Today was the always anticipated Spring 'Strategic Set Meeting'(SSM) at JC Penney. Four to Seven times a year, our company broadcasts via satellite important information about the upcoming season's merchandise set to all 1100+ stores. Retail merchandising is a quirky business. I won't bore you with the details of the Spring Set at JC Penney, but it should be noted that all of the Hot items listed in the title are actual initiatives in our company.
Except for Hot Flashes of course. Basically, they all mean the same thing with slightly nuanced features. Most of these terms refer to the manner in which we dress & display the plastic gender forms you are used to seeing in every clothing store. You thought maybe the people in the store decided what outfit to put on the forms? Not so. That would lead to an inconsistent customer experience. You'd be surprised at how little control store-level associates have over merchandise sets. Basically, we just execute someone else's ideas.
This is apparently going to be changing soon. Penney's is on the verge of at least halting, if not reversing the centralization trend within the retail sector. There is a lot of discussion about store-level management gaining increased responsibility for merchandise sets. Much of this type of responsibility was taken away in the rush to centralize the buying and allocation of merchandise. It was also taken away as retailers moved toward a more consistent look within every store.
This works wonders for cookie-cutter stores like Target or Wal-Mart, but Penney's is an old company and not every store looks exactly alike. Hence, our superiors have decided to give us back some of the responsibility that store-level managers lost during the past three decades. This would certainly make my job more interesting. We'll see how much control I am actually given and when.
1 comment:
It's not so much optimism as you may think. Undoubtedly, any change in my role means a change in the way i get paid. Most likely that means they will find a way to pay me less money for doing more work. Also, its not that they truely want my input. They just want to sustain top-line sales growth, and the strategy is to create a more 'engaged' workplace. Things are certainly changing in the next few months, but it might get ugly.
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