INDUSTRY PLACEMENT 2014 DOROTHY PERKINS

DAY 1

First day at Dorothy Perkins and I don't feel nervous at all, in fact in quite excited!

I started at 10am and was greeted warmly by the store manager who gave me a staff badge and set me up with some 'cubing' to begin my shift.

This gave me the opportunity to see what the store stock and locate its different sections. DP offer clothing in sizes 6-22 with also a petite and tall range. In addition to this the store also offers short, regular and long leg lengths in their trousers and jeans.

After lunch I was given the opportunity to dress some mannequins that are positioned in the hallway from Burton to Dorothy Perkins.

I'm really pleased this has been offered to me on my first day!

I'm told I can either pick two outfits from the casual section or two from the formal. I opt for casual as throughout the day I've been able to take note on what type of consumer DP gets through their doors and feel this is the most appropriate choice.

My First Mannequins.

Choosing casual allowed me to layer the outfits with vest tops, cardigans and scarfs. Although the mannequins should actually be dressed with clothes size 6-8 I was told to use a 12 instead,and so pinning was vital to ensure the garments were presented to a high standard.

It was a challenge taking the mannequins apart and dressing them all on my own but I was also really grateful I was trusted so early on to do this role.

DAY 2

Thought i'd promote DP's new stock my wearing these daisy trousers on my second day.

I was able to learn how to price inquire which is used to check whether a product's price has been changed due to being POS* or moved into the sale. I had to scan the bar-code and the device would display all the products details, and image, how much of this item had been sold and also whether the price had been dropped due to POS or because it was now in the sale.

*POS - Point of Sale - this happens regularly with items that move onto a one off deal.

I was able to learn that for a POS item only a red sticker is used to show the new price, however a sale item will have a sticker and also the price written on the tag in red pen.

This was interesting to learn - I always wondered why they wrote the price on the labels too!

By half 1 it was time for lunch and I was so thankful Greggs was opposite the store!

A well deserved lunch break after scanning and labeling the entire bag section!

After my 30 minuet lunch it was time to head back down and move the bag display around to match 'Model Store'.

DP receive a 'DownLoad' booklet with all the guideline of how the store should be laid out.

From wall fixtures to mannequin outfits everything is covered in the download for all the different DP stores - these are Town/City, Outfit, Mega and Concessions (e.g BHS)