How To Become An Assistant Merchandise Buyer: What It Is and Career Path

What is an assistant merchandise buyer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

The ability to maintain positive vendor relations is the work of an assistant merchandise buyer. As it is, it is your job to price and merchandising strategy to meet sales target. Part of your key duty is also to manage merchandising calendar to meet deadlines for the efficiency of your work. Stock management may not be too easy; however, you are to maintain and monitor stock levels and movements accurately.

The assistant merchandise buyer must assist by communicating timely information to help with the development of seasonal products. You will also often need to generate a report relating to sales and profits. You are responsible for ensuring accountability and report to the warehouse and store about the stock release, stock return, and new arrivals of products. Plus, you must prepare samples and perform sample testing and reporting.

Becoming the best assistant merchandise buyer will require excellent interpersonal, communication, and negotiation skills. You must also develop your ability to multitask and develop strong organizational skills. The average yearly salary of an assistant merchandise buyer is $48,000. The educational background must be a bachelor's degree specialized in sales, merchandising, or other related fields.

ScoreAssistant Merchandise BuyerUS Average

Salary

4.1

Avg. Salary $52,001

Avg. Salary $59,228

Diversity

10.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.33%

Asian 5.86%

Black or African American 8.18%

Hispanic or Latino 17.78%

Unknown 4.54%

White 63.31%

Gender

female 77.90%

male 22.10%

Age - 43

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 43

Stress level

8.3

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

6.9

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.4

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become an assistant merchandise buyer

Explore assistant merchandise buyer education requirements

Most common assistant merchandise buyer degrees

Bachelor's

72.0 %

Associate

16.2 %

Master's

4.5 %

Start to develop specific assistant merchandise buyer skills

Skills	Percentages
Apparel	8.63%
Kids	6.18%
Purchase Orders	5.87%
Math	5.79%
Historical Data	5.46%

Complete relevant assistant merchandise buyer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 3-6 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New assistant merchandise buyers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as an assistant merchandise buyer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real assistant merchandise buyer resumes.

Research assistant merchandise buyer duties and responsibilities

Manage open-to-buy to ensure continual flow of merchandise to stores and warehouses with careful attention to advertise events and promotions.
Partner with site merchandiser to execute sales and POS events.
Work closely with the logistics department and internal warehouse to coordinate just in time deliveries and maintain daily inventory reconciliation.
Verify store numbers, vendor files, UPCS, descriptions and size information against AS400 information.

Prepare your assistant merchandise buyer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your assistant merchandise buyer resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on an assistant merchandise buyer resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable assistant merchandise buyer resume templates

Build a professional assistant merchandise buyer resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your assistant merchandise buyer resume.

Apply for assistant merchandise buyer jobs

Now it's time to start searching for an assistant merchandise buyer job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do assistant merchandise buyers rate their job?

-/5

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1 star

Assistant merchandise buyer reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on May 2019

Pros

To be involved in negotiations

Cons

I like all in this job, because I have the choise to be in relation with a lot of persons and know what they are doing against purchasing also what the use to buy and under what coondition

A zippia user wrote a review on Mar 2019