Buy merchandise or commodities, other than farm products, for resale to consumers at the wholesale or retail level, including both durable and nondurable goods. Analyze past buying trends, sales records, price, and quality of merchandise to determine value and yield. Select, order, and authorize payment for merchandise according to contractual agreements. May conduct meetings with sales personnel and introduce new products. Includes assistant wholesale and retail buyers of nonfarm products.
10-Year Growth
+5.8%
Annual Openings
52,200
Typical entry: Bachelor's degree
20 of 20 tasks have some AI capability
Exposure Trend
This score reflects estimated AI technical capability for tasks in this occupation. It does not predict employment changes, and it does not account for company-specific constraints, regulation, or adoption barriers.
Provide clerks with information to print on price tags, such as price, mark-ups or mark-downs, manufacturer number, season code, or style number.
AI: Fully automatable - Generating and distributing structured price-tag data (prices, mark-ups, SKUs, season/style codes) is routine and fully automatable with existing systems and AI-enhanced workflows.
Recommend mark-up rates, markdown rates, or merchandise selling prices.
AI: Fully automatable - Pricing analytics and optimization systems already generate mark-up, markdown and selling price recommendations and can fully automate this task given sales and cost data.
Monitor and analyze sales records, trends, or economic conditions to anticipate consumer buying patterns and determine what the company will sell and how much inventory is needed.
AI: Fully automatable - AI forecasting and analytics systems can monitor sales, trends, and economic indicators at scale and generate inventory and assortment decisions that are operationally actionable.
Inspect merchandise or products to determine quality, value, or yield.
AI: Fully automatable - Computer vision and automated measurement systems can reliably inspect many types of merchandise for quality, yield, and measurable value attributes at production and receiving stages.
Determine which products should be featured in advertising, the advertising medium to be used, or when the ads should be run.
AI: Fully automatable - Programmatic advertising and AI-driven analytics can select products to feature, choose media channels, and optimize timing based on performance data, enabling end-to-end automated campaign decisions.
Monitor competitors' sales activities by following their advertisements in newspapers or other media.
AI: Fully automatable - AI systems can automatically scrape and monitor advertisements across newspapers, social and other media and detect competitor sales activities in real time.
Compare transportation options to determine the most energy efficient options.
AI: Fully automatable - Given route, mode and load data, AI can compute and compare energy use and emissions across transportation options and select the most energy-efficient choice.
Develop strategies to advertise green products or merchandise to consumers.
AI: Fully automatable - AI can generate data-driven green-product advertising strategies, segment audiences, and A/B test messages automatically.
Monitor consumer preferences or environmental trends to determine the best way to introduce new green products.
AI: Fully automatable - AI can continuously monitor consumer sentiment, sales data, and environmental trends and recommend launch timing and positioning for green products.
Buy merchandise or commodities for resale to wholesale or retail consumers.
AI: Partial - AI can automate much of procurement for commodity and standard merchandise purchasing, but complex assortment decisions, supplier relationships and strategic buying still need human oversight.
Negotiate prices, discount terms, or transportation arrangements with suppliers.
AI: Partial - Automated negotiation agents and optimization tools can handle routine price, discount and transport terms, but complex multi-party negotiations and exceptions typically require human negotiators.
Consult with store or merchandise managers about budgets or goods to be purchased.
AI: Partial - AI can analyze budgets and assortment needs and provide recommendations, yet consultative dialogue and final budgetary trade-offs with store managers commonly require human involvement.
Examine, select, order, or purchase merchandise consistent with quality, quantity, specification requirements, or other factors, such as environmental soundness.
AI: Partial - AI can evaluate specs, sustainability attributes, and historically-driven purchase decisions and can automate ordering for standard items, but physical inspection and nuanced quality judgments prevent full automation universally.
Obtain information about customer needs or preferences by conferring with sales or purchasing personnel.
AI: Partial - AI can extract and synthesize customer needs from sales/purchasing communications and CRM data but cannot fully replicate the nuanced, relationship-driven conferencing that humans perform.
Authorize payment of invoices or return of merchandise.
AI: Partial - AI and RPA can process invoices and execute routine payment or return workflows, but legal/signatory limits and exception handling typically require human authorization or oversight.
Collaborate with vendors to obtain or develop desired products.
AI: Partial - AI can identify vendors, generate specs, and draft communications to support product development, but real-world vendor collaboration and negotiation still rely on human relationship management.
Train or supervise sales or clerical staff.
AI: Partial - AI can create training content, deliver onboarding, and monitor metrics, but supervising staff performance and handling interpersonal management tasks still require human leadership.
Conduct sales meetings to introduce new merchandise.
AI: Partial - AI can prepare materials and even present virtual demos for new merchandise, but conducting interactive in-person sales meetings that rely on persuasion and relationship cues remains a human-led task.
Analyze environmental aspects of competing merchandise when making buying decisions.
AI: Partial - AI can estimate environmental attributes using public specifications, emissions databases, and LCA models but often lacks complete supplier-specific or lab-verified data for definitive assessments.
Identify opportunities to buy green commodities, such as alternative energy, water, or carbon-neutral products for resale to consumers.
AI: Partial - AI can scan markets and supplier offerings to surface potential green-commodity opportunities but often cannot verify supplier sustainability claims or negotiate terms without human involvement.