A purchasing group corresponds to a buyer or group of buyers who perform the following purchasing activities:

• Procuring certain articles or merchandise categories
• Acting as the contact for vendors

Purchasing groups can function strategically, operationally, or both.

The main strategic function of a purchasing group in SAP Retail is to maintain its master data and control data. This includes defining outline agreements and volume rebate arrangements for Purchasing, for example.

The purchasing group is also responsible for the day-to-day planning of requirements and ordering of merchandise.This includes creating purchase orders, allocation tables and promotions. It can also send vendors requests for quotation or create purchase requisitions.

Purchasing groups are assigned to the purchasing areas. They are not data retention levels; they are used as a selection criterion, as a level at which analyses can take place in the Information System and at which authorizations can be stored.

In the individual purchasing operations you are mostly required to enter a purchasing group and a purchasing organization. It is not possible to define an explicit link in the system between these two organizational units.

Every stock planner is assigned to a purchasing group. You make the assignment in the user master.