Michael Mance, IOM’s Post

I am often contacted by students from my alma mater, Whitman College and The Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, seeking career guidance. For those interested in careers in retail and fashion, my advice over the years has been the same: go work on the floor! A recent article in The Business of Fashion, got me thinking about this advice and how it might be changed given today’s environment. https://lnkd.in/gbPxEtEx While I did not have a job working on the floor, I took every opportunity at Nordstrom where corporate employees could spend time on the floor. It is so important to be close to the customer. I wish I would have had that challenge, pressure and enjoyment of finding just the right thing for the customer standing in front of me. Nordstrom was known for valuing this experience and promoting from the floor. It is part of the culture and DNA, but retail is changing. In an increasingly digital world, what is the equivalent of working on the floor for someone building a career in e-commerce? There are many ways to get close to the customer but we rarely get to interact directly one-on-one with them. Maybe the answer is to start in data and analytics to get deep with the customer behavior and get that personal interaction spending evenings answering calls for customer service….. #GetStarted #retail #digital #career

When I brought My 1st Years to Selfridges, we weren’t just introducing them to a product; we were inviting customers into an experience. Selfridges had never seen anything quite like it. The hum of the machines, the excitement in the air—people could hear it across the store. And suddenly, shoppers weren’t just buying items; they were watching their unique pieces come to life right in front of them. Customers: > Chose the thread colour, > Selected their items, > And watched in real-time as their names were embroidered live on the product. It wasn’t just personalisation; it was magic. And here’s the bit that often gets overlooked: personalisation isn’t just about turning a profit. It’s about creating an experience—moments that stop people in their tracks and invite them into something special. One word I don’t think we use enough when talking about personalisation is theatre. Because that’s what it really is. It’s about immersing customers in an experience that you know is going to become part of a lifelong memory for them. It sounds a bit lofty, but when you see someone light up as their personal touch is added to an item in real-time, it genuinely is pure theatre. I believe the future of retail isn’t just in what you sell—it’s in the experience you create. And trust me, the customers agree. If you're keen to experience the magic for yourself, come see us at Selfridges Birmingham / Manchester!

I had the opportunity to spend some time in New York over the last week. During my career, I've spent a ton of time in the city working with brands and retailers. This trip reminded me just how much fun the city is and how unique it is being a part of the fashion world. Most importantly, being in a buying office on 7th Avenue reminded me that the customer and the merchandise are always at the heart of any real retail innovation. Software can be a tool, but you better be able to drive real business outcomes if you want to win. Between my meetings and last week's retail earnings, it is clear that every brand and retailer has two objectives: drive sales and increase margins. As someone told me – the only projects getting approved do both. Those are pretty clear marching orders. At Sizeo we are winning because our inventory optimization solution: - Drives sales - Increases merchandise margins - Is easy to implement - Has a high financial ROI Size optimization is the art and science of ensuring that the right item and size is in the right place for the customer. Our solution is all about supporting merchandising and planning teams to ensure that their hard work results in the best business outcomes possible. #NYC #FashionAve #RetailAI

Yesterday I had the opportunity to go back in time and run a store for the day. I was reminded of a few things that I had perhaps forgotten over the years of being slightly removed from the day to day running of a store in my Regional Manager role. Here were the three key reminders: 1. Those last few minutes before opening your store doors can really determine how the rest of the day will go - you choose your attitude and how you’ll step into your day. (I took one last sip of coffee before opening the store and I managed to boogie to a few songs while getting my morning tasks done. A customer even joined me. We had a great time being silly and she commented on how great it was to see me enjoying what I was doing. Having fun is so important.) 2. Retail is a wonderful world of magic and psychology - from the words we decide to use to describe a product to a customer to where we place an item in store, there’s an incredible science behind it that influences the actions of our customers and knowing this gives us a little super power (so a huge thank you to the planning, product and VM teams that forward think all of this so that our stores can implement and reap the benefits in the form of results.) 3. My Store Managers and store teams do a fantastic job and are “on” for hours at a time, especially when working alone. They juggle all the things all at once - customers, tasks, phone calls, the unexpected (yes, I did have an IT issue or two)…the list goes on. But they do all this, each day, and they do it with a smile on their face (so essentially they are not only Store Managers but also entertainers, visual merchandisers, administrators and technology professionals). Sometimes we need to go back to what we once did to be reminded of what our teams experience each day, see what their world looks like and help us understand them better. Thank you to all retail professionals out there - you do an amazing job for your store, your team and your customers.

