Fashion Buying and Merchandising: Buying Techniques (Online Short Course)

Trend-led fashion is all about capturing key looks from the catwalk to the high street, as quickly as possible and at an affordable price. The buyer and merchandiser for any retailer will play a key role in making this happen. The course will cover how buying and merchandising teams plan and strategise for the season ahead, how they work with the supply chain to design and manufacture quickly and inexpensively, and always strive to stay ahead of the competition.

You will also learn the differences between buying and merchandising private labels vs brands for multi-brand stores, the importance of social media and the future of commercial fashion. This course uses real-life up-to-date case studies and practical assignments for you to develop your skills.

This course includes:

• Roles of the buyer and merchandiser
• Fashion retailers and brands
• Planning - strategy and budgets
• Competitor shopping and SWOT analysis
• Buying - range planning, sourcing new brands and suppliers
• Reacting to trends (from the catwalk to the high street)
• Trading - stock management and OTB (open to buy)

Level

You should have an interest in the subject area and some experience of the fashion industry. Some experience of buying and merchandising is helpful, but not essential.

Why choose an LCF online learning short course?

Our online learning short courses allow you to experience London College of Fashion wherever you are in the world. The real-time chat sessions are fully interactive allowing you to communicate easily with the tutor at the same time as fellow students. You will participate in the live classes each week and you will undertake weekly assignments to be completed in your own time.

Online learning

Please make sure you are available to participate in the live online chat sessions which are run to UK time. All online learning courses include weekly chat sessions with your tutor and other students on the course, which are conducted through an interactive seminar (called Blackboard Collaborate). The chat sessions will include text and voice/video chat, as well as an opportunity to 'share' your tutor's desktop so that they can navigate you through websites, powerpoint presentations and other work. These sessions are essential to attend each week, so please check the times of the course when you book and take into account any local time differences. You may also be required to undertake weekly assignments between sessions. These will be housed on our Workflow website, along with additional resources and discussion forums which can be used to interact with fellow students in between classes. You may be expected to dedicate between one - two hours a week to these self-study projects. A full technical specification is listed in 'Materials'.

Booking

Please book as early as possible. This will allow us enough time to provide you with login for the online short course learning software. When making your booking do not tick the 'If you DO NOT hold a UK/EU/EEA passport click here' box as this is only relevant for classroom courses. If we send you an email telling you to present your passport to us, please ignore this email, as it does not apply to you. If no dates are available for this course please 'Make an enquiry' using the link below and we will contact you when new dates are published.

Please refer to your joining instructions about getting set up for your first session. Further details about preparing for your online course, and the equipment you need, can be found here: http:///csm/courses/short-courses/short-courses-online/frequently-asked-questions/