It has been a while and I am so sorry for the stretch of silence, but after reading this blog I hope it will help you all understand why it occurred...
For those of you that are new to my page or just don't know, I am an operations manager at Kohl's store!
How fun, right?!
I get to be around clothes all day long and see the latest fashion trends before they even hit the market! However my job is all about numbers, goals, and making sure everything that customers don't see is running smoothly. I never in a million years expected myself to be in this role. Mostly because I have always been absolutely terrible with numbers.
However, for some crazy reason when the numbers are dealing with retail items I get it like I was born with the knowledge. I can hardly add 4 and 5 together, but ask me to figure out an online UPH (units per hour) or a conversion rate and I can do it in my sleep.
Anyway enough about my role, I want t o let you guys know what really goes on during Black Friday...
THE PREP
In all honesty, Black Friday prep reminds me of college exam week, only it is a whole year long. LOL
Every move we make we are always thinking how will these affect us come Black Friday. Our entire world revolves around this day and the holiday shopping season. August is pretty much the beginning, and after that everything is full steam ahead holiday season.
The workload is insane and the days are so long, but when you have a kick butt year it is the most rewarding feeling there is.
The week of Black Friday
This week feels like the longest / shortest week of your life. It is full of customers asking for deals early, your team setting the store up until 2am the night before the big day, and lots of emotions and wonders as to how in the heck are we actually going to do this Black Friday.
If I had to compare it to a feeling I would compare it to the night before your state championship game. The biggest game of the year, where everything is riding on this one day to make or break your season. The pressures of Black Friday are so high, because if it is a bust there goes your entire year you have worked so hard for!
D DAY
Walking into work on this Thanksgiving afternoon is a feeling like no other. You have been mentally preparing yourself all week in fact all year for this moment. It is the calm before the storm and you want to make sure there is absolutely nothing you could have forgotten.
The store opens with management and one by one all of the associates trickle in, all relatively excited to watch the madness that is about to unfold before their eyes....and more excited to make time and a half pay! HAHA
Minutes before the door opens there is the team huddle, with all 50+ of us, all ready and eager for those doors to open to the crowds.
Then it happens...THE FLOODGATES OPEN!
People are flooding in by packs of 20 and all you can do is stand out of the way so you don't get trampled. You just watch all of these people overtake and mess up your store that you spent hours preparing. I have never really seen something like it in my life.
Then once the shopping begins so do the problems.
"Why don't you have anymore left?" (did you happen to see the line of people in front of you?)
"I really have to wait in that line for one item?" (Please shop online next year)
"I came to do a return on the BUSIEST shopping day of the year..." (but really this one kills me)
Fire after fire we are putting out to have happy customers and a store still in tact. Your night flies by so fast that you blink and it is midnight. The next shift comes in and you go sleep for a few hours and come back and do it all over again in the morning.
Overall it goes so fast, you sell out of everything, and you leave mentally and physically exhausted. But having a good result is so worth it!
Right when you finally feel like it is all over and you can breathe guess what comes lurking around the corner...CYBER WEEK!
We won't get into that, but let me tell you it is a heck of a week! LOL
Thanks for staying with me during my long hiatus!
More to come,
Small Town Fashionista
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