Here at Saks

Here at Saks, I am a site merchandising intern that is “held to the highest standard,” as my manager says. I belong to the Beauty & Intimates, Home & Gourmet, and Just Kids department, meaning every week we publish new items in these categories to the live site, Saks.com. I have a handful of responsibilities, mainly setting up 60-80 items weekly using various software platforms, and I am pleasantly surprised with the amount of trust I am given in handling the online merchandise. In order to assure that we provide a great customer experience, I collect the copy and images, set the attributes (pre-order, shipping, display videos, shop the looks), and color size every product. There is a strict schedule we follow, starting off with item set up, quality assurance, and ending with the final publish to the live site. The following week our work and changes will be reflected to Saks.com, so the customer has the opportunity to shop new product. This is no one man job, there are around 60 employees working in Site Merchandising and every year the team is doubling in size! Some of the cross-functional teams we work with that make our site a success are Content Strategy, Copy, Production, Performance Optimization, Creative, Marketing, and Buying.  For example, depending on which category I am focusing on during the week, I will attend a weekly buying meeting in order to work out any issues with inventory/vendors. It is always exciting to get a sneak peak of future creative compositions, products, and promotions. The Buying team is in charge of buying the merchandise that makes sense for Saks.com, including monitoring sales and communicating with vendors.  Site Merchandising then translates their buys into sellable product for our online business.  

My Intern friend Meghan hard at work.

It is only my second month working in the department and I have already learned many skills, met great people, and been exposed to the world of ecommerce. This business is growing exponentially every year and the possibilities are endless. With that said, it is very motivating to be a part of this team and see how the results are turning out quicker than imagined. Another interesting part of my co-op is what Saks terms the “Intern Project,” a chance to research and develop a competitive analysis of your interest. I am working with one other intern to execute this big assignment, due in a time span of two months. We have chosen to focus on m-commerce for Saks, with ideas flowing and our managers to support us, I am projecting to have a very successful presentation.  I love the dynamic this company provides, especially with their interns; there is a purpose to our time here and a structured learning program to go with that. If I ever have any questions or concerns I am easily able to express them to my mentor during our weekly touch-bases, these sorts of opportunities are rewarding after a week of hard work. I started working for the Saks Fifth Avenue in Naples, FL as a seasonal sales assistant which led to a co-op at the age of twenty in the corporate office! I am sure everyone else on co-op feels this same sense of accomplishment and kudos to Drexel for making this a possibility!