Selling is what the retail business is all about. America's greatness in producing a huge variety of merchandise would be meaningless if that merchandise were not sold. By knowing the needs of the customer and then letting the manufacturer know those needs by placing orders for specific items, retailers can make sure the right goods are available at the right time and price. But the retailer also needs imagination to think of new merchandising ideas that will encourage sales. Thus, the retailer keeps an eye and ear on trends and style changes and must be sensitive to the customer's requests at all times.
Until recently, retailing was not considered a prestige career. But times have changed! Retailing now appeals to growing numbers of bright and hard-working young men and women, eager to make their mark in this creative and exciting profession. The growth and appeal of the retail industry has been so challenging that young adults would be foolish not to think of it as an exciting career option.
The retailing industry is one of the largest employers of workers in the United States. It is likely that as much as fifty percent of our work force is involved in some aspect of retail activity. And more and more of the brightest and best of our college graduates are selecting retailing as their career choice.
STORES
Stores exist in all shapes and sizes-from the very large to a one-person operation-and flourish in every part of the country. Most people in the retailing field actually work in the stores. Some of these stores are independently owned, while others are part of large chain store operations. Although each store you are familiar with has its own image and appeal, chances are it falls into one of these major categories: the department store, the specialty store, the mass merchandising chain store, and the discount store. These four kinds of stores exemplify the world of retailing in the United States, and together they present countless opportunities for beginners with an interest in some aspect of retailing.
The Department Store: A department store offers for sale everything you might want under one roof. The biggest ones carry any item you can imagine for children, men, and women. In addition, they have a vast selection of goods for the home: furniture, washing machines, food items, records, books, toys, and garden equipment. Sometimes there is even a pharmacy or an automotive department where you can buy tires for the family car! In many department stores, you can buy everything from birdseed to gourmet cheese in one stop. Not every department store's offerings are this varied, but most offer a fine assortment of soft goods-clothing and accessories-and hard goods-appliances, tools, sporting goods, and similar items. Certainly a selection varied enough to satisfy most of our shopping needs.
The Specialty Store: Specialty stores also come in many sizes. They can be quite large with several branch stores, or very small and specialize in just one type of merchandise. Specialty stores generally carry fashion apparel and accessories. Some will offer items for all ages and both sexes. Others specialize even further in selling only women's clothing or just infant's wear or fine jewelry. The important feature is that specialty stores do not carry any hard goods-no furniture or equipment that would put them in the department store category. Some specialty stores are single shops, individually owned with rather small staffs. They often are referred to as "momma and poppa" stores. The others are a part of a larger organization and may be centrally managed. But they all have a very specialized group of items for sale.
The Chain Store: The 1920s and 1930s brought us the idea of chain stores, and they are still thriving today. Chain stores are centrally owned and their many branches may be found in several cities and states. Some chain operations are large enough to have stores all across the country. Some chain stores, such as Sears and J.C. Penney, are probably familiar names to you. Sears even has stores in foreign countries. It is a worldwide retail chain, with 400,000 workers. Not all chain stores carry an enormous variety of merchandise, but they all offer the same items at similar prices all across the nation.
The Discount Store: The discount store is a relatively new retailing idea that became popular after World War II. Some are specialty discount stores, featuring only apparel and accessories. Others resemble department stores and offer a broad range of goods. The discount store may be a single store or part of a small or large chain.
The real appeal of these stores for shoppers is that discount operations offer bargains, often on well-known brands of merchandise. To allow for this, discounters work on low markups and low expenses. This usually means low rents and a minimum of special services, such as gift wrapping or charge accounts. But it also means a savings for the customers, and a bargain has great appeal for everyone.
THERE'S WORK TO BE DONE IN THE STORES
It takes a great many kinds of skills and a wide assortment of highly motivated people to keep America's retail world alive. This means that there is a broad range of job possibilities for anyone with an interest in retailing.
In general, it is true that the larger the store, the greater are the executive and supervisory opportunities. In smaller shops, the owner and one or two workers may handle everything: planning, buying, receiving, pricing, advertising, displaying, wrapping, selling, and even keeping accounts and inventory records. In a store employing hundreds of workers, however, different tasks are assigned to workers in different departments. Executives and supervisors are needed to direct the work of each unit.
