Here we take the opportunity to go behind the scenes and explain some of the key roles involved in the buying cycle that ensures us shoppers have the widest choice of product available.


Designers

Designers are the inspiration of any retail business. They are the people who come up with the ideas for new products, or in this case, new fashions and new styles of clothing.

Everyone understands that in the world of Fashion you will suffer if you bring products to the market too late. However Fashion is unique in the world of retail in that you can sometimes bring a product to the shops too early - in which case it is not appreciated by the public and ultimately suffers the same fate as products that arrive too late. Therefore it is crucial that the designer (along with the buyer) interprets public desire correctly to ensure they do not suffer this fate.

Designers are also responsible for determining what will be fashionable in months or years to come. They develop their ideas through the use of mood boards. A mood board revolves around a theme – there may be swatches of fabric or magazine cuttings of all nature of products presented on the board to illustrate a style/ look or a theme for a series of garments.


Buyers

Buyers are the decision makers within a retail organisation – it is they who ultimately make the decision to proceed with a specific product. The buyers are the key people within a retail organisation as it is their skill and knowledge that enables the product to be made by the most appropriate supplier at the best price available.

Working with the designers the buyer will focus in on the best that the designer has to offer and buyers often guide designers in terms of specific product details prior to giving these designs to their suppliers to produce. The strength of a buyer’s contacts with their factories and manufacturers is key to ensuring that the product is made in a cost effective manner according to the designer’s guidelines. Buyers must also ensure that the products they create are profitable - they have to maximise their sales through selecting the right styles to sell at the right prices. If a price is too high it will not sell and will reduce profits as it is likely to be marked down in a sale. If a price is too low and it sells too quickly it is really a lost opportunity in terms of lost profit.

For a buyer to be truly successful they must have a strong commercial awareness - the job of a buyer is not to select and produce what they like but to select and produce styles that will sell strongly. If a buyer has a strong commercial awareness they will be successful in any given area be it socks, shoes or shirts!


Merchandisers

All retail organisations work very closely with budgets. The budgets are crucial as they are the financial guidelines to the future success of the company. Budgets enable buyers and merchandisers to analyse the stock levels they need in order to achieve their desired sales levels. Budgets are broken down into manageable figures by department and season.

An experienced Merchandiser will be able to take their individual department budget and break it down into a number of styles and quantity per style required to meet sales targets.

Merchandisers also analyse market information and statistics to ensure the Buyer’s decisions will ultimately maximise profit for the business. They also forecast stock levels and analyse the performance of the products in order to make key decisions for the future.
Once the buyers have bought the stock, it is the responsibility of the Merchandiser to get the stock into the warehouse on time, ready for delivery to the stores.


Distributors

Distributors are responsible for distributing the stock to stores across the country from their warehouses. Distributors have to be incredibly specific in their role – they will need to think about how many of an individual item they will send to each store. They will also need to consider different colours and sizes.

A Distributor will have access to all nature of facts and figures regarding previous sales performance at any of the stores in their organisation. This information is quite specific; they will know that more XL are bought in Newcastle stores than stores in Anglia. Striped shirts don’t sell as well in Manchester as they do in Birmingham. Pink doesn’t sell as well as blue in Doncaster and so on…

From this sales history Distributors are able to predict future sales (to an extent!) and distribute stock to the stores that are most likely to sell that stock as quickly as possible. However the Distributor rarely sends 100% of their stock out to the stores – the remainder is left at the warehouse to replenish the stores that sell that product quickest. In this way the Distributor plays a crucial role in ensuring that the right stock is in the right place at the right time to maximise sales and profit.


Marketing

The Marketing Team is responsible for promoting both the retailer as a whole and the individual products that are sold through the stores. Successful marketing campaigns lead to an increased awareness and product knowledge of the retailer and (as is often the case) the brand.

Marketing works on a variety of levels – it is not just about the big glossy ads we see on the sides of buses or building – or even ads on the TV. All of which needs to be organised with models, samples, photo shoots, hotels meals, photographers, etc, etc ,etc.

Marketing involves making the most effective displays in the windows of the stores to maximise sales of key lines but it also involves sending samples to magazines to feature in their own photo shoots. It includes working with ‘stars’ to endorse your products - it involves writing copy for ads and promos – it involves product launches - range launches to the press – organising fashion shows (behind the scenes only – not glamorous!).

Marketing is about using creativity in order to maximise sales through increased exposure and awareness of your products.


Retail Team

The Retail team is the part of the retail operation that has the most immediate impact on the customers. The team includes all managers and staff based in stores across the country. Their responsibilities include:

• Front line of the business
• Manage people and profits
• Provide excellent service

The Retail team are responsible for training staff in terms of service and knowledge. They are also the key mechanism in passing on and collecting knowledge and sales information to and from the stores. The Retail team is on the front line of the operation and has a huge impact on the public perception of that retailer. As shoppers we remember good service but we never forget bad service. It is also the responsibility of the retail team to display the products in store in their most effective manner (in the case of Arcadia, putting matching outfits together and so on). This can have a very immediate and direct impact on sales and profits – it is quite often the case that the products displayed well in a store sell out first.

The Retail team, as the immediate face of the company, has a huge responsibility to ensure that the efforts of the other teams are not wasted and that us as shoppers have a enjoyable shopping experience where we spend our money!