Why You Should Get a Job in Fashion Retail
Written by Maya Avram.
Retail is a function that touches upon most other aspects of a business, particularly in fashion, where familiarity with product and consumer base is integral to success. While the sales associate role is not perceived to be glamorous — especially outside of luxury — recent years have seen it evolve tremendously, making it more akin to a brand ambassadorship.
Indeed, since The Great Resignation in 2021, whereby entry-level talent turned their backs on employers who undervalued them both in terms of compensation and promotion, today brands and retailers realise they must offer opportunities for development and clear career trajectories in order to attract and retain top talent.
“Happy people make people happy,” said Karina Cernko, regional retail manager of north Germany at Cartier, in a recent Insiders Talk event with The Glowth Academy’s co-founder and career expert Sacha Milazzo Mercier, highlighting employers’ commitment to nurture and develop their retail personnel as a means to boost customer satisfaction.
With a renewed appreciation for shop floor teams and at the start of the festive season, we list below the advantages of launching your career in fashion in retail.
Get Familiar with a Brand — and Its Clientele.
There is no better training on a brand’s identity and consumer base than working on the shop floor. This unique position offers you access to a label’s full catalogue, different stakeholders across the business, and most importantly — consumer data and preferences. Such access is invaluable for those taking their first steps in the business.
“In every brand you’re [joining], it doesn’t matter how much experience you have, you need to understand the identity of that brand. [Who] are the people [behind it], how do they do things,” said Cernko. While luxury brands may share certain similarities, like a rich history rooted in high-quality production processes, working in retail allows you to learn about the subtle differences between them which is key to understanding how you can fit into the industry.
“There is a different story behind each brand, a different way they are doing things,” said Cernko. The exposure to these various modus operandi will inform your personal career journey and allow you to hone in on the brands and functions that appeal to you most.
Learn About the Industry’s Inner Workings.
From supply chain to merchandising to clienteling, retail workers across seniority levels have ample opportunity to learn and specialise in areas of a brand’s business they are interested in.
Moreover, new technological developments alongside consumers’ expectations for seamless multichannel experience require frequent training.
“Retail is always evolving, transforming,” said Cernko, “especially in the years [since] Covid [where] even brands who never sold online started to because they understood there is no other way to interact with the customers.”
In addition to these learning opportunities, many retailers today including Selfridges and Louis Vuitton offer employees the chance to upskill and join mentorship schemes that make internal mobility more easy and accessible.
Utilise this to gain experience in areas that interest you and that would benefit your long-term career goals. Every aspiring designer will benefit from understanding the merchandising and buying cycle, just as every aspiring marketer will benefit from learning about consumer needs and expectations.
Develop Transferable Skills.
Much like the different areas of the business, retail also unlocks the opportunity to develop crucial transferable skills that will enhance your resume and skill set.
From soft skills such as interpersonal communication, problem-solving and working under pressure, to more nuanced ones like storytelling or utilising consumer data, retail provides you with unparalleled experience that is highly desirable in the industry, often through a very lenient hiring process.
In a recent Insiders Talk event, the head of retail operations, learning and development at Louis Vuitton, Jean-Charles de Valensart, confirmed that “The key points for me when hiring are [candidates’] attitudes, their curiosity and team spirit. [...] Experience at the client advisor level is not number one, and very often not number two.”
Expand Your Network.
The reinvention of the sales associate role as a brand ambassadorship holds great potential for employees of fashion companies that are determined to retain and promote them, based on the value of these professionals who understand the brands’ market positioning on a granular level.
With such a strong emphasis on upskilling and mentorship, working in retail entails ample opportunity to connect with managers and executives who are committed to your personal and professional development. “80% of a manager’s job is to be with people, develop people, give and get feedback,” said Cernko of Cartier.
Utilise inbuilt check-ins with your superiors to ask questions beyond your immediate responsibilities to demonstrate your interest in the wider business; reach out to managers outside your remit to learn about their unique expertise and challenges; offer to support others with projects. These are all ways to show that you are a team player, and will go a long way come the time for an evaluation of your performance ahead of a pay rise or a promotion — where you want to have advocates on the other side of the negotiation table.
Finally, do not neglect your peer relationships. Fashion talent ascends together, and since fashion is quite a small industry, you are very likely to cross paths with your like-minded colleagues in the future. Be helpful and supportive to foster a support network that will be there for you throughout your career.
Written by Maya Avram.