The purchasing office managers search for the highest quality merchandise at the lowest possible purchase cost for their employers. They evaluate suppliers based on cost, quality, service, availability, reliability, and selection variety.
They examine catalogs, commerce publications and directories in order to find the right suppliers. They use the reputation to determine whether or not they want to work with certain companies. They inspect products and services, evaluate production and distribution abilities and consider all other aspects that may influence purchasing decisions while they are at meetings, trade shows and conferences.
The Purchasing Office Managers must be able to do the following task in their job function:
- The purchasing office managers establish foreign and domestic suppliers while negotiating the lowest prices.
- They administer online purchasing systems to acquire materials and parts needed.
- They structuring product contracts.
- They study sales records and inventory levels.
- They place orders and checking shipment.
- They control departmental budgets.
- They interview, hire and oversee staff.
- They appraise products and services.
- They analyze market conditions, assisting in the planning of sales promotions, aiding executives in order to decide the nature of the sale.
- They work with advertisers to create ad campaigns for newspapers, television and direct mail.
- They visit the selling floor to make sure that all goods are displayed accurately.
- They prepare purchase requisitions, approve and issue purchase orders in accordance with company policy and negotiated terms and conditions.
- They discuss defective or unacceptable new goods or services with users, vendors and others to determine cause of problem and take corrective and preventative action.
- They plan, develop and buy materials, parts, supplies and equipments in a timely and cost effective way; timely manner while maintaining appropriate quality standards and specifications.