Retail and Wholesale Buyers
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Job description
These individuals purchase goods for wholesale or retail resale. This group includes supervisors and their assistants.
Environment
- Controlled ambient temperature
Main tasks
- Examine the needs of businesses.
- Determine the quantities and type of goods to be purchased for resale.
- Conduct documentary research (market analyses, specialized magazines, advertising catalogues, etc.) on the products to be purchased.
- Visit exhibitions, factories, and product manufacturing companies to learn about their design and check their operations.
- Choose the merchandise that best meets the requirements of the trade.
- Meet with suppliers; negotiate prices, credit terms, and transportation of goods.
- Supervise the distribution of merchandise to points of sale and ensure that adequate stocks are maintained.
- May supervise the work of other buyers.
Advancement and mobility
- Experience or specialized training leads to specialize in a particular line of merchandise.
- Experience or additional training leads to management positions.
Hourly wage
The hourly wage is calculated by averaging wages from 2022 to 2024.- Minimum
- $19.68
- Median
- $30.00
- Maximum
- $49.04
Job prospects for 2024-2028
Job prospects for 2024-2028
Job prospects
All of Québec
All of Québec
Total jobs for 2023
All of Québec
All of Québec
Gender distribution
All of Québec
- 46.9% Female
- 53.1% Male
- 46.9% Female
- 53.1% Male
Job types
All of Québec
- Full time
- Part time
- Full time
- Part time
Yearly wage on 2020
All of Québec
All of Québec
Other characteristics
All of Québec
- None
All of Québec
- None
Sectors of activity
All of Québec
-
NAICS 44, 4548% of jobs
-
NAICS 4125% of jobs
-
NAICS 311, 3125% of jobs
-
NAICS 5418, 54194% of jobs
-
NAICS 55, 562% of jobs
-
Others16% of jobs
All of Québec
-
NAICS 44, 4548% of jobs
-
NAICS 4125% of jobs
-
NAICS 311, 3125% of jobs
-
NAICS 5418, 54194% of jobs
-
NAICS 55, 562% of jobs
-
Others16% of jobs
Training and requirements
Formation
Most training programs are offered in French only.
College
DCS in commercialisation de la mode
Placement rate: 65.2%
31.9% of graduates pursue further studies
University
Business administration
Bachelor’s degree
Placement rate: 84.1%
12.1% of graduates pursue further studies
Master’s degree
Placement rate: 92%
3.1% of graduates pursue further studies
- HEC Montréal
- Bishop's University
- Concordia University
- Université de Sherbrooke
- Université du Québec à Chicoutimi
- Université du Québec en Outaouais
- Université du Québec à Montréal
- Université du Québec à Rimouski
- Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières
- Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue
- Université Laval
- McGill University
- TÉLUQ
Sometimes required
- Experience in retail or wholesale is often required.
- A Class 5 driver's licence is often required.
Main skills and characteristics
Skills
- Data collection
- Negotiation
- Information processing
- Active listening
- Oral expression
- Critical thought
- Persuasion
- Active learning
- Judgment and decision-making
- Reading comprehension
- Financial resource management
- Social perception
- Solving complex problems
- Coordination
- Result evaluation
- Mathematics
- Service oriented
- Teaching
- Systems evaluation
- Written expression
- Time management
Abilities
- Oral comprehension
- Verbal skills
- Written comprehension
- Deductive reasoning
- Speech clarity
- Awareness of issues
- Mathematical reasoning
- Speech recognition
- Classification
- Basic numeracy
- Inductive reasoning
- Information organization
- Near vision
- Selective attention
- Written expression
- Idea generation
- Originality
Knowledge and attributes
- Capacity to develop and maintain business relations
- Autonomy
- Sense of responsibility
- Spoken and written bilingualism (French and English)
- Knowledge of customer and personalized services
- Sense of initiative
- Vitality
- Knowledge of sales and marketing
- Friendliness
- Enjoy challenges
Interests
- Work with numbers
- Work in sales or client service
Personality profiles (RIASEC)
- Enterprising
- People with this profile prefer having responsibilities, influencing others and responding to challenges.
- Conventional
- People with this profile prefer specific, well-defined tasks. They like to respect the order of things and follow established rules.
- Social
- People with this profile prefer to be in contact with others, in particular to entertain, help or teach them.
Official name of the NOC 62101
Retail and wholesale buyers
Job titles
- Buyer - retail
- Buyer - wholesale
- Retail merchandiser
- Buyers supervisor
- Assistant buyer
- Chief buyer
- Beverage taster and buyer
- Food buyer
- Specialty food buyer
- Livestock buyer
- Appliance buyer
- Hardware buyer
- Cattle buyer
- Log buyer
- Lumber buyer
- Timber buyer
- Perishable food buyer
- Scrap buyer
- Fur buyer
- Fruit buyer
- Produce buyer
- Salvage buyer
- Hog buyer
- Pharmaceuticals buyer
- Tobacco buyer
- Clothing buyer
- Meat buyer
- Wholesale buyer
- Merchandiser
Skill type
Sales and service
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Last update: January 29, 2026