First Day at Urban

I have so much to talk about here goes....

Well I woke up and felt excited and eager to see what the first day had install for me! I decided on wearing a navy blue Top Shop dress with Brogue style shoes smart but casual I went for!

I also felt nervous but the morning coffee at Caffe Nero helped that!  

My first day at Urban Outfitters was a chance to learn about what working in Visual Merchandising and window displaying is like, what I loved was they gave me loads to do but it didn’t feel like work as it was enjoyable.

Paul the head of Merchandising who I went to see last Wednesday to talk about starting is down London, so Natasha how also works in Merchandising is showing me the ropes this week.

I’ll let you know what I got up to, firstly we had a walk around the women sections to look at where to put new stock out and what store to take off, which sounds a lot easier than it is as you have to put out more stock than actually fits and then you have to decide what looks/trends the stock is meant for, as at the moment they have two key looks ‘Womenswear : Paris Texas’ and ‘Womenswear: Venice Beach’. Some of the stock are very similar for example the same print that would fit with both trends, so you have to look at the colours, fabrics and use your own judgment a little.

After all that we had to then create a brand new bag display, as they usually just dot the bags around the store but the company wants them display them all together to make it much simpler to find the bag you want.  This is a picture of the final display...

This was my favourite bag, it’s a red suede clutch/shoulder bag and I want it! But it £48 which is far too much for me...

Then it was lunch before I knew it, I went to Tesco and got myself a meal deal cheap but nice.... and then sat in the canteen/staff room which is huge, they even have another room where they have a pool table which is called the ‘GUYS ROOM’. Lunch was a chance to chat to more of the staff and I got to hear all the store gossip which I enjoyed!

After chatting and gossiping, Natasha showed me the emails that the Visual Merchandising team send them from head office to inform then on returning stock, new key trends for example these are the two at the moment....

Then they also show them styling mannequin ideas, not to copy just to give them inspiration, these are some of the styling examples they have sent them...

Paris Texas: Styling Guides

Venice Beach: Style Guide

This pictures.....

Show how they grade there designer wear, so they Visual Merchandising team know how they are meant to lay out the store and to keep them informed on the designer price ranges, from entry, mild and premium clothing designer ranges...  

The head office also sends out Window Treatment ideas what they need to change for example....

They don’t have to copy it exactly as all the stores are different, it’s just to show the colour scheme, patterns and layout ect...

At the moment the displays are all about the Jubilee I will take a picture of the Jubilee display tomorrow.

When we had finished looking at the emails from head office, we had to put more new stock out find where to display it and where to move other stock to make room for the new stock and what stock to move off the floor altogether.

Then it was 4 o’clock before I knew it, such as good day! I have learnt so much about what’s involved in Merchandising, we didn’t get a change to do any window displaying today, and tomorrow I am being allowed to style the guy mannequins by myself!