Burlington Merchant Process

Merchant Focus

• perceptions of Burlington’s quality

• “same product at a better price”

• “keep merchandise fresh by having product come in every week”

• “shoppers expect trend right product in right season”

• “value and treasure hunt is very important to our customers”

• selling a product at a better price for it to be turned over in our stores

• stock buys

• high quality items at low prices

Burlington wants a product that is:

• right for season

• quality like any other stores

• what customer needs at right time

• excess inventory

• cancelled goods

• high integrity of quality of goods

Buying Strategy

Upfront production

• buy a product a season or two ahead (ex: Buying for Spring 2026 in Summer 2025)

• Vendor of factory creates assortment (ex: We pick color, sizing, brand)

  • made for Burlington

  • smallest portion of our business

  • want to hold $ as long as possible for other businesses

  • direct factories overseas

• Important to be there hands on and truly test quality of product

• We source products from Europe

• We have capability of driving development directly with factory

• right trends and product

Closeout

• combo of buying within season (buying swim in Jan 2025)

• Buying US products ready to ship in 30-60 days

• buying deals, excess goods, at discount rate, vendor looking to close it out

  • Ex: I need to know strategy now to buy next season

Reserve / Pack & Hold

• Buying product with intent of keeping it in the warehouse

• sometimes we can’t put all inventory on the floor

• reserve - hold goods for months

• pack & hold - anything holding for 4+ months

  • Ex: Tarte Cosmetics for holiday gift giving in Summer 2025

• use this to help vendor clear out warehouse (negotiation)

• Biggest is outerwear and swim because of weather uncertainty or waiting to release

Chase Opportunties

• vendor/manufacturer demand is overestimated, leaving a surplus

  • ex: Calvin Klein made too many coats during a warm winter; we chase that opportunity

• delays that prevent products from reaching market on time

  • ex: Macy’s buys 10,000 swimsuits but they get held up overseas, and they don’t want swimsuits past July

  • vendor calls asking if we want a deal on the late order; vendor issues are our gain

• cancellations after production began

  • ex: vendors cancelling orders due to tariffs, but factory already produced them

  • we want to be the first call when opportunities happen

• end of vendor inventory

  • vendor wants to close out financial year

    • if they have too much in DC, opportunity for us

• financial difficulties

  • if vendors can't afford to ship overseas

  • we can decide if we need those goods

• others:

  • products rejected due to issue

  • products over allocated to location

Passing on Deals

• passed on good deals because sizes weren’t evenly distributed (all xxs)

• we need to prioritize whether it will hurt our business over a potential new relationship with a vendor

• if 50% does not align with strategy it is not good

What to consider when making a buy

1. brand

2. price

3. color

4. competition

5. style/fashion

6. demographic

7. quality

8. sizes

9. seasonably appropriate

10. logistics

11. customer

12. assortment

13. geographic consideration