[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-1-en-105":3,"doc-seo-260559-105":53,"doc-detail-260559-en":126},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,14,19,24,29,34,39,44,49],{"id":8,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":11,"show_sort_weight":12,"slug":13},11,1,"Template","Presentations",90,"presentations",{"id":15,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":16,"show_sort_weight":17,"slug":18},12,"Resumes",80,"resumes",{"id":20,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":21,"show_sort_weight":22,"slug":23},14,"Invoices",70,"invoices",{"id":25,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":26,"show_sort_weight":27,"slug":28},15,"Posters",60,"posters",{"id":30,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":31,"show_sort_weight":32,"slug":33},16,"Social Media",50,"social-media",{"id":35,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":36,"show_sort_weight":37,"slug":38},17,"Forms",40,"forms",{"id":40,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":41,"show_sort_weight":42,"slug":43},18,"Letters",30,"letters",{"id":45,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":46,"show_sort_weight":47,"slug":48},21,"Paper Templates",5,"papers-templates",{"id":50,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":51,"show_sort_weight":4,"slug":52},158,"General","general-158",{"code":4,"msg":54,"data":55},"ok",{"site_id":56,"language":57,"slug":58,"title":59,"keywords":60,"description":61,"schema_data":62,"social_meta":119,"head_meta":121,"extra_data":123,"updated_unix":125},105,"en","the-roles-of-buying-groups-chapter-2-retail-buying-groups-overview","The Roles of Buying Groups - Chapter 2 - Retail Buying Groups Overview","","Retailers use buying groups to obtain goods more easily and at lower cost, relying on specialized organizations for advice and supplier selection from a wide marketplace. Chapter 2 explains the types and typical services of buying groups, the importance of centralized buying in group purchases, and the buying–selling cycle. It traces the evolution of buying offices from early multi-unit chains to modern roles including information exchange, product development, importing support, and promotion services like catalog production.",{"@graph":63,"@context":118},[64,80,101],{"@type":65,"itemListElement":66},"BreadcrumbList",[67,71,74,77],{"item":68,"name":69,"@type":70,"position":9},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":72,"name":10,"@type":70,"position":73},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/",2,{"item":75,"name":11,"@type":70,"position":76},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/presentations/",3,{"item":78,"name":59,"@type":70,"position":79},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/the-roles-of-buying-groups-chapter-2-retail-buying-groups-overview/260559/",4,{"url":78,"name":59,"@type":81,"image":82,"author":87,"headline":59,"publisher":90,"fileFormat":93,"inLanguage":57,"description":61,"dateModified":94,"datePublished":95,"encodingFormat":93,"isAccessibleForFree":96,"interactionStatistic":97},"DigitalDocument",{"url":83,"@type":84,"width":85,"height":86},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/the-roles-of-buying-groups-chapter-2-retail-buying-groups-overview/260559.png","ImageObject",442,249,{"name":88,"@type":89},"Liam","Person",{"url":68,"name":91,"@type":92},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-25","2026-09-13",true,{"@type":98,"interactionType":99,"userInteractionCount":15},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":100},"ViewAction",{"@type":102,"mainEntity":103},"FAQPage",[104,110,114],{"name":105,"@type":106,"acceptedAnswer":107},"What are buying groups and buying offices used for in retail?","Question",{"text":108,"@type":109},"Buying groups and buying offices help retailers access products more easily and at lower cost by providing advice, information, and expertise for choosing among many suppliers and manufacturers.","Answer",{"name":111,"@type":106,"acceptedAnswer":112},"What major special services do buying offices provide?",{"text":113,"@type":109},"Buying offices focus on information exchange as a core activity, and they also offer product development, import programs with knowledge of duties and quotas, and promotion services such as catalog production and advertising support.",{"name":115,"@type":106,"acceptedAnswer":116},"How did buying offices’ roles evolve from the early retail era to today?",{"text":117,"@type":109},"In the early decades, buying offices helped purchase merchandise for retailers when travel to wholesale markets was difficult. Since the 1990s, changes in retailing have expanded their roles further into broader service and buying support functions.