This course examines the merchandise buying and planning function within the context of bricks and mortar and e-commerce retail organizations. Course content understanding customers, making buying decisions, forecasting, controlling inventories, preparing buying plans, developing assortment plans, managing vendor relations and pricing the merchandise. This is accomplished through a heavy emphasis on retail math and excel. Merchandise buying and planning requires an understanding of the buyer's roles and responsibilities as well as their relationship to other functions inside and outside the organization.