Lydia Shenton-Smith's Blog

During my sixth week, we were very quiet in store regarding customers. To address this issue we all worked as the working community we are within Arabella to try and boost sales. This included doing things like a flash sale of £99 items not only to raise sales but to raise some customers sprits with the uncertainty of another lockdown.  We also held an Emu Australia competition where two people won a free pair, this generated more customer interaction. Finally we made more posts on social media accounts to engage customers online. This did encourage more sales from both online and in store customers we had. Proving to be a successful choice that we had all made. 

During this week I learnt how to profile the Pre-Loved pieces that come into us at Arabella. These are pieces that customers bring in to sell at a reduced price to then obtain credit to spend within the business. To undergo profiling these items, we photograph the pieces in the photo studio. Then add all the relevant information onto Shopify to create this piece on the website. Once a description, size and measurements are added we can then add the images we've taken of the piece.  On a Wednesday we do a dedicated Pre-Loved live fashion show, to make this successful before the show we then make the items available to view on the website so customers can purchase. This seems to work well for sales as the people who watch the shows get the opportunity to see the clothes worn by someone, therefore are more inclined to buy if they see something they like.  

During this week at Arabella I learnt how to profile stock onto the website using Shopify. This means making pieces available to view and purchase on the website. To complete this task we need to add certain information such as a description, colour, code and size guide of the piece for customers to see. As well as putting tags on the items so that when a word is searched on the website the items tagged with this word show up, we also have specific collections that the pieces need to be added to dependent on what the clothing item is. Finally we add variants which allow different sizes to be available as well as set the price.    

During this week we received multiple deliveries from brands such as Rundholz, Annette Gortz and A.S98. When we get a new delivery after we've ensured we have got all of the items our job is to gather all the pieces that will be used in the photoshoot and then prepare these pieces. This includes measuring the clothing and steaming the items as to present the new stock in the best way possible to customers.  This is to ensure our online customers receive an experience as close to what would be offered in store. Making sure the clothing is shown in a premium manner also plays a part in online sales, as what is on the website is all these customers are able to see. 

At Escalla I was able to complete business related certificates and assessments which gave me more insight into working life and how to deal with certain situations within work. We also made a start to our first report of a Competitor Analysis, this gave great understanding of similar businesses to Arabella. Encouraging us to think about what we could improve and what campaigns we could run to boost the business.  After completing this week I felt as though I could return back to Arabella with new knowledge that could push future campaigns. 

During my first week at Arabella the focus was meeting the staff members and shadowing their day to day jobs. This mainly consisted of handling online orders, learning how we greet customers in the shop and overall how the business runs.  I also now feel more confident within the brand itself. With Arabella being such a high-end designer wear brand, creating a unique selling point and specific branding is of high importance. I believe that the branding style of Arabella is aimed towards creating the best customer experience possible and portraying the premium nature of the collections they provide.