On the Thursday I was fortunate enough to sit in on a whole floor staff meeting on marketing strategies for the next calender year. It was really interesting as I work in store so I was able to get an insight on what was happening behind the scenes and how they would get their points across on the sales floor. A lot of the points made were ones that I could understand and see how they would transform what the customers think and change their ways on shopping. The meeting got a lot of points raised and it was really detailed in the marketing strategies Debenhams would use. They explained a five point plan on the main marketing focuses and what the plans would be to execute these to ensure that the customers were getting the best deals in sight on promotion, what the Debenhams brand is and giving the customer what they want in terms of delivering the brand to them through adverts and promotions also. After the meeting I then continued my Brand profile spreadsheet until I had summarised all of the debenhams brands, this task did take the best part of two days, as there are a lot of brands in Debenhams and they each have a different voice, angle, targeted audience and customer profiles. Working through the profiles was actually quite rewarding as it gave myself a good chance to rekindle my knowledge of the brands we sell and acknowledge that there is something for everyone at Debenhams. In the afternoon I had a meeting with someone from the Marketing Research team who told me what the job entailed, what they did, and what they used the information for. She told me all about out recent "Feel Fabulous" Adverts with the song "The Sweetest Feeling". Apparently they tested the original slogan "Feel Famous" and the customer profile did not react positively to that, thinking it felt cheap and tacky and unobtainable, so using the research they changed it to what it is today. The also used focus groups with the advert to help chose the final cut, including music which changed from "Sweet Caroline" to "Sweetest Feeling". This really showed to me how powerful the Debenhams customers voice is to the company, as we carry out customer incentive surveys on store experiences, as well as carrying out focus groups, have online surveys and asking customers when they have finished shopping in store. It was at this meeting that I pitched the idea of having XS sized clothing in our menswear range, due to the high demand and loss of sales to other popular retailers. The research team promised to look into it, thinking that it was quite a good angle that they had previously carried out in women's wear, to the expansion of available sizes from size 16 to 22, and that they could possibly look into doing the same for menswear. At the end of the day I left the office feeling pretty good after an accomplished day.
On Friday it was the sample sale which i had been preparing the garments for on the Monday. In the morning I was instructed to check over the garments and write down descriptions and prices onto a spreadsheet so that we could keep track on what we have sold and for what price, because it was a sample sale and for charity nothing was priced over £5, with the exception of two large vases for £7.50 each. This surprisingly took a while as there was a lot to be sold. I was then sent to collect some carrier bags for the sale from a rather massive loading bay and made friends with a Londoner. After this the conference room was free, the location for our sale, so myself and another girl in the office set about setting up our mini sample sale. I was told that this was a small collection for a sample sale and that they are usually fast paced and manic. I started to feel a little nervous considering I wasn't used to dealing with manic shoppers. After setting everything up, I was informed that there was more items available and went to the large loading bay (again) to collect them. This involved a trip down in a rather large and scary elevator, and then back up again. When I got back to the office I sorted out these items and found a bracelet and ring that I had my heart set on. After putting the new stock out it was now12:25, the sale didn't start until 12:30 but there was already a crowd of eager shoppers waiting. When it finally turned half past I let them in and a mad rush spread about the room. A lot of people tried to barter their price but the phrase "But its for charity" seemed to set them back in their place. by 12:50 the mad rush had ended and I was left in a room with still quite a lot of items left. It was then to be told that at 1:00 prices would be void and we would run a "fill a bag for a fiver" campaign as a final push to move the stock. This proved pretty successful, and by 1:30, when the sale closed we were left with a single rail and a few bags left of stock, not that bad if honest. All in all we raised over £80! For the rest of the day I was left to clear the sale and put the items into a large box that would be sent away to be dealt with. I then was set the task of packaging Marc Jacobs perfume for the winners of our Debenhams heritage competitions and composing a congratulations letter for them. After the 10 winners were all sorted, I thanked my lucky stars that I don't work in a gift wrapping chain, as I am absolutely awful! This lead to the end of the day, and the end of my first week in placement.
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