[Buying]
WHY WOULD SOMEONE spend HK$3,000 on killer, six-inch stiletto heels, or feel an incredible urge to own baggy trousers with eight pockets? Well, if fashion buyers are really good at what they do, such products will walk off the shelf.
Once designers come up with the latest trends and send them down the runaway, it is up to the fashion buyers or merchandise managers to move the brands out of the designers' showrooms and into customers' wardrobes. They select and buy for retail sale to customers.
Customers buy a certain brand to fulfil their fantasies of feeling glamorous, sophisticated or unique. Fashion buyers are aware of this and their job is to create the fantasy by selecting products that will be a hit with customers.
Luxury products and expensive designer items, once bought only by the wealthy, are enticing a younger, and not necessarily wealthy, group of people. With the growing popularity of private-label merchandise and changing demographics of consumers, fashion buyers have seen their responsibilities increase.
They are largely responsible for determining which products their establishment will sell and they must know what will attract costumers. It has become essential for them to keep track of the latest styles - not doing so could endanger profits and their company's reputation.