Apparel and Accessories Marketing Series

The setting

JUNIPER & ASH is a clothing store in a busy shopping centre. Merchandise has been disappearing from the fitting rooms, and the loss prevention team has proposed limiting shoppers to three garments at a time and posting an employee at the entrance to count them in and out.

Your role

You are to assume the role of the assistant manager at JUNIPER & ASH.

Your task

JUNIPER & ASH sells mid-priced women's clothing and depends on shoppers trying pieces on before they buy. Over the past two months, staff have found empty hangers and torn security tags in the fitting rooms at the end of several shifts, almost always on busy weekend afternoons when the room is unattended.

The loss prevention team's proposal is simple and strict, and the store manager is inclined to accept it. You have noticed, however, that the store's best customers regularly take six or seven pieces in at once, and some of them have already asked why an employee was standing outside the door.

The store manager (judge) wants you to recommend how JUNIPER & ASH should protect its merchandise without making honest shoppers feel suspected. Explain the policies and procedures for handling shoplifters, describe the merchandise security measures you would put in place in and around the fitting rooms, explain the routine security precautions staff should already be following, describe the customer service mindset that has to survive the change, and explain how the new policy should be interpreted to customers who ask about it.

Performance indicators

• Explain policies/procedures for handling shoplifters.
• Devise/Enact merchandise security measures to minimize inventory shrinkage.
• Explain routine security precautions.
• Demonstrate a customer service mindset.
• Interpret business policies to customers/clients.

The judge will ask

1. 1.How do you enforce a limit without treating every shopper as a suspect?
2. 2.What would you train the fitting room attendant to say?

The setting

WILLOW ROW sells women's clothing. The buyer has left, and the assortment she planned for next season leans heavily on a single silhouette that suited last year's customer. Store staff report that the shoppers coming in now are noticeably younger.

Your role

You are to assume the role of a merchandising associate at WILLOW ROW.

Your task

WILLOW ROW is a single-location women's clothing store with a loyal following. Its previous buyer left last month, having already planned most of the coming season around one silhouette that sold well last year. The deposit has been paid on part of that order, but a portion is still open to change.

Store staff report a clear shift in who is coming through the door: younger shoppers who browse the store's social pages first and arrive asking for specific styles and sizes the store does not carry. The owner wants the season planned around the customers the store actually has now, not the ones it had a year ago.

The store owner (judge) wants you to explain how WILLOW ROW should plan its assortment for the coming season. Explain how a merchandise assortment is planned across styling and sizes, describe how you would determine the quality of merchandise the store should offer, explain how you would identify the trends emerging among the customers now walking in, explain what product management covers in a store this size, and describe how you would determine what these customers actually need.

Performance indicators

• Plan merchandise assortment (e.g., styling, sizes, quantities, colors).
• Determine quality of merchandise to offer.
• Identify emerging trends.
• Explain the nature and scope of the product/service management function.
• Determine customer/client needs.

The judge will ask

1. 1.How would you find out what the newer shoppers want?
2. 2.What would you keep from the assortment the previous buyer planned?

The setting

STONEGATE is a clothing store on a high street where most people walk past on their way somewhere else. Its window display has not changed in two months, and the manager has noticed that shoppers who do come in seem surprised by what the store actually carries.

Your role

You are to assume the role of a visual merchandising associate at STONEGATE.

Your task

STONEGATE sits on a busy high street between a coffee shop and a bus stop, so hundreds of people pass its window every day on their way somewhere else. The current display has been up for two months, features a single mannequin in a neutral outfit, and was put together in a hurry when a delivery arrived late.

Shoppers who do come in often say they did not realise the store carried accessories and footwear, which make up a large part of what it sells. The manager believes the window is the store's only advertising and that it is currently saying almost nothing.

The store manager (judge) wants you to explain how STONEGATE should use its window. Explain the use of visual merchandising in retailing, describe how you would place merchandise for impact, distinguish between visual merchandising and display, explain the role promotion plays for a store that depends on passing traffic, and explain what the window should be saying about the STONEGATE brand.

Performance indicators

• Explain the use of visual merchandising in retailing.
• Place merchandise for impact.
• Distinguish between visual merchandising and display.
• Explain the role of promotion as a marketing function.
• Explain the nature of corporate branding.

The judge will ask

1. 1.What is the first thing a passer-by should understand from the window?
2. 2.How often should it change, and who decides?

The setting

FIELDSTONE APPAREL accepts returns without a receipt at the manager's discretion. Different managers make different calls, a shopper has complained publicly about being refused something a friend was granted the week before, and the staff have no written guidance to point to.

Your role

You are to assume the role of the assistant manager at FIELDSTONE APPAREL.

Your task

FIELDSTONE APPAREL has five stores, and each store manager has always been trusted to decide returns without a receipt case by case. Some managers accept almost everything; others accept almost nothing. Staff have no written guidance, so they call a manager over every time.

Last week a shopper was refused a return at one store after a friend had been granted the same return at another store a few days earlier. The shopper posted about it publicly, other customers have joined in with their own stories, and the regional manager wants a single policy before it goes any further.

The regional manager (judge) wants you to recommend how returns should be handled across the stores. Explain how business policies should be interpreted to customers, describe how a complaint like this one should be handled, explain what the company's selling policies ought to cover, explain what consistency does for customer relations, and describe how the change fits the store's day-to-day operations.

Performance indicators

• Interpret business policies to customers/clients.
• Handle customer/client complaints.
• Explain company selling policies.
• Explain the nature of positive customer relations.
• Explain the nature of operations.

The judge will ask

1. 1.Should the policy be posted where shoppers can read it? Explain.
2. 2.What discretion, if any, should a manager keep?