Buying
The function responsible for selecting products and placing orders with brands and suppliers for a retail business. Glossary
AI in fashion merchandising: what it does, what it needs and where it fails
Machine learning now supports forecasting, assortment, pricing and planning decisions in fashion. This guide explains the use cases, the data they depend on and how merchants stay in control.
What is size curve optimisation and how does AI help buy the right sizes?
Buying the wrong mix of sizes leaves fringe sizes on the rail and core sizes sold out. Here is how AI estimates true size demand, why stockouts mislead the data and what to watch for.
How can AI improve open-to-buy and merchandise budget planning?
Open-to-buy tells buyers how much they can still spend without breaking sales and stock targets. AI can keep that number current and more realistic, provided the plan behind it is sound.
AI for fashion buyers: what changes in buying and how to start
Where AI already helps fashion buyers with trend scanning, line reviews, quantities and re-orders, what data it needs, what stays a human judgement and a 30-day plan to start.
What is fashion wholesale? How brands sell collections to retailers
Wholesale is the business of selling a collection to other businesses before the consumer ever sees it. Here is how the model works, who buys, and why it still anchors many fashion brands.
How a wholesale season works, from line release to delivery
A fashion wholesale season is a long chain of dependent steps. This guide walks through each stage, who is involved and where things typically go wrong.
Using AI in assortment planning without losing the brand
AI can sharpen depth, breadth and size decisions in assortment planning. The risk is a range that drifts towards safe averages. How to use the tools while keeping the brand's point of view.
The AI vocabulary every fashion buyer should know
Suppliers, brands and internal teams increasingly talk about models, agents and embeddings. A practical glossary for fashion buyers, with what each term means for buying decisions.
Open-to-buy explained: how fashion retailers budget their buying
Open-to-buy tells a buyer how much stock can still be purchased without breaking the plan. Here is how it is calculated, used and commonly misused.
The retail buying calendar: a year in the life of a fashion buyer
Fashion buyers work across several seasons at once. How the buying year is structured, what happens at each stage and how the calendar is shifting.