Wholesale Buyers Job Description

The Wholesale Buyer buys merchandise or commodities, other than farm products, for resale to consumers at the wholesale or retail level, including both durable and nondurable goods. The Wholesale Buyer analyzes past buying trends, sales records, price, and quality of merchandise to determine value and yield. The Wholesale Buyer must also selects, order and authorizes payment for merchandise according to contractual agreements.

Task requirements for the Wholesale Buyers

• The Wholesale Buyer uses computers to organize and locate inventory, and operate spreadsheet and word processing software.

• The Wholesale buyer negotiates prices, discounts terms and transportation arrangements for merchandise.

• The Wholesale Buyer manages the department for which they buy.

• The Wholesale Buyer confers with sales and purchasing personnel to obtain information about customer needs and preferences.

• The Wholesale Buyer examines, selects, orders, and purchases at the most favorable price merchandise consistent with quality, specification requirements and other factors.

• The Wholesale Buyer analyzes and monitors sales records, trends and economic conditions to anticipate consumer buying patterns and determines what the company will sell and how much inventory is needed.

• The Wholesale Buyer sets or recommends mark-up rates, mark-down rates, and selling prices for merchandise.

• The Wholesale Buyer authorizes payment of invoices or returns of merchandise.

• The Wholesale Buyer interviews and works closely with vendors to obtain and develop desired products.

• The Wholesale Buyer conducts staff meetings with sales personnel to introduce new merchandise.

Skill requirements for the Wholesale Buyer

• The Wholesale Buyer needs the skill of active listening that is giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.

• The Wholesale Buyer needs the ability to talk to others in a manner of conveying information effectively.

• The Wholesale Buyer needs the skill of reading comprehension that is the ability to understand written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.

• The Wholesale Buyer needs the skill of critical thinking that is the ability to use logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.

• The Wholesale Buyer needs the skill of judgment and decision making that is the ability to consider the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate ones.

• The Wholesale Buyer must be service orientated which is actively looking for ways to help people.

• The Wholesale Buyer uses mathematics to solve problems in their job function.

• The Wholesale Buyer must have the skill to teach others how to do something especially when it is pertaining to the job function.

• The Wholesale Buyer must have the skill of management of material resources that is obtaining and seeing to the appropriate use of equipment, facilities, and materials needed to do certain work functions.

Abilities required for Wholesale Buyers

• The Wholesale Buyer needs the ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.

• The Wholesale Buyer needs the ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.

• The Wholesale Buyer needs the ability to speak clearly so others understand when you are explaining a product or service.

• The Wholesale Buyer needs the ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.

• The Wholesale Buyer needs the ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem in their job functions.

• The Wholesale Buyer needs the ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.

• The Wholesale Buyer needs the ability of speech recognition which is being able to understand the speech of another person.

• The Wholesale Buyer needs the ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.

• The Wholesale Buyer needs the ability to see details at close range that is within a few feet of the observer.

• The Wholesale Buyer needs the ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly often without the use of a calculator while working out in the field.

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