Merchandising and Buying

The buying process is fundamental to retailing in that having products available for consumers to buy would appear to be at the heart of retailing. Retailers have seen their buying transform in scale and scope, enabled to some degree by changes in technology. The planning and range building activities are highly interactive with other aspects of merchandising and with buying. The ranges change and evolve with input from all aspects of the retailer, including monitoring activities and feedback from buyers. The overall buying and sourcing process involves identification of the items that are required to satisfy the needs of target consumers, creating the assortments of these items so that they provide a coherent series of ranges of items. A number of studies have explored the nature of cultural influences on buyers’ decisions and the extent to which national patterns can be seen.