Retail Buyers buy products that they want to sell. They make these decisions within budget
and customer demand. What they buy can vary from seasons and trends. Other duties as a
retail buyer include managing stock levels, writing reports and forecasts, keeping
inventory , and other tasks that may not be in the job description. Credentials that you need
for the job would be a minimum of a bachelor’s degree and some experience in retail. It
also requires being creative, being able to handle pressure, having excellent
communication and analytical skills.
The type of experience that would enable my success in this position would be to finish
my degree and have a job in retail. About three years or so in retail would be fine as long
as I’m good at my job. I would need to develop skills like communication and to be
analytical in retail. Since I am bilingual, that may also put me ahead of some others. Also, I
have never been in a situation where I was under great pressure, so I would need learn how
to deal with the pressure and stress that this career can give in order to be successful.
Knowing that this position can have situations with pressure, it means that there are
challenging decisions to make. In order to overcome these challenges, I would need the
analytical skills and communication skills to get through them. Since it is not up to only
me, I would need to make business deals that can maximize profits and satisfy the seller.
Another obstacle would be forecasting trends. Sometimes trends become fads which can
hurt business if I chose the wrong items to sell.