After completing two academic certificate programs, starting a new job and relocating to the Bay area, I am back. You can expect regular posts for the foreseeable future. Thanks for your patience.
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Author Archives: skittel
Dressing Room Rich Environment
Often times customers are limited by the number and availability of dressing rooms. So I had to chuckle when I stopped in a Book Warehouse recently. The bookstore had FIVE dressing rooms and nothing to try on. I think a marketing opportunity for the store would be to put up fliers in dressing room lines of other stores in the mall saying “Come for our dressing rooms and stay for our books.”
Forgiveness, please
I am in the process of starting a new job and moving to a new state, so posts will be few and far between for the time being. Please forgive the interruptions and thanks for your patience during my transition.
Environmentally responsible or…
greenwashing? I saw this sign while walking downtown the other day. I applaud H&M for their sustainability effort but I wonder how many customers take advantage of their offer?
With the rise of fast fashion contributing to consumerism, I wonder if they are willing to cut consumption to reduce impact.
After 40 years…
After 40 years, bebe has shut down its brick & mortar operations. This is the sign at their former Portland location.
Is it coaching?
I was straightening up my workspace this morning and ran across a sample of a coaching log. The log had been developed by an experienced and talented store manager working for the company I worked at many years.
It was well produced with 50 pages to record when a manager coached an employee. I really liked the playbook and I hope that it improved coaching for the managers and their employees. Perhaps it lead to better sales, improved service or more effective and efficient employees.
This was not the only coaching log that I saw while I working in retail management and training. In fact, I probably saw 50 different versions over the years. But this one was a good one.
The reason why I bring this up is that it has been my experience that there is no correlation between good coaching and the use of a coaching log.
1 in 27
A recent survey reported that in 2016, 1 out of every 27 employees was apprehended for stealing from their employers. 2016 Retail Theft from CSA
Here is a link to the survey. 29th Annual Retail Theft Survey
There are some amazing facts in these articles. But what it left me wondering was how many of these employees fully intended to steal from the company when they were hired? Or how many got the jobs simply to steal from the retailers? Is there something during the hiring process that can be done to weed these people out (that is legal and ethical)?
I wish I had some answers, but I don’t. But this is something to consider when you do your next hiring.
Interesting partnership
Looks like New Balance is lending some credibility to J. Crew’s fitness line.
Is this a sign?
The shelves of my neighborhood Kmart store on a recent visit. These were not the only bare fixtures in the store.
Interesting Mash-up
Saw this window at the Woodburn Outlet Malls. Interesting? When I think of premium leather goods, my mind is not immediately drawn to Disney.
The Observant Customer 