You must be ready to devote long hours, including evenings and weekends, as a beginner. Entry-level workers are required to work these hours to progress to the next level. Be prepared to experience everything from the stockroom to receiving and shipping of goods. If you are entrepreneurial and enjoy the idea of selecting and selling merchandise, retailing may be just right for you. You'll be on the move, have a chance to travel, and work with many different people. You'll also have the chance to see the results of your decisions rather quickly. And for many, that is very gratifying!
Most large retailing firms offer an executive training program for men and women with specialized college backgrounds to groom them for executive positions in the future.
EXECUTIVE TRAINING PROGRAMS
As the general level of education continues to rise and more students receive college degrees, it is truly important to think in terms of preparing yourself with as much education and training as possible. Major department stores offer an ideal but demanding first job to those interested in a career in fashion merchandising-the executive training program. A four-year college degree is essential for landing a place in such a training program, although some programs may consider exceptional two-year graduates with strong school and work experience. These competitive and highly desirable assignments mean you have been selected because of your potential executive ability. Most executive trainees in retailing are groomed for careers as buyers, although there are other career paths as well.
The store that hires you for its executive training program will groom you in all aspects of merchandising and develop your management skills. People hired for executive training programs are carefully selected from four-year colleges and schools offering master's degrees in business management and retailing.
While competing for a slot in an executive training program, candidates are closely scrutinized. Often store representatives interview students on college campuses and then invite them to visit their stores for additional interviews. They are evaluated on how they look, how they present themselves, their past school and work records, how enthusiastic and energetic they seem, and on how much interest they show for the fashion merchandising area.
Once hired, the group of beginners starts a rigorous on-the-job training program that often includes evening and weekend work. The length of the program depends upon the training policy of each store. Executive training programs often begin in the summer, after graduation. Some stores add additional groups in September or in February. This is a paid assignment and trainees begin earning a salary the day they report for work. In the first weeks, they may visit all the store branches and learn as much as possible about the divisions within them. They will meet the members of the management team and perhaps even the chairperson of the board and the president of the firm. They will hear each of the managers talk about her or his division and how it operates and how all the areas of the store work together. Of course, they will be trained in selling procedures and will spend some time right on the selling floor. Once assigned to a particular department, the trainees will have a chance to meet the buyer and the assistant buyer and observe how they operate. They may also find themselves transferred to several different selling departments so that they may get many different kinds of merchandising experiences.
Part of the training period will be spent in areas such as the operations division, working side by side with employees in the receiving room or the shipping department; or in the control division, observing the billing process or the auditing team. Somewhere between six and twelve months of training and, depending upon how quickly jobs become available, the trainee may be ready for an assignment as an assistant buyer. This could be a position in the main store or in one of the branches.
Throughout the executive program, the trainee's performance is evaluated by the personnel or human resources department. Progress and productivity are noted, and the supervisors and training director review each trainee's performance. This kind of evaluation is an ongoing process.
Although each store's executive training program tries to groom its members for executive positions in the future, they all operate a bit differently. In some stores, it is typical for a trainee to land a buyer's job after about two years with the store. In other cases, it may take much longer. Depending upon the employer, the amount of time spent in the training program will vary, as will the number of weeks spent on each assignment.
Executive training programs offer a splendid beginning for a fashion merchandising career, but certainly they are not for everyone. If this type of initiation into merchandising does not appeal to you, there are still many other ways of starting your career. But first, pinpoint your area of interest. For example, try to decide where you may feel the most comfortable: in a large or small store, in a chain store, a specialty shop, a discount operation, or a department store. Learn as much as you can about each of these stores and investigate the career opportunities they can offer you.
THE FUNCTIONS OF RETAILING
The function of any retail operation is basically the same, whether large or small. Tasks performed by one or two workers in a small retail store must be handled by a greater number of people in a large store, but in essence these tasks differ only in quantity, not in kind. Therefore, regardless of the size of store, we can talk of the five important functions of retailing which are essential to all operations. They are: merchandising- planning, buying, and selling goods; sales promotion, designing programs to help sell the goods and encourage customers to shop in the store; store operations or store management-providing services for the customers, maintaining the store, and ensuring the proper receiving, storing, and delivery of merchandise; personnel-training, placing, evaluating, and promoting employees; and control-keeping tabs of profits and losses and all the other financial details of the business.
Gaining experience in one of these areas will not limit you. Good work experience in any specialized field may lead to broader responsibilities later on in your career. Each of the five major areas can offer opportunities for your progress. However, the wide range of entry jobs within all five areas makes it impractical to offer a comprehensive list of opportunities within the limited space of this book. Therefore, let's focus specifically on the merchandising part of this fascinating business.
