Welcome to 'Shop Talk' Tales from the Sales Floor...


After nearly 20 years in Retail, working for numerous companies, I thought it was time to start sharing my experiences!

I started as a Part Time Christmas Temp and nearly 13 years later had worked my way up to become a Senior Area Manager for a well known High Street Retailer.

I then utilised my Managment skills and experience and progressed my career as a Retail Sales Director for a Software Company specialising in IT Applications for Retailers - So I like to think I have a view on all aspects of retail.

I hope you enjoy my blog and please feel free to post, comment and respond to anything you read that either inspires, amuses or infuriates...

Emma


Tuesday 2 March 2010

Fabulous in Florida...



So – there I was in sunny Florida. I had managed to get to the beach a couple of times, enjoyed some great meals and we were all having an absolutely wonderful time.

One morning when we woke up, the weather was not as good as it had been, so we rubbed our hands together in glee and thought hurrah – it was time to hit the shops....

Shopping in Florida has always been such a different experience to back home. The choice of products is massive in comparison and as for the service – it really is incomparable to the UK!
I wanted to jot down my feelings about the whole retail experience and try and work out how they manage to ALWAYS make me feel so good about spending my dollar!

Is it that they seem to really enjoy what they do? Or is it the level of product knowledge that every single sales person seems to have? Could it be that the sales staff really seem to ‘want’ to sell to you? Or maybe it’s having a commission based sales system that really ‘makes a difference’? I had set out to try and discover the answer...

My first thought upon reaching the makeup counter of a well known US department store, was the lack of snootiness. Rather than look you up and down and judge you unworthy of their time or assistance, you are greeted by the Sales Assistant with a cheery ‘Hi, how are you?’
Is this disingenuous? Possibly....But do I prefer American insincerity to British rudeness – oh yes!

The level of knowledge and also of excitement that the Consultant demonstrated about her offer – including being more than happy to order something in for me – really did make me feel that she actually wanted to help me and that she was also playing a longer game and wanted my repeat business!

On a shopping trip for an evening dress for an event we were going to back in the UK, the sales assistant (Brittany!) couldn’t be more helpful – including suggesting dresses which we had initially dismissed and even finding us a secret stash of frocks in the size we were looking for deep in the depths of their Stockroom.

When we finally found a dress that fitted the bill – it was slightly too small. This again was no problem for Brittany and she promptly ordered the correct size and even arranged to have it sent direct to our Holiday Condo – this really was service!! We didn’t even need to return to the store to pick it up! It was pretty impressive!

We left the Mall extremely pleased that we had managed to achieve our aim of finding an evening dress that we could confidently predict no one else in the UK would have at this particular event!

The set out of American Malls, with their wide spacey Food Courts, a huge choice of Department Stores and comfortable seating at every turn, also helped make this shopping trip a pleasure.
But it was the service that really stood out for us and also ensured that we spent far more than we intended!

So are they really ‘fabulous in Florida?’  Well, for us - that would be a resounding ...yes!

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