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The A Store
My Job Experience at THE A Store
This semester I have been working at the A Store and was fortunate enough to experience the retail world hands on. Compared to previous job experiences, I learned the most here because I was able to contribute to all aspects of store operations. I valued their structure of detailed training and the fact that I was able to add my own creativity and knowledge gathered from previous work experience. The A Store’s mission statement is to function as a completely self-financed auxiliary service to support the University of Arizona’s academic mission.
One of the first tasks I learned and definitely one of the most important things is the functions of the register. The basic functions of the register are easy, as we only accept payments made in cash, credit card with id, and gift cards. An example of a sale would be to scan the merchandise, apply any price changes or discounts if there are any, total the sale and either press cash or credit card. I then would ask for id and scan the card. Other functions like exchange or refund involves more steps. For example, all merchandise that is returned must include a tag and receipt of purchase. Refunds are only given back the way the customer first paid for it. For a credit card, I would have to credit the card they previously used. An extra step is done when returning and exchanging merchandise, where I have to fill out the customer’s information from the driver’s license. The information we need is the customer’s name, address, license id, the number on the old receipt and their signature as well as mine and another coworker.
Since I started working around the holiday season, UA Presents tickets have been really popular and I sell a lot of tickets out of the store. The process of purchasing tickets is done by clicking on the Remote Desktop icon, and by selecting Tessitura Production. Logging in the password and source code information is part of the process. Once you are logged in, selecting make a new batch, and then clicking on the product catalogue tab, will bring up a calendar of the upcoming events. The next step is to find the event the customer wants and right click on it and add it into a basket. The seat map opens up and shows the best available seats and the different price ranges. If it is not an existing customer, I then would fill in their information. Once that step is done, I click on the money bag icon on top of the screen and click to print the order. To ring up their order, I click on sale on the register and then select non-merchandise and choose UA Presents. I change the quantity of tickets if needed and do not include tax.
I also became familiar with the functionality of Win Prism, which is a great program that helps us to look up inventory, check if items are in other stores and look up prices for merchandise that did not scan into the register. The process for Win Prism is logging in with your user id and password and to research the functions that I listed above. Starting the process of inventory management, proceeding to item maintenance and then selecting which store is needed, allows a screen to pull up and the next step is to select GM which stands for general merchandise. I then look up merchandise by vendor, description, sku number in order to see how many we have on hand or to look up the price for a customer.
One of my main responsibilities at the A store is to design the window displays based on what season it is and the new merchandise we got in. My objective is to make the window visually appealing to attract shoppers in the Tucson mall to want to shop in our store. The upcoming season involves holiday so Yadhi, my manager and I collaborated on a Christmas theme. I was given a budget of twenty dollars to shop for decorations to help enhance the display visually. I came back with snowflakes, fake snow, and red and blue ornaments for the Christmas trees. I really enjoyed this project as it allowed me to bring out my creative side. I was given a list of merchandise that I had to include in the window so I decided to break up the back window.
Yahdi loved how I executed the window displays and now I am in charge of planning the monthly displays for the up coming seasons.
Once a week Paul, our delivery man drops off boxes that are either transfers from other stores or new merchandise. When receiving deliveries, it is important to stay organized and when opening the shipment, it is important to look for invoice and packing slips to see how many styles, colors, and sizes each box should have. After counting the merchandise, it is standard procedure to circle the quantity and initial it so my manager is aware that all styles and sizes were received. It is my job to make room on the floor to display the new merchandise. The extra merchandise will be stored as back stock. When preparing a box for back stock, filling out an inventory form is standard procedure.
The inventory form includes the vendor, store and description. Filling out the size, sku number, and quantity is part of the process. It was my idea to start taking pictures of the merchandise and taping it on the box so it will visually easier to find the merchandise in the back, especially because the stock room is so small.
I think the most important part of my job is customer service. It is extremely important to have excellent communication skills and patience when working with a customer. The A Store’s goal is to insure that every customer has a positive shopping experience in our store and they will continue to shop here. All employees must have a positive and enthusiastic attitude. In our Student Policies, and Procedure manual there are six steps to a happy customer. First is to greet the customer upon immediate entrance and then to engage in conversation asking open-ended questions to help them find the merchandise they are looking for. Always promote merchandise and make them aware of sales and markdowns. Observing the customer’s behavior, offering assistance to get merchandise from the walls, checking prism on the computer to see if we have a certain size in stock or in another store and to retrieve merchandise from the backroom will offer our customers the perfect shopping experience. After meeting the customer’s needs, I use the register to close the sale, thank the customer and invite them to shop again. The proper phone etiquette must also be enforced when answering the phone. When answering the phone, it is standard procedure to say “Thank you for calling the A Store, Tucson Mall. This is Michelle, how may I help you?” It is always important to follow up with a customer if you can not answer or fulfill their request. I usually get their contact information and leave a note for my manager explaining the customer’s request. This communicates to the customer that their question is important and will be answered appropriately by my manager.
Creating and building a sale is very important when working in a retail store. If a consumer is interested in buying an item such as a sweatshirt, suggesting a pair of sweat pants to go with it is standard procedure. Another question might be if the customer is interested in purchasing more than one color of the same item that they are interested in buying.
There is never downtime when working in retail as there is always something that can be done. Store maintenance is very important and being organized creates a stress free work and shopping environment. At the A Store we call that zoning, which includes board folding all merchandise on tables and shelves, making sure all styles and sizes for merchandise are displayed on the sales floor, and continuity with replacement of stock from backroom. It also includes sizing merchandise on racks from smallest to largest size. Making sure all merchandise is in its proper place on the sales floor and visually appealing is imperative. It’s important to change, update and straighten displays, as well as dusting all racks, shelves and vacuuming the floor. The importance of having the store in order makes it more inviting and an easier shopping environment for our customer. Yadhi also assigns me to clean up the backroom before we get a new shipment of merchandise. The backroom gets extremely disorganized very quickly since there is very little space for storage. I am very impressed with how efficiently the A store is run by the management .team and will always appreciate the learning experience that they provided for me.
My experience at the A store through the University of Arizona will always be valued for the hands on learning experience I received and will prepare me for a successful career in the retail industry. It has provided me with the ultimate goal of providing the right environment and shopping experience for the consumer, knowledge and expertise in merchandising, day to day store operations and successful achievement in my chosen field.
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