DAY 4&5

DAY 4

This morning we had to assemble some pin-board looking fixtures to put on top of a stand for the Menswear shirts. Using the guide we had to hang shirts on to the board in colour order to show them off to customers. I really liked how this looked and this arrangement was also used on women's shirts on the opposite end of the store. When putting the board on top of the shelf we had to use special shelves to place the board in so it wouldn't fall on to customers. 

In preparation for a stock take that was happening at the weekend, i was given the task of writing down the codes of clothes used on mannequins in the childrenswear department. I had to write down what the garments were, sizes and the bar-code to help with accounting for items in the store. It seemed like an easy job but it took a lot of time and effort to get down mannequins from high shelves and find the sizes and codes. Afterwards, I helped put stock out for girls wear, the staff were following a colour scheme guide from head office. I mainly folded jeans and hung garments up in size order to make it more convenient for the customer. I then went downstairs and did the same for the womenswear department. 

DAY 5

The majority of today was spent in the stockroom, there had been a new delivery of garments and about 20 boxes of mens and womens clothes to be distributed onto the shopfloor. The store was also preparing for the stocktake which was taking place at the weekend. The stocktake was assess what is on the shopfloor and also what is in the stockroom, to make things easier i was asked to make the tags visable on all items of clothing in the stockroom. It was slightly time consuming and seemed like a tedious task but would help in the long run for the stock take. 

All the tags hanging out may make it look very messy but it helps the people doing the stocktake!

After lunchtime we had to start putting out the garments from the delivery on the shop-floor  The garments were stuff already on the shop floor, we just had to find them and re-arrange them all in to size order. This was also a good opportunity to see if everything was arranged neatly for the customer. There was a lot of underwear in the delivery and i spent some time rearranging the underwear section and making it neat and presentable to the customers. There was a high volume of knickers so it was important to try and keep everything tidy and have enough stock in all sizes available. 

I've really enjoyed my first week of the work placement and it's gone really fast. Working the early hours and the physical aspects of the job was an eye opener to me but my body as got slightly used to it now. I knew that been in Visual Merchandising it would be quite physical but i didn't realise they did this much! Everyday we carry big heavy items around the store, lifting heavy objects from high platforms and almost wrestling with mannequins as your trying to dress them! I've already learnt so many things such as how to dress mannequins and simple things like different ways to fold clothes and how to use a steamer.

DAY 3

This morning, i worked mainly in the Childrenswear. The store had recieved a lot of new stock and needed to be presented within the store in a new concept. The section i was working in was for Boys and the concept was Surfer Kid. The products were placed according to the guide given from head office. The tasks were quite time-consuming especially the square folding, it was interesting to see how much time really does go into hanging, folding and presenting customers.

There was a lot of folding of shorts involved in this display!

In the Afternoon, I worked on putting together four straight rails to place sale items on. The rails were placed in store to make the sale more prominent within the store and so that the customers know about the new promotions. Making fixtures such as these rails are one of the jobs a Visual Merchandiser has that sometimes gets forgotten! 

DAY 2

Day 2 of my work placement started off with setting up the womenswear concept for 'Gardenparty', which was situated in the front of the store. A promotion for shirts was starting in store so we had to make the shirts appealing and for the promotion known inside and around the store. My first task was to unpack, hang and place different patterned and coloured shirts on the rails, I then also arranged coloured jeans on a front table in an order given in a guide from head office. I had to make sure that this was all perfectly presented as the promotion will be one of the main focal points of the store and also it was at the front of the store. The jeans were one of the first things to see when walking in the store.

The next task was in the childrenswear department, they had also received new items to be stocked in-store and needed to be placed on the rails following guidelines sent from head office. It was interesting to see the layout of the garments and how they sat together, in this display you could really see how the yellows had been separated in the pyramid shape to make a colour balance.

In the front of the store is four mannequins with some of the best-sellers featuring, i was given the task of updating the looks an styling them to a more gap style. The cuffs were rolled up and collars tucked up with belts hanging loosely and key accessories added such as handbags. On a small clothes rack behind customers could find the featured items which made it easy for them to take a closer look. I really liked this concept as the customer wouldn't have to spend a long time finding the garments.  The mannequins didn't have arms or legs so the garments just hung in the air so i had to style them around this. Each individual look featured a shirt Gap was trying to promote with their special offer. 

Later on in the day i continued to work on the 'Gardenparty' concept, this time it was putting merchandise on a low table featuring new jumpers and accessories  I had to follow a brief from head office to what and  where the merchandise went. 

Today mainly focused on putting merchandise on the shop floor but it was interesting to see where we were supposed to place the garments to seperate the colour balance and for the best sight lines for the customers.

DAY 1

Today was the first day of my three week placement doing Visual Merchandising at Gap in the Bullring. Coming into my first day i was very nervous and didn't know what to expect. The first thing we did was have a tour of the store, stockrooms and listen to health & safety talks. 

The first task of the day was in the Childrenswear department, i was given the task to completely style and re-do three girl's mannequins with the traditional Gap logo collection. I dressed the mannequins in playful poses with bright and colourful clothes which would appeal to children. This was the first ever time i had dressed a mannequin that was in a store and at first i found difficult to get the clothes on and off and even a child's mannequin was so much heavier than i ever anticipated. I soon learnt small techniques and tips on the best ways to dress them and how to hold them and lift them on to high platforms. I enjoyed styling the mannequins in to animated poses and just styling the clothes in to unique styles. 

The next task was to restyle two female mannequins, the theme of the outfits was 'Central Park', It was focusing on the stylish women with effortless style. The garments on the mannequins also needed steaming to look as presentable as possible. I added the trench coats to the mannequins as these garments were bestsellers and seemed popular with the customers. 

The store is divided in to women's on the right side and men's on the left side. Towards the front of the store is four mannequins on each side on building blocks. I was asked to re-dress the male mannequins following the guidelines from the head-office. I also had the opportunity to dress the fourth one myself to fit in with the other three. These mannequins were much heavier than the child's one i lifted earlier and took quite a lot to carry about. I also had to learn how take off the arms and separate the torso from the legs, this was much easier with the more mannequins i did but i still found it difficult as they are so stiff and hard to control. These mannequins were hard to dress as they were a lot bigger than me! I'm sure by the end of my placement it will be a lot easier to dress them without difficulty. I followed the guidelines for dressing the mannequins but added my own little style to them, when dressing the fourth one i wanted to keep the subtle hints of bright colours but to continue with the striped patterned theme. 

The first mannequin (on the right) is the one i styled to match.

I also had to re-dress the women's mannequins, changing their jeans to more bolder colours which would go with the spring season. I found these slightly easier to dress than the men's ones but still a struggle. 

After my first day at work, i feel more confident and excited about what else i will be doing there in the next three weeks. I really enjoyed my first day and I've already learnt new things!