What does a Wholesale and Retail Buyer do?

Buy merchandise or commodities, other than farm products, for resale to consumers at the wholesale or retail level, including both durable and nondurable goods. Day to day that includes work like buy merchandise or commodities for resale to wholesale or retail consumers and Negotiate prices, discount terms, or transportation arrangements with suppliers.

What skills should a Wholesale and Retail Buyer put on a resume?

O*NET rates Negotiation, Active Listening, Critical Thinking, Persuasion, and Speaking among the most important skills for this occupation. Name the ones that are genuinely yours and show where you used them. A resume that lists skills you do not have is weaker than one that lists fewer.

What software should a Wholesale and Retail Buyer list?

Software recorded for this occupation includes Accounting software, Advanced Retail Management Systems Retail Pro, Applicant tracking software, Biztrak Business Solutions Biztrak, and CAM Commerce Solutions Retail STAR Point of Sale POS. Applicant tracking systems match on the exact product name, so write the tool as the posting writes it rather than describing it in general terms.

What other job titles cover Wholesale and Retail Buyer work?

O*NET records 38 titles for this occupation, including Wholesale and Retail Buyers, Except Farm Products, Buyer, Grocery Buyer, and Procurement Specialist. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.

What qualifications does a Wholesale and Retail Buyer need?

In O*NET's survey of people doing this job, 35% reported their level of education as "Bachelor's Degree". That is what current postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.

Will this resume pass an ATS for a Wholesale and Retail Buyer role?

No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer's system is configured, including ours. What you can control is that the resume parses cleanly, names the work in the words the posting uses, and does not claim anything you cannot back up.

Wholesale and Retail Buyer resume example

A resume for a Wholesale and Retail Buyer needs to show the work itself: buy merchandise or commodities, other than farm products, for resale to consumers at the wholesale or retail level, including both durable and nondurable goods. Day to day that means work like this: buy merchandise or commodities for resale to wholesale or retail consumers; negotiate prices, discount terms, or transportation arrangements with suppliers. Recruiters and applicant tracking systems both read for the tasks and tools this role actually involves, so the strongest resume names them in your own experience rather than describing the job in the abstract. Below are the tasks O*NET records for this occupation, the software and tools it uses, the titles it is advertised under, and the skills worth naming if they are genuinely yours.

Also advertised as

The same job is posted under many titles. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.

Wholesale and Retail Buyers, Except Farm Products
Buyer
Grocery Buyer
Procurement Specialist
Trader
Purchaser
Purchasing Coordinator
Retail Buyer
Art Dealer
Buying Professional
Category Planner
Commodity Buyer
Contract Sourcing Specialist
Contracts Specialist
Exporter
Fashion Buyer
Fur Buyer
Gold Buyer

O*NET records 38 titles for this occupation in total.

What this work actually involves

Tasks recorded for this occupation, in O*NET's words. If your experience covers one of these, it belongs on your resume in your own words.

Buy merchandise or commodities for resale to wholesale or retail consumers.
Negotiate prices, discount terms, or transportation arrangements with suppliers.
Examine, select, order, or purchase merchandise consistent with quality, quantity, specification requirements, or other factors, such as environmental soundness.
Recommend mark-up rates, mark-down rates, or merchandise selling prices.
Obtain information about customer needs or preferences by conferring with sales or purchasing personnel.
Authorize payment of invoices or return of merchandise.
Monitor and analyze sales records, trends, or economic conditions to anticipate consumer buying patterns, company sales, and needed inventory.
Collaborate with vendors to obtain or develop desired products.
Inspect merchandise or products to determine quality, value, or yield.
Conduct sales meetings to introduce new merchandise.
Consult with store or merchandise managers about budgets or goods to be purchased.
Provide clerks with information to print on price tags, such as price, mark-ups or mark-downs, manufacturer number, season code, or style number.

20 tasks are recorded in total; these are the most central.

Example bullets for this role

Built from this occupation's own tasks. The brackets stay empty on purpose: we will not invent a number for you, and a fabricated metric is the fastest way to lose an interview you had already won.

Buy merchandise or commodities for resale to wholesale or retail consumers, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Negotiate prices, discount terms, or transportation arrangements with suppliers, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Examine, select, order, or purchase merchandise consistent with quality, quantity, specification requirements, or other factors, such as environmental soundness, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Recommend mark-up rates, mark-down rates, or merchandise selling prices, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].

