Dancing with ‘the Cat’

As a merchandising intern, I quickly realized that the relationship between a vendor and a buyer forms the foundation of the retail business. My buyers have allowed me to meet with many of their vendors, each with a different personality—most times in line with the company image. I have to say the most interesting vendor visit so far was with Puma.

I intern with the active wear department, where a heavy emphasis is placed on the sneaker brands. Many of these sneaker brands are located within the New England area: Saucony, Reebok, New Balance, and Puma.

Puma has this brand image of being urban and modern. I fully expected the U.S. headquarters to be outside of an urban metropolis, but it was quite difference from my expectations. My buyer picked me up at 8AM for forty-minute drive to Puma. While I was expecting a trip through urban-suburban commercial developments, we actually traveled on some of the most scenic routes I have ever been on. We passed farmlands tucked between forests, misting lakes, and even the historic Lexington and Concord. Puma was tucked away in a nondescript business park full of wooden paneling. The building, looking very similar to a white version of the Puma shoebox, stuck out like a sore thumb.

We signed in at the front with coffee and treats in tow—ice breakers. The vendor met us and took us into the Puma auditorium, and into a showroom cleverly hidden behind billboard walls. The games began.

The first half an hour of the meeting was dedicated to a conversation that fell in between the warm enthusiasm of reunited friends and the cool professionalism of business partners. I was astounded by the details both the buyer and the vendor were able to recall about each other. It became evident that, to a certain extend, my buyer and her vendor cared about each other—a care that stemmed from a business partnership, but out of necessity extended into their personal lives as well. After the quick catch up, the conversation smoothly transitioned into business. The Cat, as Puma is frequently referred to, no longer sat tame.

The vendor started off the discussion with: cotton prices are up, poly prices are up, tariffs are up (at this point, I was expecting prices to be up 50%)—BUT we were able to hold most of your prices steady with the exception of a few items. The vendor was very good at what she does, but my buyer knew the game well. My buyer glossed over prices all together as she intended to leave negotiations till later. We focused in on the styles.

There is a general misconception that off-price retailers like TJX (T.J.Maxx, Marshalls, HomeGoods, etc.) only buy dated items through closeouts. I found that was not the case at all. A lot of product, especially in the active wear department are in season and purchased directly from the vendors. Of course, sometimes, the buyers have to turn a blind eye to the margins made on these products because the stores must carry the brands at great value to the customer. Puma is a company whose product we really want for our customers, and are willing to purchase at very questionable margins to our company.

While we were choosing the styles from Puma, I realized that buyers at TJX not only purchased goods for the company, but they were also designers and innovators. Puma provided us with the styles they were going to produce for us, but the buyer decided on the color story and silhouettes. The buyers were extremely well versed in current trends and consistently applied their knowledge. Of course, their view of the trends is not only based on magazines and blogs like so many of us fashion fanatics, but their decisions are also based on sales numbers. TJX has an amazing, in-depth system that tracks the selling of styles and colors to a t. At Puma, the buyers applied all of this knowledge and created a beautiful Spring 2012 Puma collection for our stores.

Deciding on the styles took the majority of our day. I was anxious to see how we would tie back to pricing at the end. What surprised me was, we skipped the pricing all together! I later learned that buyers and vendors generally discussed and finalized prices and quantities over the phone rather than in-person.

The trip to Puma gave me a taste of the dynamic lifestyle of a buyer and the 1001 different hats the buyers of an off-price retailer has to wear.

Next time, I promise to take pictures!