Nick C.
About me
| Nick C. | |
| Physics | |
| Physics with Business Management | |
| Undergraduate | |
| Alcuin | |
| 2011 | |
| United Kingdom |
My employment
| Merchandising | |
| John Lewis plc | |
| United Kingdom | |
| Retail and sales | |
| 2012 |
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A day in the life of a Merchandising in the United Kingdom
My career history
Began at Waitrose and got promoted to supervisor, then left to do my degree. Got additional retail experience in Sainsburys during university, then left to become a buyer for a procurement firm specialising in marine, oil, gas and wind industries. Moved on to merchandising in John Lewis.
My advice to students considering work
You must tailor your application to the role - a generic CV will be ignored. If you are applying for this sector, make sure you have a strong understanding of the retail landscape in a wide variety of areas - you could be working in areas as diverse as beauty, sports equipment, stationery, clothing, furniture; you need to show you have transferable skills and be adaptable. Ideally you will have had experience working in a shop, with an awareness of things like fixturing, planning of space, and current trends.
My advice about working in my industry
If you are applying for this sector, make sure you have a strong understanding of the retail landscape in a wide variety of areas - you could be working in areas as diverse as beauty, sports equipment, stationery, clothing, furniture; you need to show you have transferable skills and be adaptable. Ideally you will have had experience working in a shop, with an awareness of things like fixturing, planning of space, and current trends.
What I do
Essentially the job is about getting the right stock in the right place at the right time. Stock is the most expensive asset/cost in retail and optimising intake through careful planning, distribution and intelligent trading can make a huge difference to cash flow and profit for a retailer.
Skills I use and how I developed them
Extracurricular skills:
Heavily numerical job, a lot of analysis to find strengths and weaknesses and thinking creatively about how opportunities can be exploited and risks mitigated. You will usually engage regularly with suppliers so you need to be confident speaking to others and negotiating to get a fair deal for both parties - we build strong relationships with suppliers and maintaining these is critical.
What I like most
Optimising processes - there's a huge focus on availability and stock management, and improving your area and seeing sales correspondingly increase gives a huge buzz. The fact you are looking after multi-million pound assortments is also a lot of fun, and there's so many opportunities to get involved with improving the business.
What I like least
Monday mornings - we have to be in very early to run reports and analyse how the previous week went. It's hard work after the weekend but usually offset by seeing strong results particularly as the business is expanding so much.
Next steps...
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