Yesterday, on the train home, I got talking to the woman who was sat beside me. It wasn't long before I found out that she is the Lancaster BHS Store Manger!
So, of course, I told her about my Store Management unit and she was more than happy to answer my questions, tell me about her daily job and she even looked through my work and the portfolio brief, giving me some tips and advice. A lot of what she told me I could relate to Next, and she also knew some things about Next. The advice she gave me helped me a lot in terms of seeing things from a store managers point of view, and helped me realise just how much work they do, and the value of the manuals they receive from Head Office- the manuals we have to produce for this unit.
She also advised me on how to say things so that store assistants can clearly understand what is being said in the manual, and the value of visual guides rather than written and long wordy guides. She said I must write an "idiots guide with lots of pictures"!
A issue we discussed at length was the market shift which Next is going through- moving away from work wear and more into fashion wear- and whether or not we think is it the right thing for them to do. As she herself falls into their target market, I found it interesting that she herself no longer shops there. She used to, especially for her work wear, and used to pick up other basics; but Next is moving away from this product segment she now rarely visits Next and doesn't care a lot for their new fashion ranges. I got to thinking, if this 30 year old successful professional no longer desires to shop at Next, how many are like her? Especially one who knows her stuff in the business!
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