What advice do you have for buyer?
January 21, 2012 6:41 PM

I've recently become a buyer for an online shop specializing in electronics & home goods. What advice do you have for me?

This is a new role for me - it's not something I'm totally alien to, but it's something I have no direct experience in. I especially welcome any advice you have to give when it comes to choosing products- researching popular products within a category that can be sold for a good margin. For now I'll probably expanding our line of existing brands but down the line they're open to having me introduce new brands once I've established myself a bit.
posted by MesoFilter to Work & Money (3 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
Search AskMe threads and you may find some good ideas about what people want.
posted by theora55 at 6:47 PM on January 22, 2012


I knew this was sort of a long shot here and I appreciate the advice.

So far (and this is just the start of my 2nd week - a lot of the first week was spent in training & I'm now riding the proverbial bike, but with training wheels - doing work for others with their supervision & making recommendations, not hard decisions).

If anyone stumbles on to this thread at a later date, send me a MeMail and let's chat.
posted by MesoFilter at 8:26 PM on January 23, 2012


I'm a professional on the other side, selling corporate services, but I do get some visibility of the procurement crews of big companies.
You need to identify how closely you sit to your product. For example, HP or NIKE are very particular about what they source, because they have reputations built on years of quality. If you are buying for "Dan's Bargains" in the local store you can favour cheap over good.
In any case, I'd be looking closely at alibaba.com for sourcing, and figuring everybody else is too, so working hard to build a differentiation around finance (delayed payments) or something else (jingoism?)
posted by bystander at 5:37 AM on January 25, 2012


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