The Next Shoe Room

Next have opened new Shop-In-Shops in key stores across the country, dedicated to shoes. I first read about this is in Elle magazine this week, and decided to look it up online.

I found the press release at http://www.next.co.uk/press/lookbooks/lookbook.asp?sn=ss10&bk=shoeroom&id=shoeroom



So why not a denim shop-in-shop? Women infamously find it hard work to find the perfect pair of jeans, a denim shop-in-shop could help solve this........

This issue I will explore in my journal

x

BHS Store Manager

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!

x

Too Long

Unfortunately it's been a while since my last post :( so I have decided to update with some images from my journal......


This page covers my reflection notes of the Next Carlisle store, over from this page I also produced a longer more in depth written reflection.


These images are from a Seminar activity where I looked at the trends in Next and how they relate to the denim's in my bay.



Here I have produced in images, how my bay is made up, with the denim on the main wall, and 3 rails of other products in front.


This is a more in depth build up of the main wall of my bay, with folding out images which beind hold my reflection notes, again over the page I wrote a more in depth reflection.

This is another seminar activity from when Helen Stock visited us from Ted Baker. The activity is a mock up of calculating the profits produced from the bay

x

Next Images

Following my trip to Marks and Spencers, I returned to Next to attempt taking a photo of thier denim section. I was successful! :)

Section of the wall display of jeans

Edge of wall display with style guide panel

Image of free standing rail with the main wall display, which holds other denim products.

Since it has been a week since my first visit to the store, I expected there may have been a change in the display, but the only difference I noticed was the new stand holding the shirts (above), previously this stand had held non-denim shirts.

Now I have uploaded these images, I realise that it may have been more worth while to have taken images of all the denim wear products, to allow comment on the section as a whole, as the section is bigger than the images above show. I did take two other photos, but due to moving they are very blury! This could been improved upon!

French Connection No More...

Today I went shopping!

Firstly I took a trip to French Connection, as planned in my previous post, and was expecting great things as I've never visited the Southampton store, but I have previously shopped in the Newcastle Metro Centre store. In Southampton I was disappointed.

The store was tiny and even in the small space was split equally between Women's and Men's wear. I didn't feel inspired in the store. There was only 2 different pairs of women's jeans, and no other denim products. I felt that for the success of my coursework, I needed to choose another store to be the competitor for my main store- Next.

So I took a walk around West Quay shopping centre and my attention was attracted into Marks and Spencers by a seemingly new (and quite good) display. Walking around I soon found the denim section, which appears to have had a revamp. I managed to take the following pictures on my camera phone:

This display highlights the different styles of jeans available

This stand was close by the display above, further educating the customer on the different shapes and styles available.

The rails feature tabs at the top, ensuring the customer find thier preferred style of jean easily.

Large wall display featuring the product. Aspirational for customers, and also appealing to a younger market.

Floor feature, displaying the denimwear with other products from casual wear, from the INDIGO Collection. Interestingly shaped mannequinn and way of hanging the jeans in the box-like rail (towards the back of the image).

Overall, I was suprised with what I found in Marks and Spencer; I didn't expect there to be the selection of denim wear that there was, nor did i expect the visual displays or the customer guidence in shape and style selection. Therefore, I have decided to change my competitor company, from French Connection, to Marks and Spencer.

What????

The beginning...

For this unit I am creating a Reflective Journal and Blog on Store Management. I have already decided that my chosen method of Journal writing is through a book with both writing and images, I chose this as I have written this way before and I enjoy this outlet as a way of expressing my thoughts.

My next obstacle was deciding which shop/ store to focus my work on. I knew I wanted to look at denim wear, as it is a product of interest to me and also very different to what I looked at for Fashion Cycle, but I wasn't sure which store to research.

Yesterday I took a walk around West Quay Shopping Centre walking around the stores, looking at how shops display their denim wear. A store that stood out to me was Next, which had a clear section for their denim wear, wall space taken up with jeans, and differently shaped racks for dresses, skirts, shirts, jeggings etc.

I felt that for Next, the way they hung their jeans was different for them: folded in half over the hanger then folded back and hung by the belt loop, and I liked the look as it was more interesting and eye catching than simply hanging them with a clip hanger, which I remember they generally do, as saw some other jeans in other sections of the store hung this way. I wanted to take a photograph with my camera phone, but a store assistant appeared to re-stock the section and created a slight atmosphere of tension through looking at me every few moments or so. I felt uncomfortable so didn't attempt the photo. I plan to return to the store to take my photo, but next time I may look for a store assistant who appears more approachable, and introduce myself before taking the photo.

Now I needed to choose a competitor. I was unsure of who to choose as a competitor as they have such a vast target market. So I asked the advice of Emma, who suggested French Connection. I have looked on their website, and like the look of their denim wear, and after only a brief look their website already looks much more interesting than Next's so I feel French Connection may be a good competitor for comparison.

My next step is to visit French Connection, and get those photos!!!!!!

Store Management

New Unit

Store Management

Reflective Journal and Blog