Acheteur

Acheteur is a French noun meaning “buyer” or “purchaser.” It denotes a person or organization that buys goods or services from suppliers. The feminine form is acheteuse.

In business contexts, an acheteur is a purchasing professional who works within the procurement or purchasing department. Responsibilities typically include identifying internal needs, sourcing suppliers, evaluating offers, negotiating terms and prices, issuing purchase orders, and monitoring supplier performance. Roles may be specialized into strategic or category management and may cover direct procurement (raw materials and production inputs) or indirect procurement (goods and services used in daily operations).

In public procurement, the term often refers to the public buyer (acheteur public) or contracting authority responsible for conducting tenders and awarding contracts under applicable laws and codes. The exact duties and procedures vary by jurisdiction, but common elements include transparency, competitive bidding, and contract management.

In everyday usage, acheteur can simply mean a buyer in a market or store. The context usually clarifies whether the term refers to an individual consumer or an organizational purchasing professional.

Etymology traces the noun to the verb acheter, meaning to buy, with the suffix -eur indicating a person performing a duty. The concept is central to purchasing, supply chain management, and procurement practice in French-speaking contexts.