Careers > Wholesale and Retail Buyers, Except Farm Products

Wholesale and Retail Buyers, Except Farm Products

$67.62K Median Salary 13.3K Job Openings (Annual Projection) -2.4% Job Growth

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About This Career

Buy merchandise or commodities, other than farm products, for resale to consumers at the wholesale or retail level, including both durable and nondurable goods. Analyze past buying trends, sales records, price, and quality of merchandise to determine value and yield. Select, order, and authorize payment for merchandise according to contractual agreements. May conduct meetings with sales personnel and introduce new products. May negotiate contracts. Includes assistant wholesale and retail buyers of nonfarm products.

Reported Job Titles

Buyer, Grocery Buyer, Procurement Specialist, Purchaser, Purchasing Coordinator, Retail Buyer, Trader

Career data shown for:

Skills You'll Need

Click on skills to find related courses.

Abilities

Oral Comprehension

Oral Expression

Deductive Reasoning

Written Comprehension

Problem Sensitivity

Speech Clarity

Mathematical Reasoning

Speech Recognition

Category Flexibility

Inductive Reasoning

Number Facility

Information Ordering

Near Vision

Fluency of Ideas

Originality

Selective Attention

Written Expression

Knowledge

Sales and Marketing

Customer and Personal Service

English Language

Mathematics

Administration and Management

Computers and Electronics

Economics and Accounting

Skills

Negotiation

Active Listening

Critical Thinking

Persuasion

Speaking

Active Learning

Judgment and Decision Making

Complex Problem Solving

Management of Financial Resources

Reading Comprehension

Social Perceptiveness

Coordination

Mathematics

Monitoring

Service Orientation

Instructing

Systems Evaluation

Time Management

Writing

Technology Skills

Enterprise resource planning ERP software

Presentation software

Point of sale POS software

Materials requirements planning logistics and supply chain software

Electronic mail software

Procurement software

Human resources software

Internet browser software

Data base user interface and query software

Web page creation and editing software

Calendar and scheduling software

Spreadsheet software

Risk management data and analysis software

Accounting software

Graphics or photo imaging software

Development environment software

Customer relationship management CRM software

Office suite software

Cloud-based data access and sharing software

Operating system software

Word processing software

Business intelligence and data analysis software

Project management software

Inventory management software

Tools

Desktop calculator

Point of sale POS terminal

Desktop computers

Personal computers

Abilities

Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.

Knowledge

Sales and Marketing: Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
Customer and Personal Service: Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
English Language: Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
Mathematics: Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
Administration and Management: Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
Computers and Electronics: Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
Economics and Accounting: Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.

Skills

Negotiation: Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.
Active Listening: 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.
Critical Thinking: Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
Persuasion: Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
Speaking: Talking to others to convey information effectively.
Active Learning: Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
Judgment and Decision Making: Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
Complex Problem Solving: Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
Management of Financial Resources: Determining how money will be spent to get the work done, and accounting for these expenditures.
Reading Comprehension: Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
Social Perceptiveness: Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
Coordination: Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
Mathematics: Using mathematics to solve problems.
Monitoring: Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
Service Orientation: Actively looking for ways to help people.
Instructing: Teaching others how to do something.
Systems Evaluation: Identifying measures or indicators of system performance and the actions needed to improve or correct performance, relative to the goals of the system.
Time Management: Managing one's own time and the time of others.
Writing: Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.

Technology Skills

Enterprise resource planning ERP software: Oracle JD Edwards EnterpriseOne; Oracle PeopleSoft; Oracle PeopleSoft Financials; SAP software
Presentation software: Microsoft PowerPoint
Point of sale POS software: Smart card management software
Materials requirements planning logistics and supply chain software: Production scheduling software
Electronic mail software: IBM Notes; Microsoft Exchange; Microsoft Outlook
Procurement software: Purchasing software
Human resources software: ADP Workforce Now
Internet browser software: Web browser software
Data base user interface and query software: Blackboard software; Database software; Microsoft Access; Yardi software
Web page creation and editing software: Facebook; Google Sites; LinkedIn; Social media sites
Calendar and scheduling software: Appointment scheduling software
Spreadsheet software: Microsoft Excel
Risk management data and analysis software: ArcSight Enterprise Threat and Risk Management; McAfee Enterprise Security Manager
Accounting software: Billing software; Bookkeeping software; Intuit QuickBooks; Sage 50 Accounting
Graphics or photo imaging software: SmugMug Flickr
Development environment software: Adobe Systems Adobe Creative Suite
Customer relationship management CRM software: Blackbaud The Raiser's Edge; Microsoft Dynamics; Salesforce.com Salesforce CRM
Office suite software: Microsoft Office software
Cloud-based data access and sharing software: Dropbox; Google Drive; Microsoft SharePoint
Operating system software: Microsoft Windows
Word processing software: 3M Post-it App; Evernote; Google Docs; Microsoft Word
Business intelligence and data analysis software: BrightEdge; Conductor Searchlight; IBM Digital Analytics; Searchmetrics Suite
Project management software: Mavenlink; Microsoft Project
Inventory management software: Assisi Software Assisi Inventory