Christmas Cheer

This week I got to have a lot of fun staging an ugly christmas sweater photoshoot. We are taking these photos to create a flyer to promote our ugly christmas sweaters. Last year they sold out so fast so we are encouraging people to grab them now before they sell out. It was so ridiculous to stroll through campus all dolled up in Christmas gear.  These are just few of the many photos we took last week. 

To work, or not to work. That is the question

Being a Design and Merchandising major has one major perk, we don't have finals! This isn't always the case, but typically we do not. So that allows us to have three weeks of summer break. Working at the bookstore pretty much requires me to work during the break because we need to prepare for the fall rush. Since I am only part-time, I do have the option to give availability. Nothing makes me happier than working and really making a difference to help the company. But, this is my last opportunity to have a "summer break." Three weeks is not exactly a summer break.
The hard decision is to work through the break or take time for yourself. It sounds selfish, but it is very important to take care of yourself. I decided to work the first half of break and leave the second half for myself. It is the last time I will have a full break and I am using it to my advantage to go visit my best friend in North Carolina. I do feel guilty, but life isn't work.

Marketing

This week I worked with my boss to come up with a creative marketing strategy. Drexel changed the orientation process so instead of groups coming throughout the summer, the freshman are moving in one week early and that is when orientation will be. Not having the orientations this summer has really provided a large loss in profit. So the challenge is to come up with a sign that will make customers want to buy everything right then and there.
Our top seller is the ugly Christmas sweaters. We decided that is the main product we want to promote. The sign will say "Ugly Christmas sweater season is right around the corner. Don't be seen without one." To make the sign captivating it cannot just have words, it needs images. We got multiple employees to put on the sweaters and we took awkward Christmas photos. It was such a fun time in which we all really got to bond! The sign has been submitted to headquarters and hopefully Drexel student's will be seeing it within the next month.

Another Job?

As the Summer and Co-op quickly comes to a close I have taken on another job that will follow me into the school year. I am now Social Media Coordinator at Drexelbrook Catering. Although I am familiar with doing social media for companies this is totally new to me because it is not in the fashion industry.

I am currently writing blog post, updating Instagram, Pinterest and Facebook, and also attending events to take pictures. I am excited to do this job because it is something that I love in a new industry. I think that I will be able to learn a lot from a different industry that could really help me when I get a full time position after graduation.

When I am not working my co-op job I come into Drexelbrooks office. When I can not make it to the office I am given a work computer and am able to work from home. I am lucky to be able to keep this job in the fall because I can work from home and make my own hours which will help when school starts again.

My new desk! 

Final Projects

As Co-op comes to a close, my work has given me a few final projects to work. The first project I'm helping out with is planning the VIP night for the incoming freshmen. During VIP night the freshmen are welcomed in the store after hours. We provide them with fun activities such as a photo booth and a scavenger hunt. I was in charge of coming up the clues and items for the scavenger hunt. It was a really fun and silly task I got to do. I've also been brainstorming more fun activities to have at the VIP night. The second final project I've been assigned to is to create an Instagram account for the store. We're still in talks with the store manager to convince him that there is a need for one. I'm particularly excited for this project because I'm very interested in social media marketing. I hoping to start the Instagram soon and maintain it after Co-op. I would have a weekly Monday morning meeting with the buyer and plan out the posts for the week. I think this could be extremely helpful to the store.

Last days of summer

For this past week, I have been working at our stone harbor location to help out with their end of summer blowout sale. My family has a house a few towns down so I get to enjoy my last weeks of summer at the beach and go to work and make some money. 

My boss doesn't carry over anything from previous seasons so everything must go before we close up the shop for the fall. Employees are allowed a 75% discount on ALL merchandise. I didn't even think I wanted anything until I started looking around and realizing how cheap things would be with that kind of discount. I mean, how can you say no to that?! Even if I don't necessarily need anything, I'm always in the market for unique finds. 

Our final sale day is Saturday which is when everything will be further reduced. Apparently it gets absolutely insane. People try to steal clothes out of others hands and girls are fighting for dressing rooms. Needless to say, this should be an interesting weekend. I am enjoying my time in the sun before the madness begins! 

Clean Look

 

Uniqlo recently underwent and audit of all of our inventory, with this audit came a lot of new rules. The biggest one that has a lot of people in a frenzy is our new dress code. The major rules that jumped out to me, were the way we now have to wear our hair down to color. Nail polish as well, we are not allowed to have an unnatural colors... meaning that all colors must be earthy. This may seem like no big deal but a lot of Uniqlo's staff is actually extremely expressive from hair to nails to make up. We already wear all black and although I truly have no problem with these changes due to the fact that I tend to keep my hair, nails and make up very minimal and natural, I know that many of our staff has issues. A lot of our employees come from right next door the Art Institute and appreciate the freedom to express themselves. 

From a business stand point, I completely understand how the company wants to maintain their brand especially since we are a flagship store. Uniqlo has a simple down to earth brand so it does not come as a surprise that they would implement a new dress code to emphasize that.