ABSTRACT
Being such an important part of the retail business, considerable attention must be paid to the organisation of the sections of the retailer that carry out the functions which are included within product management. A buying organisation could be defined as the entity within a retail organisation that carries out the essential task of bringing goods into the retail business from the supply base to be sold on to retail customers. In the following two chapters the structure of buying organisations will be reviewed within the context of the overall approach to product management. This chapter will concentrate on the buying and merchandising-led approach (see Figure 1.5), which is still commonly used throughout the UK. Chapter three will then move on to consider a ‘new’ organisation structure that consumer-led buying organisations have adopted.
