Also called: Associate Buyer
Helps a retail buyer choose and order the products a store will sell.
You track how last week's new sneakers sold, send purchase orders to vendors and prep samples for the buyer's big meeting.
Entry rung below retail buyers.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Bachelor's degree (4-year), about 4 years after high school. Bachelor's in merchandising, fashion or business.
Ways in: 4-year college. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Merchandising, Fashion Merchandising, Business.
Shrinking (about -1% over 10 years). Tracks wholesale and retail buyers.
Medium risk in 5 years, high in 10. Analytics tools now automate the sales reports and orders assistants used to handle, so fewer entry buyer jobs open.
Classes: AP Statistics, Fashion or FCS class, Spreadsheets or computer applications.
Official data: O*NET occupation 13-1022.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.