What You See is What You Get?

The world of retail is not as glamorous as consumers believe it to be. The many steps and procedures that need to be taken in order to produce the final product, which is that piece of garment that consumers get to examine and try on before calling it theirs, are carried out in strategic manner to ensure quality, quantity, and profitability.

  In terms of profitability, I wonder sometimes how some companies manage to do that with their bottom-low prices and extra discount on top. Being a victim of the retail world, a sales associate, I ring in a day’s worth of sales and calculate the UPT, and other fancy acronyms to justify if the company is on top of their game or not. Comparing the store that I work at to Zara, I do see some similar tactics used such as keeping inventory of potential hot items low, the same floor layout for sister branches to keep that familiarity amongst customers, and immediate sales on slow items. But when items that originally cost $60 get marked down to $10 in such a short time period, it amazes me how this company is still around and is able to be one of the strongest, affordable retail chains around. This store mimics Zara often, considering that it is situated literally two shops away, but the customer loyalty seems to be pretty volatile as soons as Zara declares its mega-sales.

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