Work Activities of a Retail Buyer

A retail buyer has a considerable amount of responsibility and autonomy in what is often a pressured environment. Typical work activities can vary according to the season. This is particularly true for those working in fashion. For example: out of season, the majority of the time will be spent in the workplace (in the office and on the shop floor); during the buying season, a significant amount of time will be spent away from the workplace in order to assemble a new collection of merchandise. Throughout the year, tasks typically involve the following:

• Analyzing consumer buying patterns and predicting future trends;
• Regularly reviewing performance indicators with sales;
• Managing plans for stock levels, reacting to change in demand and logistics;
• Meeting suppliers and negotiating terms of contract;
• Maintaining relationships with existing suppliers and sourcing new suppliers for future products;
• Liaising with other departments within the organization to ensure projects are completed;
• Attending trade fairs, in the country and abroad, to select and assemble a new collection of products;
• Participating in promotional activities;
• Writing reports and sales forecasts, and analyzing sales figures;
• Liaising with shop personnel to ensure product/collection supply meets demand;
• Seeking merchandise feedback from customers;
• Training and mentoring junior staff.

Toyota shares slide after bleak profit forecasts

Shares in Toyota Motor Corp skidded on Friday after the world's biggest automaker forecast its first annual net profit decline in seven years as it faces a triple blow of a stronger yen, rising materials prices and a slowing U.S. economy.

Toyota's shares which have roughly followed movements in the dollar-yen rate this year that ended down 3.3 percent at 5,300 yen, wiping $6 billion from its market value to $177 billion. They lost, as much as 4.7 percent shortly after trade opened on 9^th May 2008.

News of Toyota's bleak outlook and the dollar's fall below 104 yen sent shares of other Japanese automakers downhill. Honda Motor Co lost 3.9 percent, Nissan Motor Co shed 1.6 percent and Mazda Motor Corp sank 4.4 percent.

Many analysts viewed Toyota's guidance for a 27 percent fall in net profit this business year to be an ultra-cautious one that factored in the manifestation of every possible risk, and held onto their assessment that it was better-positioned than many to weather the headwinds.

"At the moment, Toyota is assuming the worst possible scenario," said Koichi Ogawa, chief portfolio manager at Daiwa SB Investments. He added that the shares' fall was likely tempered by optimism that Toyota would lift its forecasts in mid-year.

"Although it looks negative at first sight, we see the new guidance as a minimum level that factors in every conceivable risk," he said in a report, keeping his rating at "buy".

Still, Toyota executives on Thursday did little to quell concerns about the increasingly tough environment in the United States, where it makes just under half of its profit.

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