Jing Jiang-Job market research

I love shopping. I want to spot the latest trends before anyone else. So I want to be a retail buyer after graduation. This job is quite popular prevalent among students who are retail majors due to the attractive compensation packages. For example, according to Salary.com (www.salarey.com), the median salary for a retail buyer is about $ 43, 602 per year. That amount is usually higher compared to other rudimentary jobs in the retail field, such as retail sales. An experienced buyer can become an assistant purchasing manager before advancing to purchasing manager. Based on my research, a buyer will not need to work many years to reach a higher level if she/he does a good job. What’s more, besides the standard benefits package which includes vacations, sick leave, life and health insurance, and pension plans. Buyers could also earn cash bonuses based on their performance and receive discounts on merchandise bought from their employer. That is really a great news for those shopping lovers. Retails also have lots of travel opportunities since they need to watch many fashion shows to get sense about the latest trends of fashion, and purchases merchandise for retail stores from different places.
Due to those special benefits, the completion in this field is quite high. A Bachelor’s degree in retail, fashion marking or other related field is usually required. Many employers also look for retail buyers with actual experience. Besides this, the ability to anticipate the popularity of upcoming is very important for buyers. They also should have strong negotiation, math and computer silks. Knowledge of data analysis and resource planning are critical factors. Retail buyers frequently work more than the standard 40-hour week, because of special sales, conferences or product deadlines. Evening and weekend work also is common before holiday and back-to-school seasons.
The basic requirements for a retail buyer are similar in the U.S. and China. I only notice one big different which is buyers do not need to understand other languages in America. However, they have to understand English in China since they usually need to communicate with global suppliers.
Since the 4 companies I am considering are globally based. They all want to extend their market share, strengthen their brands, and improve their competitive position in the related field. What’s more, those 4 companies are all consumer-based. They want to satisfy their customer’s needs and expectations with high quality products and value.
I want to focus on the difference between these two countries in the retail industry. The size of the retail companies in U.S. is much bigger than China. What’s more, many U.S. retail firms are large enough to operate their own warehouses, such as Wal-Mart. Thus, a large percent of the total retail sales generates from a small amount of companies. However, the retail industry in China is domain by small retailers. So the labor market is U.S. is smaller, employers do not need to hire lots of people to accomplish the jobs.


U.S.
job 1
job 2

CHINA
job 3
job 4