UK/INTERNATIONAL. Buying expert Moyra Race is imparting her experience of more than 30 years in global travel retail with the launch of a commercial buying taster course through the Aspire 4 Business Academy.
The introduction, titled ‘The Expertise of the Buyer’, is a 30-minute session containing many buying hints and tips, and previews a full programme of courses – under the name ‘The Buyers Bootcamp’ – which will be released by Race in the coming months.
The taster is suitable for anyone contemplating a career in buying or needing to refocus their current buying role.
Race – who now runs Moyra Race Strategic Buying Consulting Services – has occupied senior buying roles with the likes of Dufry, World Duty Free and The Nuance Group, where she was a Buying Manager for almost 20 years.
She told The Moodie Davitt Report: “I am passionate about products and have a wealth of experience in all things buying. I believe it is so important to empower people to be creative and excel at their roles and through my training courses I can provide a resource that is currently not available anywhere else. I aim to share real life experiences based on over more than three decades working in the global travel retail sector.”
Race added: “By looking at the buying role from a buyer’s mindset, I can strengthen the buying team and grow their confidence to build their categories, improve terms and profitability, ultimately offering a better customer experience.
“There should be an excitement around the future of travel retail and it is important that the buying teams are given the right training and tools to achieve their goals”
“By working with brands and suppliers I can encourage them to streamline their approach and better understand what the buyers are looking for and hence build a positive and mutually beneficial relationship. There has never been a better time to train and prepare for the future.”
Race said her taster and upcoming courses will be particularly pertinent to buyers operating in the global travel retail sector. She explained: “In this turbulent time of mass restructures of commercial teams the buyer’s role in travel retail will be evolving and an external source based on real-life experience will be invaluable.”
Race believes that with the many changes in relationships between landlords, retailers and brands in travel retail, the buyer’s role has become more complex and more critical. She said: “I strongly believe it isn’t and can’t be all about margin, there are many more facets that need to be considered to work in partnership and deliver good customer experience and bring back the passion and desirability into travel retail.”
Assessing what lies ahead for buying teams, Race added: “It is sadly common knowledge that there has been a huge loss of talent and experience in the TR world currently and in order to help replace that knowledge in the future, where on the job training from mentors will be very limited, I offer my courses to give confidence and support to those remaining.
“There should be an excitement around the future of travel retail and it is important that the buying teams are given the right training and tools to achieve their goals.”
* You can access Moyra Race’s buying taster course, which costs £24.95 (approximately US$34.25), here.
Moyra Race buying taster course: Aims and objectives
- Understanding the roles a buyer may be expected to fulfil.
- What influences the buyer’s mindset and how to adapt?
- Current buying environment – what are the expectations in the workplace today?
- Maintaining standards when working from home without physical meetings.
- Analysing your strategy to understand if it is working.
- Creating an action plan for personal development.
