Six buyer profiles explain their purchasing strategy

The fashion market in France is made up of a multitude of brands, a multitude of buyers, and therefore, a multitude of purchasing strategies.

There are the rational thinkers, those who often give in to impulse buys, those who buy as a team, and those who can perfectly visualise their store’s merchandising as they place their orders.

Buying is often their favourite time of the year, but decision-making can be challenging slowed down by the seasonal pace, production cancellations, delivery delays, sales periods, not to mention strikes or even lockdowns…

At Aboudabazar, a multi-brand women’s ready-to-wear store in Paris, the accounts are well managed and stay on track!
Purchasing management is the buyer’s responsibility, and negotiation is a skill, explains Patrick Aboukrat:

“I sometimes walk into a showroom and buy only one product if that’s all there is.
I can’t stand the minimum quantity spiel.
When I sell to a customer, I’m not going to say, ‘Madam, there is a minimum order.”

To avoid surprises at the end of the season, his strategy is to limit and calculate everything: the most important brands should not represent more than 7% of his portfolio, while the others are capped at 1.5%.
This prevents dependency issues with a supplier in case of delivery failures.

Nevertheless, this doesn’t stop him from keeping budget aside to buy during off-seasons, following his favourites or the need to adopt certain trends. Generally, he starts the season with purchases from around sixty brands, often ending with one hundred.

This is also explained by Régis Pennel from L’Exception, which regularly features up to 550 brands depending on the year.
According to him, a store’s success lies in its ability to offer highly specialised niche brands.

L’Exception, a Parisian concept store and primarily an e-commerce site, offers 200 brands that account for around 85% of its revenue, alongside 300 lesser-known brands that help create a unique customer experience.
“We have about twenty cosmetics brands, for example, or a brand that only sells cocktail straws. Sometimes we carry a brand for just three products.”

Elisabeth Dreyfus works by instinct.
Her women’s multi-brand ready-to-wear store, Elisa by Elisa, in Angoulême, offers around thirty designers with whom she has worked faithfully for several years.
With a manageable sales area and a loyal customer base, she knows her clients’ tastes perfectly and can create her assortments and merchandising off the top of her head as she shops.

“I never use Excel spreadsheets, and I don’t take a computer with me when I go shopping.
I do everything by feel and without counting; it happens naturally, and my budgets are always balanced.”

Another buyer profile is Caroline Lumbroso, manager of the three Blush concept stores in Lyon, who follows a “coup de cœur” (passion-driven) buying strategy and breaks the traditional seasonal cycle.
Keen to be everywhere, all the time, so as not to miss anything, she renews up to 50% of her selection each season and works on exclusive distribution for the rest of the brands.

“When I say I buy anytime, it’s mostly for new brands,” she explains.
When we discover a brand in March, we order it in March and bring it in by April.
I’ve always tried to do what the big players do.
When I go to Zara, they have new arrivals every week.
It’s become a mantra at Blush: there must be new products all the time…”

A rarer profile, as they aim for exclusivity in their selection, the trend hunter buys sparingly but exceptionally.
Scarcity, quality, and exclusivity make an item desirable and facilitate digital purchases, even from foreign customers.
Stéphane Sultana, from the men’s concept store Summer in Lyon, is used to traveling from New York to Tokyo to find brands that he will be the only one to sell in France.

“What really put us on the map, I truly believe, is the range of brands we carry brands that are quite niche, quite hard to find so many foreign customers who struggled to find these brands have put us on their radar.”

Marie Nguyen, co-founder of We Dress Fair, is driven by the desire to transform fashion consumption.
To sustain her project and boost its appeal, she has developed a strategy that combines emerging brands with those already enjoying some recognition.
A specialist in the eco-responsible sector, Marie prioritises buying from brands that design their collections with timelessness in mind.

“Our brands offer women’s and men’s wardrobes, with a large part being staples, which is very important to us, she explains.
These are brands that have a seasonal collection, but also a range of staples that are never out of stock.
Today, this is fully aligned with the ethical fashion approach, as it embraces timelessness.”

This market feedback should interest many young brands launching on the wholesale channel, without necessarily following the seasonal rhythm by offering new products annually or monthly.
No, it doesn’t seem mandatory to wait for trade shows to sell it’s up to you to stand out and be seen as a true favourite.