Since working in retail is such a valuable experience for someone who wants to go into the fashion industry as I do, I thought I'd collate everything I can think of in terms of what I consider worthwhile lessons and things to note from my experience in fashion retail.
Firstly, it's not glamorous. I think very often people perceive any fashion related job, whether that's part time or a career, as glamorous and often not challenging. To be honest these were my thoughts when it specifically came down to fashion retail. This meant that I didn't really know what to expect - I had always perceived fashion retail as something which didn't require much thought or skill. However, from my experience over the past two years that was certainly not the case. When I first started I was guided but at the same time I wasn't confident in my skill set. Over time this built up and after a year or so of part time work I think it's fair to say that I deemed myself as successful as a Sales Assistant in terms of hitting targets, receiving customer feedback and feeling as though I could go about my time at work (mostly) independently.
Customer service skills are valued. Thanks to my dad I've always been aware of how important customer service is but it's a different kettle of fish when you're the one that's delivering it opposed to being on the receiving end. Being a talkative person anyway, it really didn't take me long to develop the basic customer service skills, although there are definitely things that I've picked up over time. This was the part of my job which I enjoyed the most as I genuinely loved learning about and interacting with people whilst at the same time maintaining a professional relationship. I found an interest and a challenge in using these skills to convince customers into buying the product (in my case shoes) - because when it comes down to it, that is the fundamental point of a Sales Assistant. Knowing that customers have valued my time with them, because they've either voiced it to me or written online feedback, really did make me smile. It's satisfying to know that the effort I've put into a customer's experience has had a positive impact on them. It really does show the value and power of customer service and how it can affect the consumer.
When a big chunk of your work is focused on the relationship with the customer, it all of a sudden makes you very aware of customer service in all walks of life. So as a person I guess you could say I value customer service even more now.
It can be rewarding. Although my time in retail up to now has presented its challenges it's also been a rewarding experience - and I don't mean in terms of physical rewards such as payment or incentives. As previously mentioned, seeing that you are able to have a positive affect on the customer is rewarding in itself. But then there's also factors such building up relationships with colleagues, most of which have been lovely from my experience. From there it's a case of how you all work together as a team and for me it was fulfilling seeing those relationships develop as it allowed me to enjoy work more whilst also doing my job more effectively as we could all help each other out - and during super busy times such as Christmas, and specifically Boxing Day, this was a huge plus!
Being the competitive gal that I am meant that I aimed to hit (and possibly exceed) my sales targets. I guess this was the easiest way of measuring how I was doing so when I did hit targets I was very happy indeed and it told me that I was at least doing something right.
There's more to it than being a Sales Assistant. This might simply be because it was my first job and the only job I've had, but from my experience there are other tasks that I've had to do that I didn't consider when I got the job. This was something I wasn't entirely prepared for but I took it in my stride and picked it up as I went along. Learning as you go along is something that I found is often done in retail in a lot of cases.
It's a fast pace industry. Like fashion itself, fashion retail also moves fast. People are coming and going constantly and towards the end of my two years it worked out that I was the longest serving employee in my branch. It can be hard to keep up sometimes but it does mean that I've met many wonderful people along the way, who all had different stories to tell.
Similarly, the products themselves change up frequently due to the nature of trends and customer demand within fashion. This meant that I had to familiarise myself with the new product information relatively quickly so that I felt confident in what I had to sell.
From my perspective as a lover of fashion, it was always interesting seeing how the current trends manifested themselves into the products that Office continues to sell. The trend and brand influences were often clear to see and that's something I always have thought Office has done well.
Amongst these points there will be other things I've learnt but I think I would say these are what I'd consider most valuable to me. I will no doubt be working in fashion retail part time in the not-too-distant future whilst I continue studying and it'll be comforting being able to apply what I know now to a whole new set up.
Mais xx