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":78,"og:type":120,"og:title":59,"og:site_name":91,"og:description":61},"article",{"robots":122,"canonical":78},"index,follow",{"doc_id":124,"site_id":56},260559,1791724881,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":127},{"doc_id":124,"user_id":128,"nickname":88,"user_avatar":129,"doc_module":9,"category_id":8,"category_name":11,"doc_title":59,"doc_description":61,"doc_content":130,"file_id":131,"file_url":132,"file_type":133,"file_size":134,"view_count":15,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":9,"is_downloadable":9,"audit_status":9,"page_count":25,"language":135,"language_code":57,"site_id":56,"html_lang":57,"table_of_contents":136,"faqs":137,"seo_title":138,"seo_description":61,"update_tm":139,"read_time":47,"preview_page_count":4},8796095461564,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_155a257f0dc6eb9ab79c44ca47cae57d","C H A P T E R  \n2  \nThe Roles of Buying Groups  \nRetailers cooperate with others in a variety of ways to obtain goods more easily and less expensively, and they use one or more specialized organizations to direct their efforts—that is, to give them advice and help them choose from among thousands of suppliers and manufacturers. This chapter introduces the following topics:  \n•The different types of buying groups  \n•The functions, services, and programs typical of these buying groups  \n•The role of centralized buying in group purchases  \n•The detailed activities involved in the buying-selling cycle  \nAny retail store (or chain of stores) uses a number of buying groups, which  \ndiffer in size, ownership, breadth of market coverage, and so on. They are 33  \ncommonly known as buying offices—a term that is not truly accurate but is so widely used in the retail business that, yes, we will refer to them as “buying offices,” or sometimes just “offices.”  \nThis link in the retail chain was created back in the 1920s, a decade in which the first retail multi-unit chain stores began. Some things never change—independent, single-unit stores wanted a way to counter the new“retail giants,” and so buying offices sprang up in large cities to be the communication conduit between stores and manufacturers. This was also the era in which mass production of clothing began, which created a need for continuous representation in that brand-new and fast-growing industry.  \nDuring this time, when travel from distant store locations to wholesale markets was far more difficult, buying offices did indeed buy merchandise for their clients. Today, however, they are engaged in a wide range of services that are just as handy, including product development, merchandising consultants, and import programs.  \nA buying office is an organization located in a major market that represents retailers who have their own buying staffs. It is not to be confused with centralized buying, which we learned about in Chapter 1. These buyers are not buying and merchandising for the stores. Instead, a buying office is a source of information and expertise for store buyers, to help them make their own smarter buying decisions. Both small and large stores depend heavily on the flow of information from buying offices. This is where they learn about bestselling items, interesting trends, and emerging new resources, from people who follow the industry for a living.  \nThe buying office and the retail company are organized similarly. For the most part, each executive position in a client or member store has a counterpart in the buying office. The store chain has a buyer; the counterpart in the buying office is the market representative. The store chain has a merchandising manager; in the buying office, it’s the head of a division.  \nThe dramatic changes in retailing and general merchandise markets since the 1990s have changed the needs of retail companies, so buying officeshave changed (and expanded) their roles in the buying process accordingly. We discuss these functions, and how they developed, later in this chapter.  \nSPECIAL SERVICES OF BUYING OFFICES  \nInformation exchange is the chief activity of the buying office. In the smallest office, it may mean reporting on best-selling styles and the types of merchandise submitted by clients. In larger corporate offices, the process may be far more sophisticated, with detailed merchandising results (suggested price points, gross margins, estimated turnover, and so forth) and other vital operating data that can be used to monitor the performance of various merchandise lines, stores, departments, and divisions.  \nProduct development has become the most critical modern-day function of the buying office. It is the process of identifying items or lines of merchandise that have some type of advantage over a comparable national brand, in terms of quality, price, exclusivity, and so on. It also involves actually designing the product and/or its packaging, developing s","cbCaiqwrTasvDL2P","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiqwrTasvDL2P","pdf",281046,"English","# The Roles of Buying Groups\n## Different Types and Core Functions\n## Special Services of Buying Offices\n## The Independent Buying Office","[{\"question\":\"What are buying groups and buying offices used for in retail?\",\"answer\":\"Buying groups and buying offices help retailers access products more easily and at lower cost by providing advice, information, and expertise for choosing among many suppliers and manufacturers.\"},{\"question\":\"What major special services do buying offices provide?\",\"answer\":\"Buying offices focus on information exchange as a core activity, and they also offer product development, import programs with knowledge of duties and quotas, and promotion services such as catalog production and advertising support.\"},{\"question\":\"How did buying offices’ roles evolve from the early retail era to today?\",\"answer\":\"In the early decades, buying offices helped purchase merchandise for retailers when travel to wholesale markets was difficult. Since the 1990s, changes in retailing have expanded their roles further into broader service and buying support functions.\"}]","The Roles of Buying Groups - Chapter 2 - Retail Buying Groups Overview | PDF",1789343603]