Week 6: The Retail Biz'

Throughout my internship, I've learned so much about the retail industry and myself. Honestly speaking, retail was the last thing I wanted to go into except if I was selling my own stuff, of course. It just didn't seem appealing: long days, horrible hours, angsty customers, un-inspired employee's, and I wanted nothing apart of it. Now, I have a bit of a different perspective on it. I can honestly say that after about 10 weeks of working in the retail industry, we have a love/hate relationship. There have been times when I'm more than ecstatic to go out on the sales floor and interact with customers. There have also been times when I get out there and have a customer or fellow employee bite my head off for something I probably couldn't even control. Through that all, I'd rate my performance a 10 all around. No matter how my day was going, I'd always make sure to do whatever I could for my management team and for our customers. I by no means know everything about Sears processes or retail in general but my knowledge of the industry has expanded so much from what I knew coming in. My image of the professional corporate industry has also changed. The whole "upitty" judgement I had made on the corporate sector couldn't have been more wrong. My own image has even changed for the better. Lastly, my communication skills have had a very positive change. I've learned to speak up more and voice my opinion despite what I think others may say and for the most part, my assertiveness has helped me.


Sadly, but truthfully, during my internship I feel my greatest abilities lie in *shivers* office work. Seriously though, when I'm in the Human Resources office answering customer calls and listening to customer problems as they come in, I feel like I'm actually doing something that affects their perception of the Sears brand. It's really a good feeling to have a customer come in so angry and then you can do something to calm them and satisfy their need. Most customers feel like employees aren't listening or can't understand their issue but a sympathetic person that can do something to remedy the problem goes a long way!


I definitely need improvement understanding and relating corporate metrics to the customer and employees. Of course, I understand we're in business to make money. For example, Sears pushes credit. Employees struggle to get credit applicants all the time and their jobs are stressed by it. The customers don't want credit cards all the time! They especially don't wanna be pushed to applying for one during checkout. I don't understand why the amount of credit applicants and approvals trumps the happiness of employees and customers. I need to improve my understanding of overall corporate metrics and how those metrics positively affect the store level. I also need to improve my resiliency from a bad day, particularly not being able to make a customer happy. I often bring home the feelings I have for customers and worry about it when I can't make a customer happy. I know that if I don't separate the two, in the retail business, I will have a sour experience.


My best experience by far was the trip to Chicago! I learned so much and met a ton of friends that had the same interests as me. I also have enjoyed seeing the Kardashian line unravel. From the launch to actually getting the product in the store, it has been really exciting seeing the Sears brand transition to a more trendy look. My worst and about the only bad experience of my internship has been getting chewed out by customers and thinking I would get in LOTS of trouble for it!


My biggest fashion lesson learned: Never wear heels to work in a department store. Toms shoes are your friend.