Development of a Fashion Buying Education Program for an Apparel Retail Company

In order to stay ahead of the marketplace, today's retailers need to be smarter in managing and controlling what goes on their shelves. Therefore, it is essential for professional buyers to focus on their product selections, and to ensure that these selections are the products which will satisfy their customers. In other words, professional retail buying is all about being able to anticipate consumer demands and to create ideas that can be converted into exciting products that fulfil consumer's desires. However, this is not always an easy task to do for especially Turkish retail buyers as there is a lack of professional buying courses applicable for Turkish apparel retailers. The courses available are generally too theoretical and/or too general for practical implementation. As a result of that, LC Waikiki Corporate Academy, in collaboration with Faculty of Textile Technologies and Design, Istanbul Technical University, aimed to establish "an in-house buying certificate program" which covered the how-to, the what-to and the when-to, with easy to understand material and case studies that would enhance their buyers' skills and facilitate the management of their daily activities. The program also aimed to help participants to acquire knowledge of the discipline of fashion buying, to explore current global and local issues in retail buying, and finally to enhance the development of participants' global awareness, critical and analytical thinking and communication skills.