Retail Buyer careers guide and job profile

Ever looked at the shelves in your local supermarket or favourite clothes shop and wondered who decides which products get sold there? Retail Buyers are responsible for choosing which items make it onto the shelves.

This is a more complicated job than it sounds! Retail Buyers have to justify their choices and ultimately have to make sure that whatever they choose to stock will sell well.

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Useful skills to put in your CV:

• Self-management skills – you’ll be working with lots of different suppliers as well as managing many different tasks, so being organised will help you stay on top of it all.
• Communication skills – you’ll need to be able to confidently put your point across to a wide variety of people. This includes written and verbal communication as well as public speaking and presentation skills.
• Teamwork skills – buyers need to work closely with a wide variety of people. You might be working with senior management, marketing teams, designers, merchandisers, shop floor staff, and more. A collaborative attitude is vital.
• Negotiation skills – you’ll need to negotiate deals on behalf of your company, so you must be a skilled and confident negotiator and not afraid to ask for the best deal.
• Money skills – you’ll have to work to a budget and justify all purchases. A good understanding of money and and finance is essential.
• Creativity – you’ll need to think outside the box and come up with plenty of fresh ideas!
• Be customer-focussed – retail is all about the customer. You’ll need to be positive and friendly, and generally love being around people. You’ll also need to put yourself in the shoes of your typical customer in order to work out what they want.

Top Skills-boosting Tip

Practice creating buyer personas. This is a description of someone who represents your target audience.

It can be useful knowing how to create these to really get into the mindset of your typical customer for a product and think about what they would want and buy.

How Do You Get These Skills?

Vocational qualifications and work experience will help you build these skills over time.

Build Your Skills With the FREE Young Professional Programme

School, college and training

You could do a course at college to get some of the skills needed to work in retail. Examples are:

• Level 2 Certificate in Understanding Retail Operations
• Level 2 Diploma in Fashion Retail
• Level 3 Diploma in Retail Skills

A course may help you to get your first job. You could then move into buying as your experience grows.

Some companies in fashion retail offer training schemes specifically for buyers. These tend to be aimed at graduates. Other types of retailers offer general store management training schemes with the option to specialise in buying later on.

You can also take procurement and supply qualifications through the Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply.

BTECs

As an alternative to A-Levels, you can do BTECs from the age of 16. There are a number of BTEC subjects you might want to consider if you are interested in becoming a Retail Buyer. Courses available could include:

• BTEC Level 2 Technical Certificate in Retail Operations
• Level 2 BTEC Extended Certificate in Business and Retail
• BTEC Specialist Qualifications Retail Knowledge (L3)

Courses available can vary across schools, colleges and sixth forms and across training providers.

You’ll normally need 2 or more GCSEs at grades 9-3 (A*-D) or equivalent for a Level 2 or 3 course. If your qualifications are lower than this, you’ll most likely start on a Level 1 course.

University degrees and graduates

You can do a degree before joining a retail company graduate scheme. Employers recruit from a range of degree subjects. Some particularly relevant subjects include:

• marketing
• fashion buying and merchandising
• fashion and business
• retail business management

A degree with a work placement will help you gain valuable experience and may be an advantage when you look for work. You could also gain experience from a part-time job or a summer internship.

UCAS has more information on degree courses and entry requirements.

Apprenticeships

An apprenticeship is a scheme where you train while earning a starting salary. With an apprenticeship (or advanced apprenticeship) you’ll have a paid job with an employer that includes structured training and learning. This training leads to an official qualification that’s recognised by employers as an industry standard.

You could complete an apprenticeship related to buying such as:

• buyer and merchandiser higher apprenticeship
• assistant buyer and assistant merchandiser degree apprenticeship

You could complete an apprenticeship related to retail such as:

• retail team leader advanced apprenticeship
• retail manager higher apprenticeship

Anyone over 16 can study for an apprenticeship. You will normally need at least 5 GCSEs at grades 4-9 (A*-C) to study for an apprenticeship, including English and Maths.

A-Levels

A Levels are academic qualifications that come after GCSEs. A Levels can be an ideal stepping stone to an advanced apprenticeship, a degree, a job, or going straight into a freelance career.

Any A Levels relating to Business and Maths could be useful.

You’ll normally need GCSEs at grade 4 (C) or above in English and Maths. 2 to 3 relevant A levels, or equivalent, are usually required to complete a degree.

T-Levels

T-Levels are a choice for learners after GCSEs alongside apprenticeships and A-levels.

T Levels, an alternative to A-Levels, are qualifications in vocational, technical and hands-on subjects that you can choose to do after GCSEs instead of traditional academic qualifications.

They include a mixture of classroom-based learning and industry placements where you can put your new skills into practice in real-world scenarios.

T Levels in Accounting and Finance could be useful.

You may need 4 or 5 GCSEs at grades 9 to 4 (A* to C), or equivalent, including English and maths for T Levels.

Most people breaking into a Retail Buying career will start out as a Trainee Buyer, Assistant Buyer, Apprentice Buyer or other similar title.

As you gain more experience you can move up to more senior roles such as Senior Buyer, Buying Controller or Head of Buying.

You could also move into related areas of retail such as Product Management, Marketing, or senior leadership roles (such as had of a department, division or area.)

Work Experience Tips

It can help you decide if this is the right career for you if you have previously done work experience in retail. Work experience in a retail environment can help you build useful skills.

Examples of relevant work experience include:

• Work shadowing (even if it’s just for a day)
• Work placements in a company
• Work experience placements on a college or university course

You can start as an assistant buyer and go on to become a junior buyer and work your way up. To go straight into a buying role, you’ll usually need a qualification in retail or business.

Volunteering Tips

Volunteering is always great on a CV because it shows employers you have the passion to make use of your time out of choice, not because you are forced to do it.

Volunteering tips

 

• It’s possible to get experience in retail on the shop-floor with supermarket chains or clothing retailers, in visual merchandising, or as an admin assistant in a buyer’s office. You can then spend time learning, doing training and getting qualifications on the job.
• Look for part-time or seasonal work (you could do shift work, a few days a week, or seek summer jobs when UK tourism is at its height)
• If you’ve had any previous jobs that gave you experience with checking stock, understanding customer needs or working with spreadsheets, this will help your CV stand out on the job seeking catwalk.

Work experience tips

Some example daily responsibilities include:

• Meeting with suppliers to see new products and negotiate deals.
• Attending events such as trade fairs to find new products.
• Negotiating prices, orders, discounts and deals – as well as details such as delivery dates.
• Keeping an eye on, and reacting to, what your competitors are doing.
• Working closely with team members including designers, marketing staff and merchandisers.

 

• Making and sticking to budgets
• Getting and analysing customer feedback
• Keeping up to date with trends, market news and important developments.
• Presenting your ideas or purchases to senior teams and management.
• Delivering training or information on new products to front-line staff.
• Tracking and analysing sales figures.

To find jobs for young people in this role, search on jobs boards for early career roles and opportunities with keywords such as:

• Retail buyer apprenticeship
• Trainee retail buyer
• Assistant retail buyer

You can take a look at our database of local opportunities to see if there are any relevant jobs, work placements, or careers events and workshops to help you get started. Create Your Future!

Local Opportunities

The Fashion Retail Academy is a good place to start if you’re looking for a retail buying apprenticeship. Or simply do a Google search for “buyer apprenticeship + (your city)”.

These employers all carry our Youth Friendly Employer Mark. We work with them to make sure that they are providing great support and opportunities to young people.

Click on an employer to find out more about them and the youth-friendly opportunities they offer, from work experience and apprenticeships through to graduate schemes.