Pros
-The hourly pay I was offered is a “living wage” for the zip code. -The store manager is a genius! If the outlet division is as large as it is now in ten years, it’ll be because of something he modeled. He is an asset! -If you like sparkles, you’ll LOVE St. John! -Purchase at wholesale, annual clothing allotment provided. -Boutique division looks like it’s trying to head in the right direction! The garments are great, the marketing is off. -I have not experienced any of the discrimination-type experiences others have cited. Our local team is quite diverse and we’re welcome to wear attire according to our gender rather than assigned sex.
Cons
-The commission pay is too low to be enticing. People simply do their jobs and it’s not much of a consideration on top. 5% would have people making sure sales took place, IMO. -The CRM system is old and ineffective. -CRM use is unhelpful. Most clients fell off the books of a closed store YEARS ago, or traveled through on vacation once, and aren’t actually clients. They’re just people who bought a sweater when it was cold or a burial outfit: one-time customers, not clients. -There is no growth plan. There is no GenX, millennial, or GenZ marketing plan. They’re hanging their business on the existence of retired and retiring people, and what they historically purchase. No one is thinking ahead! Clients message us to ask if we can help them unload their old SJKs! “I’m retiring and so are my St. John’s!” For some reason, SJ thinks boomers are going to keep buying right on into life expectancy. Bad plan!!! -The outlet division is expected to run like the boutique division, which doesn’t work. —Customers want to see full racks and be left alone to browse in a discount environment, not have a boutique experience. The heavy sales environment drives away walk-in customers. SJ has to realize it competes with itself in its outlet divisions: liquidators have a store down the way selling their brand too. Luxury liquidators offer that outlet feel: full racks, allowed to browse, inventory isn’t a mystery, no one tells their size to another person. —Tourist spot outlet and most customers speak and read very little English. We don’t have their size on display and we don’t communicate through a sign to them that we have it hidden away. Lost sales! (For the number of languages we encounter each week, this could not be solved by smarter staffing.) —Company expects clienteling at 50 contacts a day. ——Most contacts are dead leads from several years ago, so there’s no contact made. ——There’s nothing to say to a client once they’re on the phone. There’s no extra sales happening! ——If the store is dead enough for a salesperson to contact 50 additional people because no one is walking in, the store needs to be closed. THIS is the bread and butter they don’t understand. ——If you work the system perfectly, you’re out of people to contact in 60 days. Reattempts and contacting new leads doesn’t take very long after that. Then what? -No accessories and no shoes in outlet, which I don’t principally disagree with, but a salesperson can’t actually dress a client. They go elsewhere for the finishes. The store cannot be properly merchandised, IMO. -Stock is not climate-appropriate to the store. -Overstaffed. -The inventory is a nightmare! Stock room is full of stuff that came in 60 days ago, but also pieces from two years ago. Everything isn’t on the sales floor because, again- it’s ran like a boutique and mismatched pieces don’t have a pretty place to go! -The store is filthy. Getting a running vacuum is too much. A swifter wet jet is unconscionable. 30% of the lights are burned out and the rug hasn’t been shampooed in years. Employees can only do so much with windex and paper towels!