Who is the eCommerce buyer?
The buyer - or purchasing manager - is a figure who is in charge of planning the choice and purchase of goods and services intended for resale by an e-commerce.
How to Live Aligned with purchasing manager , this figure must deal with purchasing planning to optimize stocks, improve storage flows to reduce costs. Depending on the reality in which you operate, you can be in charge of choosing the raw materials to buy, as well as the products to resell and the energy suppliers.
This is a very complex task - although it may not seem like it - since the person in question must be able to understand the needs and preferences of the designated target and be able to negotiate easily between the parties involved.
Buyer covers many useful features for eCommerce buying and selling, including:
- establish acquisition strategies
- select the most advantageous suppliers (scouting)
- Evaluate designers to understand what they offer
- negotiate the procurement budget with management
- manage relationships with suppliers and customers
- plan purchases (quantities, deadlines) according to the assigned budget
- study market trends
- supervise the distribution of goods
- check inventory progress
- evaluate the quality of distributed products
- stay up to date with changes in the sector and customer tastes
- visit showrooms, fairs, sector events
- study sales materials
- memorize personal data of articles through management software
- Collaborate with other company departments to make reasoned decisions
- evaluate the terms and conditions of purchase contracts
- Prepare reports for the purchasing department.
What does an eCommerce buyer do?
The buyer is responsible for evaluating suppliers and their respective offers to judge whether they are suitable for your company's needs. Obviously, you need to understand changes in the market to determine if the goods you can purchase meet your target's needs.
It is about negotiating with suppliers to buy products respecting the pre-established budget and eventually obtaining discounts. It directly checks the quality of the products and, if it finds any difference with what was agreed, informs the suppliers.
In a broader sense, frequently monitors the industry to define trend changes that may affect the ability to sell goods. Analyze the results of market research to define the product lines that should be sold. It also makes decisions about the final details of the products, models, sizes and colors. To this end, talk to suppliers and designers to evaluate the available options.
Once the products have been chosen, they are presented to the Senior Manager who gives the green light to distribution in stores. Obviously he can also think of new product lines compared to conventional ones to offer the company.
In his role as supervisor, he acts as a union figure for the different sections of the company, supervises the work of the sellers and dialogues with the sales office to decide whether it is appropriate to withdraw a product that is no longer profitable. Based on the information from the different departments of the company (purchases, production, sales...), he can make more effective decisions and, eventually, modify the purchase plans made based on new data received.
From the administrative point of view, it is responsible for checking budgets, contacting suppliers to ensure that deliveries are made correctly within the agreed times.
What characteristics should the buyer have for ecommerce?
The buyer is generally a figure in possession of excellent communication skills, both written and oral, which he takes advantage of in the negotiation phases with suppliers.
You have excellent organization and planning skills to better perform your tasks, excellent math skills to compare prices, and data analysis skills to make well-motivated decisions.
The buyer must be able to relate to the company as a whole to define in advance the times and quantities of products to be respected.
Valued qualities are resistance to stress and the ability to act at multiple levels to ensure the correct performance of tasks.
Buyers usually have a bachelor's degree in economics linked to technical training. Courses of study such as master's degrees in topics related to warehouse and logistics management, and an understanding of company contracts are also welcome.
This professional can specialize in certain sectors (for example, clothing, toys, electronics): in fact, buyers can operate in all commercial areas: large distribution, bookstores, fashion, high-tech stores.
Certainly, a certain amount of ingenuity cannot be missing that pushes them to make motivated and perhaps innovative decisions, to improve e-commerce performance!
