Tutorial 8 Question 2 of 1

Retailer Chosen: Gordon Max & Co. Pte Ltd

GordonMax is a local company first established in year 2001. The company's main selling products are the simulated diamonds, which are exclusively grown in Europe. They too, carry other accessories such as leather bags, and "bling" bags, which are decorated using Swarovski crystals.

1. How are the sales associates trained? What are the criteria for evaluation?

Sales associates who just entered the company are first allocated to 1 of the boutiques for training for the first few weeks. This is to get them familiarize with the working environment, as well as to allow them to get to know more about the products. A training manual will be provided to the staff during the weeks of training. A supervisor or senior staff will also be in the store to guide the new sales associate along with the manual as it contains almost all the product information, and other matters which they need to know about the company's regulations. 

They will also have to pass the "test" in which the supervisor or senior staff would put on them in preparation of serving their first customer. This is to ensure that they are well-prepared and informed, and to prevent them from giving wrong information to customers. 

The criteria for evaluation are as follows: 

1. Working Attitude
2. Behaviour
3. Ability to handle abrupt situations

2. How often are they evaluated?

Quarterly

3. Do salespeople have quotas? If they do, how are they set? What are the rewards of exceeding quotas? What are the consequences of not meeting these objectives?

No, they do not have quotas.

4. Can sales associates make a commission? If yes, how does the commission system work? What are the advantages of a commission system? What are the disadvantages?

Yes, sales associates are able to make commission. 

Advantages of a commission system

• Sales associates will be able to earn more money as the more sales they get, the higher chance of hitting their personal target, and therefore, able to earn the commission. This will add on to their basic salary. 
• Sets a goal for employees monthly.
• Form of motivation.

Disdvantages of a commission system

• Inconsistent salary

5. If there is no commission system, are any incentive programs offered? Give an example of a specific program or project used by the store to boost employee morale & productivity.

Even with the existing commission system available, GordonMax too, still try to boost empoloyee morale & productivity. They make use of the Overseas Trade Show as a form of acknowledging their employees' hard work. 

Staff who have performed well in their work are given the chance to participate in at least 1 of the Overseas Trade Show. They get to benefit from the Trade Show as it will be a fulfilling experience to explore the other countries, as well as learn from the working experience at the show. 

Tutorial 8 E-learning

Topic: Retail Workforce Skills Qualification (WSQ)

How does this help a person who is interested in a retailing career in Singapore?

Retail Workforce Skills Qualification (WSQ) helps individuals with basic work skills, training, and assessed employability through the Employability Skills System. They may specialize in different areas such as service excellence, employability skills system, community and social services industry.

With a WSQ certification, one can upgrade skills, can assess your skills against established work standards, have credentials for your existing skills that are recognized by other employers in Singapore and can plan your career path. Hence, with recognition from WSQ, it prepares individuals who are interested in a retailing career with excellent skills.

How does this help the retailer? 

As a retailer, your organization can reap benefits of Retail Workforce Skills Qualification (WSQ) by sending your staff for training and assessment under the WSQ. These benefits include:

1. Benchmark against best practices across the industry;
2. Guide job description development;
3. Improve performance management systems and training programmes;
4. Establish employee career paths;
5. Guide training needs analysis;
6. Facilitate recruitment of competent staff; and
7. Provide skills assessments.

The benefits will undeniable improve customer service provided for the retailer.

How does it help the retail industry?

WSQ provides the retail industry with skilled and well-assessed individuals that are crucial as customer service is one of the most important factor in the retail industry. Hence, WSQ assist the retail industry by preparing individuals who are interested and working in the industry.

Customer Service Part I

At Forever21, the sales personnel are really knowledgeable about the products they are selling as well as the stock availability and they are very glad to help should you need any.

Forever21 has the return and exchange policies within 7 days from date of purchase, provided item is in saleable condition (only applicable to some merchandise).

By selling their merchandises online too other than in physical stores, it allow the customers to have a wider variety as some items may not be available in stores and also at the ease of their home. This brings convenience to the customers who do not have the time to go out to the physical store to shop.

Merchandise Presentation & Store Design

Customers have described Forever 21 store as organised, clear and neat. However, during peak hours, one might disagree as it may sometimes get messy. The store follows a free-form layout. A free-form layout is where fixtures and aisles are arranged asymmetrically where its used in specialty stores like Forever 21. The store layout allows one to wander amidst the fabulous creations and indulge.

The view of inspiring mannequins wearing the latest fashion displayed outside the store welcomes customers to enter the brightly lit store of organised and different colours of the apparels. The display of the apparels and accessories draw you to explore the store and even make impulse purchases. The store has a promotional area section and an accessories section. The promotional area have items priced at an affordable low-price that customers wouldn't miss! You can easily also find the accessories, thanks to its organised store layout.

HR Practices

What is Human Resource Management (HRM)?

HRM is the strategic and coherent approach to the management of an organisation's most valued assets - the people working there who individually and collectively contribute to the achievement of the objectives of the business.

3 HR Practices

• Selecting the right people

Forever21 focuses on its customer service they provide to their customers. As such, employees must possess positive working attitude and are motivated as they are positioned at the front line, whom customers interact with at the sales floor. A partial of Forever21's image is dependent on the customer service the staff provide on the sales floor. Good working attitude and customer service will leave customers a good impression, and therefore, keep the customers coming back for more.

• Training and developing people

All employees of Forever21 must learn to use the POS system as they will be assigned to the cashiers for a period of time. They have to learn how to operate the system. In addition, Forever21 also ensures that their employees provide good customer service, and ample information about their products to their customers. Forever21 

• Compensating the employees

Forever21 provides overtime pay for their employees during the festive season, as well as public holidays. 

Price Management

Forever21 is a retailer mainly catering to teenage girls and young adults who want to have both fashion and value.

Forever21 uses leader pricing. They price their merchandise at different price points, with some retailing to prices as low as $15 (e.g. the basic wear) to attract the customers and crowd so as to boost sales for the other slightly higher priced apparels and/or accessories.

Forever21 usually displays the lower prices merchandise right at the door step so that people notice them when they walk pass. This will lure the customers in to take a look and from there, the customers will go around browsing other products and might even make other complementary products purchases that are at higher prices.