Briefings Media Group (The Salesman's Guide): Fashion Directories and Buyers Guides

Briefings Media Group is the publisher of The Salesman's Guide directories. These are well known directories utilized by the fashion industry. This page gathers the group's apparel guides in one place: four buyers guides from the 2009-10 season, each with its own fact sheet, covering men's and boys wear, woman's and children's wear, mass merchandiser and off-price apparel, and gift, housewares and home textile buyers. Each guide profiles thousands of retail companies in the U.S. and Canada together with the buyers and executives who purchase for them, so a salesperson or manufacturer can build a targeted list of retail contacts by merchandise line. Check with the publisher directly regarding the most current copies of the directories; the editions described here are the 2009-10 examples.

A publishing office desk with a neat stack of thick printed trade directories and buyers guides with plain covers, a telephone, a notebook, reading glasses and a coffee mug, a small Apparel Search sign on the wall, no people

Briefings Media Group Buyers Guides, Fact Sheets & More

The Four Buyers Guides

Men's and Boy's Wear Buyers Guide. The Men's and Boys Wear Buyers 2009-10 Edition profiles over 5,100 retail companies throughout the U.S. and Canada and gives contact information for more than 9,000 men's and boys wear buyers and executives. It carries over 300 new listings, is indexed four ways, and covers men's and boys clothing, sportswear, furnishings, footwear and accessories across department stores, men's wear stores, family clothing stores, sporting goods stores and more.

Woman's and Children's Wear Buyers Guide. The Women's and Children's Wear Buyers 2009-10 Edition profiles over 8,000 retail companies throughout the U.S. and Canada and gives contact information for more than 13,800 women's and children's wear buyers and executives. It carries over 100 new listings, is indexed five ways, and covers women's wear, children's wear and footwear across department stores, women's specialty stores, children's specialty stores, bridal boutiques and more.

Mass Merchandiser & Off-Price Apparel Buyers Guide. The Mass Merchandisers & Off-Price Apparel Buyers 2009-10 Edition profiles over 3,000 retail companies in the U.S. and Canada and gives contact information for more than 6,500 off-price apparel buyers and executives. It carries 100+ new listings, is indexed three ways, and is built to let the user reach all purchasers of off-price apparel, from discount and outlet stores to membership warehouse clubs, dollar stores and hypermarkets.

Gift, Housewares, and Home Textile Buyers Guide. The Gift, Housewares & Home Textiles Buyers 2009-10 Edition profiles over 6,000 retail companies throughout the U.S. and Canada and gives contact information for more than 12,000 gift, housewares and home textiles buyers and executives. It is indexed three ways and reaches buyers for giftware, furniture, housewares and home textiles across gift shops, department stores, bath boutiques, furniture stores, florists, hotel and hospital gift shops and more.

How the Guides Are Used

A buyers guide of this kind is a working sales tool. Each listing profiles a retail company and names the people who buy for it — contact names and titles, including owners, executives, general merchandise managers, divisional merchandise managers and buyers — together with the merchandise bought, addresses, phone and fax numbers, web site and e-mail addresses, price points, sales volume, type of store and number of stores. A seller of apparel, footwear, giftware or home textiles can therefore work from the merchandise lines and retailer categories that fit a product, find the named buyer at each company, and build a targeted sales pitch or marketing effort instead of mailing blind. The CD-ROM editions carry the same data as a searchable file in common formats — Access, ACT, comma separated values, Excel, DBase and text — suited to call campaigns, mailing labels and direct mail.

Each guide is also indexed several ways — alphabetically and by retailer groupings such as online retailers, mail order and catalog houses and buying offices — so the same directory can be entered from whichever angle a sales plan starts: a company name, a channel, or a category of retailer. The fact sheet linked beside each guide summarizes that edition's coverage, and the individual guide pages on this site give the full edition details: ISBN and ISSN numbers, availability dates, retailer categories, merchandise lines, data elements and CD-ROM formats.

Publisher Contact

Briefings Media Group, LLC, 2807 N. Parham Road, Suite 200, Richmond, VA 23294. Phone: 800-965-2537. Fax: 804-217-8997. Contact: Terry Crockett, e-mail: TCrockett@BriefingsMediaGroup.com. Web: www.BriefingsMediaGroup.com.

Common Questions

What directories does Briefings Media Group publish?

Briefings Media Group is the publisher of The Salesman's Guide directories. The apparel guides gathered here are the Men's and Boy's Wear Buyers Guide, the Woman's and Children's Wear Buyers Guide, the Mass Merchandiser & Off-Price Apparel Buyers Guide, and the Gift, Housewares, and Home Textile Buyers Guide.

What do the buyers guides contain?

Listings profile retail companies throughout the U.S. and Canada with contact information for their buyers and executives, including contact names and titles, merchandise bought, addresses, phone and fax numbers, web site and e-mail addresses, price points, sales volume, type of store and number of stores.

How can I check on the most current copies of the directories?

Check with Briefings Media Group directly regarding the most current copies of the directory. The publisher is at 2807 N. Parham Road, Suite 200, Richmond, VA 23294, phone 800-965-2537, and the contact is Terry Crockett.

Briefings Media Group: Fashion Directories and Buyers Guides