Software used in this role

Recorded for this occupation by O*NET. An applicant tracking system matches the exact product name, so write the tool the way the posting writes it.

Accounting software
Advanced Retail Management Systems Retail Pro
Applicant tracking software
Biztrak Business Solutions Biztrak
CAM Commerce Solutions Retail STAR Point of Sale POS
Claritas ConsumerPoint
Contact management software
Eclipse IDE
Email software
Enterprise resource planning ERP software
Enterprise risk management software ERMS
Facebook
Graphics software
Infor Supply Chain Management

55 software entries are recorded in total.

Tools and equipment

The physical equipment this occupation is recorded as using. Worth naming when a posting asks for it by name.

10-key calculators
Desktop computers
Personal computers
Point of sale POS systems

Skills an ATS reads for

Worth naming only if they are genuinely yours. Keyword overlap is one input to a resume's score, not a verdict.

SAP
QuickBooks
Oracle Database
Oracle PeopleSoft

What this job rates as most important

O*NET rates every skill for importance to this occupation. These are the highest rated, in order.

01Negotiation
02Active Listening
03Critical Thinking
04Persuasion
05Speaking
06Active Learning
07Judgment and Decision Making
08Complex Problem Solving
09Management of Financial Resources
10Reading Comprehension

Knowledge areas

The subject knowledge this occupation draws on, rated by importance.

Sales and Marketing
Customer and Personal Service
English Language
Mathematics
Administration and Management
Computers and Electronics
Economics and Accounting

What qualifications people in this job have

From O*NET's survey of people doing this work. This is what postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.

35%Bachelor's Degree
20%High School Diploma, or the equivalent
14%Less than a High School Diploma

What level this role is pitched at

O*NET places this occupation in “Medium Preparation Needed”. Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.

Previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is required for these occupations. For example, an electrician must have completed three or four years of apprenticeship or several years of vocational training, and often must have passed a licensing exam, in order to perform the job.

Common questions

What does a Wholesale and Retail Buyer do?: Buy merchandise or commodities, other than farm products, for resale to consumers at the wholesale or retail level, including both durable and nondurable goods. Day to day that includes work like buy merchandise or commodities for resale to wholesale or retail consumers and Negotiate prices, discount terms, or transportation arrangements with suppliers.
What skills should a Wholesale and Retail Buyer put on a resume?: O*NET rates Negotiation, Active Listening, Critical Thinking, Persuasion, and Speaking among the most important skills for this occupation. Name the ones that are genuinely yours and show where you used them. A resume that lists skills you do not have is weaker than one that lists fewer.
What software should a Wholesale and Retail Buyer list?: Software recorded for this occupation includes Accounting software, Advanced Retail Management Systems Retail Pro, Applicant tracking software, Biztrak Business Solutions Biztrak, and CAM Commerce Solutions Retail STAR Point of Sale POS. Applicant tracking systems match on the exact product name, so write the tool as the posting writes it rather than describing it in general terms.
What other job titles cover Wholesale and Retail Buyer work?: O*NET records 38 titles for this occupation, including Wholesale and Retail Buyers, Except Farm Products, Buyer, Grocery Buyer, and Procurement Specialist. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.
What qualifications does a Wholesale and Retail Buyer need?: In O*NET's survey of people doing this job, 35% reported their level of education as "Bachelor's Degree". That is what current postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.
Will this resume pass an ATS for a Wholesale and Retail Buyer role?: No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer's system is configured, including ours. What you can control is that the resume parses cleanly, names the work in the words the posting uses, and does not claim anything you cannot back up.

Related roles

Occupations O*NET records as closest to this one, and worth looking at if this search is not moving.

What this page cannot tell you

No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer’s ATS is configured, including ours.
This page makes no claim about pay, demand or how many people hold this job. O*NET does not publish that here and we will not estimate it.
Keyword overlap is one input to a resume’s score, not a verdict on you. A resume that names skills you do not have is worse than one that names fewer.

If this is the job you are aiming at, the guide to tailoring a resume covers how to aim one posting properly, and building and exporting a resume here is free.

Occupation data from the O*NET 29.1 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under CC BY 4.0. O*NET is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. SpartanResume is not endorsed by USDOL/ETA.