5860 ADVANCED BUYIN

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NEW YORK TR

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M A D A LY N J EN K I N

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DAY 1 • Chelsea and Theodore is

Leann’s largest and most important vendor, supplies most trendy products

• Buyer-Vendor Relationship: Mutual needs. Leann relies on this vendor to offer her fashionable and decent priced clothes, while Rachel relies on Leann to buy around 15 SKU’s for each season.• Leann put together color boards and storyboards of color schemes and styles for this vendor

• If buyers see something they think the customer will like a lot, she orders them special and gets more units

• 6/30, 7/30, and 8/30 are dates that the product will be shipped out to the stores

• Shadowed Leann Ward: “better” separates buyer for misses for Dillard’s

• Buys styles by multiple colors rather than by collection

• Price points above $59

• Purchasing for July-November

Chelsea and Theodore

CUPIO• Buyer-Vendor Relationship:

Mutual needs. • The representative seemed

very eager to accommodate everything the buyers needed product wise because they rely on each other each season

• The representative had color and print cards prepared that showed different options that the vendor could put on any garment.

• Discussed replenishment of basic staple items.

•Each buyer has their own appointment with each vendor after they have visited the showroom for the first time. This is when everything is more finalized and order dates decided, and the line is put together. This is called a rework.

•There are various aspects of production that the buyers can change such as the color, the sleeves, the body, the neckline, and the material.

ALI MILES CALESSA

• Ali Miles is a brand that sells really well at Dillard’s that the buyers buy from each season. More “juniors” age target market.

• The representatives showed the same exact outdated styles from the previous seasons.

• Buyer-Vendor relationship: Solicitation.

• The vendors were pushing for the buyers to buy more SKU’s than they had originally planned.

• The target market was definitely older woman, which is why Leann wasn’t very interested in much of the product.

• Calessa has been in business with Dillard’s for a very long time, and the buyers and vendors know exactly what each other want.

• Buyer-Vendor Relationship: Sporadic. Leann does not buy very much from this vendor for her specific department

DAY 2• Shadowing Pam

Jones: little girls and big girls buyer for Dillard’s

• Buys for girls actives, collections, tops and bottoms

• Purchasing for May-November and holidayMiss Me Girls

• Sells more expensive denim and children’s clothes to Dillard’s.

• Buyer Vendor Relationship: Mutual needs. Dillard’s sells a lot of Miss Me so it is a very important account for them which is why they try to maintain a good relationship.

• Picking color, wash, style, embellishments, pockets for denim.

Silver• Silver is a very big denim provider to

Dillard’s. • Buyer-vendor relationship: casual-

informal/sporadic. It varies how much the buyers will purchase from them each season.

• Buying cheaper denim from Silver helps make up for missed sales of Miss Me because it is so expensive.

• Referring to feel of denim: “Nice Hand”

Pippa and Julie • Pippa and Julie sells higher

end little girl’s clothes. • Buyer-Vendor Relationship:

Mutual needs. Each buyer bought a very high number of SKUs and was very happy with the products shown.

• You’re not only buying for children, but also for the parent making the purchase.

• Vendor had her favorite and most popular items set aside to make it easier for the buyers

Moa Moa • Moa Moa is for “big

girls”.• Buyer-Vendor

Relationship: Solicitation. The vendor seemed mostly interested in convincing the buyers to make purchases.

• They sell a lot of graphic tees to Dillard’s, it is difficult it choose the graphics because they must be appropriate and also placed in an appropriate area.

• Showroom was different because they had a model trying on some of the clothes that the buyers wanted to see

Takara• Takara sells a lot of basic staple juniors and big

girl’s items to Dillard’s. • Takara just began producing leggings for Dillard’s.

This is because Dillard’s does a great business with Takara, and Takara was finally able to get enough materials to produce leggings for Dillard’s.

• Buyer-Vendor Relationship: Mutual needs. Takara needs Dillard’s to buy their products because it is such a successful store, and Dillard’s relies on Takara to have trendy items that will sell at their stores.

• Three quarter length sleeve is the most popular sleeve length because it has a longer life in the stores.

Jessica Simpson Girls

• Jessica Simpson Girls has been a huge vendor for Dillard’s for over 4 years.

• Buyer-Vendor Relationship: Confrontational. The meeting did not go very well, and none of the buyers left happy.

• Dillard’s buyers have been asking them to make some changes for the duration of the relationship with no results. The buyers struggled to find items they wanted because of this, which made me realize exactly how important buyer-vendor relationships are.

• Discussed signage and display issues

Pinc• Pinc was the original

vendor that provided Dillard’s leggings.

• Buyer-Vendor relationship: Solicitation. This was a hostile meeting because of this previous change in vendors, and Pinc was trying very hard to impress them with the product that they had.

• They have the ability to put leather or different kinds of materials on the leggings basically anywhere the buyers asked them to.

DAY 3- GROUP VISITS

Fossil• Fossil licenses many

other brands such as Kate Spade and Marc Jacobs.

• Watches are turning into “wearables” because of increasing technology, and more people are purchasing them just as a fashion statement.

• Fossil’s biggest and most profitable sector is men’s watches.

Ross• In Ross we

learned more about off price retailers and Ross as a company.

• Ross’s buyers are always in market.

• Ross is a very successful company and has over 1300 stores.

• Buying is done only one or two months in advance.

Jessica Simpson Dresses

• Rochelle explained that GIII is the licensing company and how many other brands they license.

• We also viewed the Guess showroom.

• Guess is extremely international, however Jessica Simpson is more newly international.

• It was interesting hearing about how the employees got the GII and their career paths.

DAY 4Steve Madden

• It was interesting to hear people speak about the different areas of their jobs such as marketing, buying, and planning Steve Madden’s public appearances.

• The consumers age range changed drastically quickly, from 13-17 year olds, to including their mothers.

• They have a local factory on Long Island which differentiates them from other companies

Doneger Group • David told us stories

about how he had to sneak into fashion shows in the past.

• We learned what disruptive fashion is, which is unexpected and uncoordinated.

• Forecasting companies predict trends up to 2 years ahead of time.

Calvin Klein • Jonah spoke about how you

should love all aspects of what you do and to be passionate about it.

• This really helped me to understand how important it is to actually enjoy what you do.

• The president of core intimates explained to us that the largest brand of underwear they sell is Warner’s and how popular it is selling to their target customers.

Coach Archives• This was really

interesting to see all of the handbags and wallets from over the years.

• They have their signature coding including the turn-key latch, C’s on items, and the leather they use.

• It was also intriguing to see how some styles changed and how some are very similar to the styles from years ago.

DAY 5H.M.S. Production

• Mary Jo showed us around the whole design floor, which was really cool to see.

• They have all the patterns and prints in one room, and they actually legally own the rights to the prints and no one else can use them.

• Mary Jo stressed how important it is to filter and know the customer

WHAT I LEARNED

I also learned new things about different areas and possibilities that I could potentially go into when I graduate.

• I had never really been interested in forecasting, but after visiting the Doneger Group, I am extremely interested in that area.

• I also have never been interested in sales, but after speaking with Mary Jo, it definitely sounds like something I would like to look into more.  

Difference between Day 1 and Day 2: Buying for little and big girls is different than buying for misses because you have to have to keep the children as consumers but also their parents who are actually making the purchase in mind.• Buying for department stores means you must

know your customer and target market because of the amount of variety of consumers.

• Buyer-vendor relationships are extremely important and effect the result of showroom meetings and reworks.

• I learned a lot about the terminology in the industry from listening to the buyers and vendors interact.