have performed or are currently carrying out as a fashion buyer in your resume’s Professional Experience by utilizing the ones provided in the fashion buyer job description example above.

This will show to the recruiter/employer that you have been successful performing the role of a fashion buyer, which can greatly boost your chances of being hired, especially if the new job that you are seeking requires someone with some fashion buyer work experience.

Fashion Buyer Job Requirements: Skills, Knowledge, and Abilities for Career Success

Here are important requirements candidates for the fashion buyer role are usually expected to meet to be hired:

• A Bachelor’s degree in fashion merchandising, retail management, marketing, or in a related field
• 5 years of work experience in fashion merchandising, retail management, marketing, or in related fields
• Strong sense of taste and style is required to be a successful fashion buyer, as well as communication skills that help promote products to potential customers through writing and making speeches at trade shows and consumer events etc.
• Must be computer literate
• A valid driver’s license and good driving record
• Ability to speak in public and interact with people at all levels of the industry, as well as deal with a wide range of personalities without offending or alienating any one of them
• Good negotiation skills, a ‘people person’, and solid interpersonal skills
• Must be good in the art of persuasion, possess strong leadership qualities, and work well under pressure
• Enjoy working with and helping people to develop their own talents in order to ensure that the skills are effectively used in the workplace and also contribute to organizational success as a whole
• Must have an eye for detail, as well as great presentation skills that will allow them to present their goods or ideas with flair, while making consumers feel they are buying into something new and innovative. This requires the fashion buyer to exhibit creativity and innovation in the area of items to be distributed.

Fashion Buyer Salary

According to Glassdoor, the average total pay for a fashion buyer in the United States is $62,764 per year.

Conclusion

In order to be successful, a Fashion buyer needs to have a creative mind, good leadership skills and must be able to think outside the box.

This post is helpful to individuals interested in the fashion buyer career. They will be able to learn all they need to know about the duties and responsibilities they typically perform to decide if that’s what they want to do.

It is also useful to recruiters/employers in making a detailed job description for the fashion buyer position in their organizations.