TRAINING TACTICS
Finding...and Training... A Buyer
By Erinn Morgan

Are you familiar with just-in-time inventory? Do you know what turn is and how often each year your own inventory should be turning? Do you and your staff buy by your own tastes or do you really investigate what your customers want? The correct answers to these questions and knowledge about true retail buying methods are critical to the success of your dispensary's business. In an industry filled with increasing competition, a buyer who merchandises the right product mix can save a business. Do you have that person on staff?

Help Wanted

Often, especially when budgets are tight, the buying duties for a dispensary are assumed by the sales people or the owner/O.D. or this person's spouse. All of these options are fine as long as the person is properly trained to perform this important job.

Some dispensary owners will advertise to fill this position, but most often the person is found through word of mouth and networking. "In our case we literally ran into our buyer in the store," says Barry Baum, owner of The Eyeman in New York City. "She had recently moved from Romania, where she had been an optician. She was looking for a job and came into our store."

Some optical shop owners also find their buyers from within their existing staff. "I hired somebody who worked for me at the time in sales because I found that her strengths were really in organization and systems management," says Carol Norbeck, who previously owned three high-end Optical Illusions stores in Seattle. She sold the stores to Paris Miki a few years ago and has gone to work with Silhouette Optical as vice president of special products. One of her duties for the company is setting up a buyer training program.

"A good buyer makes your dispensary more profitable," she says. "It's not because they buy cheaper but because they buy smarter. That's how you help your margins."

Training is Crucial

One of the best ways to train a buyer is by example. If you or another staff member has a wealth of knowledge and experience in merchandising and buying, then this is who is best to impart wisdom to new buyers.

"I am working with a seasoned buyer, so I am fortunate," says Jackie Morin, the purchasing and merchandising manager for Cole Vision Canada. Morin was previously in a sales capacity with CooperVision for eight years. "My boss has been buying for 15 years. There is no question that the best way is to have a good teacher to watch."

But most agree that the best teacher is experience. "I don't think it's so much a training process as an experience process," says Baum. "You simply take someone with some basic talent and allow them to experience the challenges and buy the right stuff or wrong stuff. You can't send a buyer to a school."

But you can offer them training books, and send them to training seminars and classes. According to Norbeck, there are a variety of useful resources, including retailing books that can be found in bookstores and libraries. She also believes in the buying seminars given by the International Council of Shopping Centers ("It's like the Vision Expo of Malls," she says) as well as the National Retail Education Group.

If the buyer is relatively new to the industry, the nuances of the products are the first things they should understand. Some of the most important questions to learn the answers to: "What's a good frame, a knock-off, a hinge? What's a frame made of? What constitutes a quality frame?"

At Cole Vision Canada, which operates 20 Pearle Vision units and 80 Sears Optical centers, the lens options and lab work are also critical factors in terms of buying frames for the stores. This is another factor which buyers must take into consideration when deciding their mix.

Autonomy and Floor Work

The training process is a career commitment. However, some say that a buyer could be fully trained to operate with a decent amount of independence in about a year. "I spent a lot of time with the new buyer because I have a good instinct with trends," says Norbeck. "But as she took over more of the buying duties, my main decision as owner was what lines we'd carry."

However, store owners must still manage the buyer even once they are trained. "The owner needs to know when to put brakes on," says Baum. "This is very important, because not all buyers are good with the budget."

But managing can be done with a loose rein, say most. For example, even though the final decision was coming back to Norbeck, she still afforded her buyer the opportunity to drop or pick up a line. "But she had to justify it to me. And she would-usually with the sales numbers showing that something was not turning. You need your inventory to turn two to four times per year, and if you're not buying right you just can't expect that."

One of the best ways both a buyer-in-training and even a seasoned veteran can be in touch with what they need to buy is by being on the sales floor. In fact, Nordstrom, the successful retail giant, requires its buyers to spend a certain amount of time every month out there working in their departments. Some optical shops share the same philosophy. "Generally, our buyer sold three days a week and spent the other two buying and doing administrative duties," says Norbeck. "They have to-it's critical. In the end we're not buying what we want, we're buying what the consumer wants."

Morin agrees that time spent in the stores is truly the only real way to know how customers react to different things. "I was fortunate because I had eight years of experience at Cooper and Cole was actually my customer so I knew the stores well," she says. "But if you are new you absolutely have to know how the store is merchandised."

Show Time

Another key for buyers to learn the ropes of the industry and its products is through attending optical trade shows. International Vision Expo East and West are the majors, but large, international events such as MIDO, held in Milan in May, and SILMO, which is in Paris in October, are recommended but not feasible for most.

"I would make them earn a trip to MIDO to go see the trends because it's not all that practical to buy there," says Norbeck. Cole has also implemented a unique "trade show" of its own. "We have a buying committee get together once or twice a year. We select some of the Sears and Pearle managers and bring them to Toronto for two days to view products and see vendor presentations," says Morin. "Then we talk about everything and hash it out. We want their input because they are the ones spending the most time with the customers."

Trade shows relating to retailing but outside the industry can also be beneficial. Norbeck says she encouraged her buyer to attend one other show besides the Vision Expos-such as MAGIC or the P-O-P show-just to see what other industries are doing. "We also went to many local retail trade shows," she says.

Overall, the hiring and training of a buyer is one of the single-most important things you can do to help your business succeed. Many people involved in your optical shop-salespeople, assistants, spouses, and partners-will be eager and willing to help out with this responsibility. However, as Norbeck emphasizes, just know that "buying is a science. We often treat it as a perk in our industry for salespeople and family members. In the retail business, it's one of the highest-paid positions. It is an area that needs to be treated with respect."