Product Description

For courses in Retail Buying, Retail Merchandising and Fashion Merchandising. Boasting three new chapters, the Seventh Edition offers students all the latest developments in retail buying to reflect the current market. Using a practical approach that emphasizes the major aspects of retail buying, this text provides the fundamental information new buyers need to accurately forecast and fulfill their customers' merchandise requirements. With a host of end-of-chapter materials, visual aids, and a Companion DVD, this book addresses topics such as the theoretical and practical background required for successful purchasing, as well as how buyers are now making use of the Internet for their purchasing needs.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #654841 in Books
• Published on: 2004-07-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 448 pages

From the Publisher
This edition offers more detailed cases and strategies for dealing with varying economic conditions as well as the theoretical and practical background required for successful purchasing. It provides the basic information new buyers need to accurately forecast and fulfill their customers' merchandise requirements.

From the Inside Flap
Preface

Now that we have entered the new millennium, it has become quite apparent that the retailer's goal to remain as profitable as possible will be a difficult task. Not only are they faced with greater competition than ever before, but the competitive nature of the game comes from arenas other than the brick and mortar companies. They are now faced with an enormous number of off-site businesses such as the catalog operations, home shopping networks, and Internet Web sites that target consumers. The vast majority of the merchants who had heretofore concentrated on their store operations, have also increased their own attention to some of these techniques in the quest to expand their organizations.

Whatever the situation, it is the buyer who has to expand his or her scope of activities in order to properly address the needs of those using these interactive services. While buying has always been a difficult task to perform, the outlook seems to be more complex than ever before. Adding to the broader marketplaces, the buyer has to understand the complexities of the NAFTA and GATT pacts, global merchandise sourcing, the broader demands of product development, and the importance of continuous communication with those on the selling floors so that profits will be maximized.

This edition of Retail Buying has been extensively rewritten to bring a better understanding to the importance that retail buyers play in making certain that their companies receive their fair share of consumers' purchases. Not only has almost every page that remains from the previous edition been amended, but the chapters have been reordered and two new chapters added.

New to this edition is Chapter 3, "Buying for Off-Site Retail Outlets," which fully examines the interactive nature of retailing. Also new is Chapter 14, "Disseminating Product Information to Store Personnel," which addresses the need for such involvement as well as the techniques used to achieve these goals. The chapters that deal separately with the many aspects of buying abroad have been reorganized into one, which has been expanded to include new areas of importance to this method of merchandise acquisition. Numerous new visuals have replaced many of those in the previous edition, and additional Retail Buying Focuses have been added, making it more appropriate for the new millennium.

While all of the changes and additions have made the sixth edition of Retail Buying a more complete example of the buyer's role in retailing, it in no way diminishes the importance of some of the concepts that have been addressed in previous editions. Whatever has been considered imperative to profitable retail buying has been retained.

Like the editions that preceded this one, many pedagogical approaches remain, with the bulk of the information inherent in them, updated. Sections devoted to Language of the Trade, Summaries of Key Points, Review Questions, and Case Problems are still featured at the conclusion of each chapter. Each is either entirely new or updated to reflect current practices in the field. The Glossary, at the end of the book, has been significantly rewritten to include all of the new terms with which buyers must be familiar.

Important to this new edition is a series of retail buying videos that have been written and produced by the authors. They include a host of topics ranging from Planning the Purchase and Visiting the Marketplace to the Retail Merchandising Mathematical Concepts. Each is an excellent tool for the introduction of specific topics as well as for the reinforcement of buying principles and practices.

Accompanying this book is an updated instructor's manual that features solutions to the review questions and case problems, as well as a new set of sample exams.

With all of these up-to-date features and additional educational materials, Retail Buying is the most comprehensive book on the subject in the marketplace.

From the Back Cover

This completely updated edition offers three new chapters that make this text an excellent resource for those entering the field of retail buying and merchandising.

• Buying for Discount Operations. A complete presentation on how professional purchasers for such companies as Target and Wal-Mart plan their purchasing strategies and execute their buying plans.
• Consumer Analysis. The importance of the consumer in the buyer's decision-making process is discussed as well as the ways in which retail operations analyze customer demand.
• Wholesale Purchasing on the Internet. In addition to visiting the wholesale markets in the pursuit of new merchandise, many retail buyers are using the Internet as an additional means of product procurement. The concept of professional online purchasing is completely explored in this new chapter.

Included with this text is a DVD containing a two part production providing an onsite view of purchasing, planning, and buying. The video progresses from the stages of a buyer planning a purchase, through the buyer visiting the wholesale market, featuring many of the stops he/she makes in finalizing his/her purchase. The footage for the DVD was created in various buyers' premises including a New York City garment center, a residential buying office, in showrooms, and other real-life settings.

Customer Reviews

Fashion Buying for the 1970's
Diamond and Pintel's 5th Edition continues to focus solely on Retail Buying for the Fashion (softlines) industry. The focus is on high end retailers Macys, Nieman Marcus and The Limited. There is only cursory mentions of other retail types.

While some of their basic principles are sound, the technology is 20 - 30 years behind the times. Therefore, a student interested in improving their marketability is sorely served by text that constantly refers to paper forms, "the growing use of computers" and the increased use of the UPC.

Only a good read if you are interested in how retail fashion buying was conducted in the 1970's.

Retail Merchandising
I bought this book for my merchandising principles class at the fashion school. I never once referred to this book for any information. If you're interested in learning about retail buying and the accounting principles and math behind it, I would recommend purchasing a book that is specifically for that purpose. Usually, in accounting and mathematics books, there are general summary of the industry and practices, then they delve into the quantitative portion. There is no use getting this book. It will put you to sleep. FAST!