#chicosfasteam It’s now common knowledge that Chico’s has eliminated the Social Stylist positions. There is mass confusion as to what this means to Chico’s Customers who relied on their services and their promotion of Chico‘s in general.  It appears there was no thought on how this decision would impact their Customer base. Chico’s should have been prepared and informed their Customers in a timely fashion. Very sad that Chico’s hasn’t taken their Customers into consideration when making such a decision. And no, Customer Services cannot fill the void. As a long time Chico’s shopper, I know that to be true. The Stylists (leads) went above and beyond to find items that were “sold out” and were able to check accurate inventory reports to find items for many of us. Will all Customer Service representatives now have that level of access to these reports? Will they be staffed at levels to allow them to take the time to call stores on our behalf to find these elusive items? And no, store Associates will not be able to fill the void. That is unless you will now give all store associates access to accurate inventory quantities nationwide? My guess is no. They will still be limited to only doing the normal locate function, which is limited to a small subset of available store inventory. I cannot express enough how dissatisfied I am with this decision. I know many others feel the same way.

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Reposting from Neil Saunders' earlier post. I would say all retailers reduced staffing by at least this statistic, and even more if compared to pre-pandemic levels (customer-facing staff, not BOPIS order fillers, etc.). The result contributing to both eroding customer service standards and higher, MUCH higher, shrink rates. Not hard. Are the corporate accountants/finance teams speaking with #assetprotection or ##lossprevention leaders? Conversations On Retail #retail #retailtechnology ##retailleadership

Man, this is a bummer. I have a complicated relationship with Express that dates back to 2006. From a customer in high school who'd hit regular Structure/Express Men sales to becoming an employee both during and after college, it's the place where I really started to fall in love with clothes and fashion. For a long time, working at Express made it really easy to figure out what to wear to practically any event or occasion because I lived and breathed the brand. It was my entire closet! Express is also the place where I — as a post-recession college graduate who wanted to ride the "store management rocket ship" as a career — had my first experiences with professional burnout. Running a store is hard. Effectively managing a store in Independence Center in 2012? Even harder. I eventually moved on to a role that paid the same and didn't require long hours or a 45-minute commute. I tend not to shop at Express as much these days because I just don't have much of a compelling reason to. Maybe I've aged out of the brand. Or it could be that I work remotely and live in gym clothes. Working in retail is not for the faint of heart, but the sheer volume of skills it teaches (especially at the store management level) can and does prepare people for all manner of careers. If you're a hiring manager who has a retail professional's resume come across your desk, don't dismiss it out of hand. I promise those of us with that background can speak to all kinds of experiences. We can learn about and sell new products in a matter of weeks! We know how to overcome objections and make meaningful connections. We've worked as recruiters, business analysts, salespeople, and more. I hope the folks impacted by store closures and whatever downsizing occurs at the corporate level land on their feet. https://lnkd.in/g2sVP2n8

It’s been ages since I’ve posted. Finally decided that I would just start with an update on where I’ve come & gone from over the past few years and jobs. I think I was most active when I was working for Charlotte Russe a few years back, I’d say 2016, maybe? Then there was an unfortunate closing of the brand, and I found myself in an odd limbo. I reached out to a connection to find out there was an opening as a visual merchandiser at a F21 that was exactly my pace and skill level. Unfortunately, I didn’t stick there long, as I didn’t feel like a piece of the puzzle. I then found myself being willing to take up roles as an associate once again. I bounced between being part-time between Bath and Body Works, and oddly (for me, anyway): shoes at Macy’s. I quickly moved from part-time at Macy’s to full-time, and stopped bouncing between jobs. About a year and a half down the road, Covid shutdown happened, and everything went wonky quickly. Role restructure, pay changes, product diminishment due to production halts, etc… things all retailers were dealing with, but for whatever reason: I felt stuck alone and helpless. So, I went to the BA at the time, and voiced that I was falling behind in life. “My commission had been cut, I couldn’t survive on the pay I was given, and I was literally going bankrupt. “ is a condensed version of that painfully emotional conversation. She suggested a new role. She helped me get the pay I needed to survive. I was background cleared and moved to Jewelry. I’ve been in jewelry since. I’ve grown a deep love and passion for respecting the product, and helping customers understand ~caring~ for product. My entire life is now consumed with the word “care”. I Care. I care that my customers are happy. I care that the product is well-presented, protected, and respected. I care that the operational procedures are being done because it affects the bottom-line and product selection. I care to take time and merge customer desires with the standards and layout requests I’ve been given. These are traits I carried with me from job # 1 because I watched a store manager who cared turn a fast fashion location in Barboursville, West Virginia into a top 10 store for its company. When I started in jewelry 3 years ago, the department was sitting on YEARS of damages, and what came across as total disregard for value maximization in the product layout. This past year we defied odds and had a roughly 12% lift in sales as the company trended down. The team we’ve grown into now CARES. A regular client of the store stopped in this afternoon & commented to me that she “doesn’t see anyone else care about the job” like me. My coworker, unprovoked, agreed and added that I “set the pace.” I’d been battling a struggle with asking myself why I care…because a superior has been causing me question it. That customer reminded me that people notice when you “don’t care 🤷🏼♂️.” #care #drive #improve #seethedifference #settingthestandard