T.J. Maxx:  Buying strategy: 

How we do it
Our merchandise strategy can be summed up in two words – opportunistic buying. While other retailers’ buyers look for their merchandise four times a year, our buyers travel to market over 40 weeks a year. These frequent market trips allow us to buy closer to need (the average buy is only two months out) and be smarter about trends. Also, because we’re making deals closer to when we need the merchandise, we’re in a good position to negotiate a better price with the vendor.

Sourcing
How we source goods our techniques and strategies are different from traditional retailers. We have buyers all over the world sourcing from over 10,000 vendors in over 60 countries, so we can take advantage of opportunities as they arise in the marketplace.
The majority of our buys come directly from the manufacturer (designer/brand). We take advantage of closeouts to get the best price on merchandise for our customers; often this also helps our vendor partners out of difficult situations. Occasionally department stores cancel orders, we can then buy those goods at a reduced price and sell them for less in our stores. We also partner with vendors on other opportunities, like tagging on to an existing order. 

A small part of our business is buying directly from the department and specialty stores (i.e., store stock).  We also buy non-fashion/trend-driven items like holiday gift wrap and white socks any time of year and packed away until the appropriate season. Our customers benefit from the savings we incur through these deals.

Flexibility
The ability to buy opportunistically allows us the unique position of being extremely flexible.  There are no walls in our stores, which allows the departments to expand and contract based on the opportunities in the marketplace. 

Value
Value is not just about price.  Our definition of value is always a combination of fashion, quality, brand and price.  All four must be present for us to make that buy.

In this case, size does matter
With the hundreds of T.J. Maxx stores we have across the United States, we have huge buying power. With our financial clout and financial strength, we have the ability to pay vendors promptly. We also have a strong pool of experienced buyers who see their work as more of an art than a science; they’ve been brought up with the off-price mentality and most have been trained within the company to think about buying as delivering great quality, great fashions, and great value at a great price.

Vendor relationships
Our partnerships with vendors is critical to us. Vendors like to work with us because we pay our bills on time, we’re dependable, we help with their cash flow, and we help them in downtimes (e.g. keeping their factories operating during slow times). Most importantly, once we make a deal, it’s done. We’re tough on the price up front, but unlike other retailers, we don’t come back asking to:

- return unsold goods to the vendor, once we buy it, we own it
- be given advertising allowances (that is, we never mention the brand name in our advertising)

With our rapidly changing assortment and treasure-hunt experience, off-price shopping not only saves the customer money, but is an incredibly exciting and fun way to shop! 
For additional information on the off-price concept or how we do it, please send an email to the Media Relations Department on the Press page.