Southpoint and Cary Towne Center

Week 18 (Our first week)

Southpoint (Tier 2)

     Following the first few days of the internship, myself, Laura and Gina had become decently versed in reading and discussing numbers regarding the percentage uptrend and downtrend of Polo products compared to the previous weeks sales numbers.  Consequently, for the third day of our internship we were asked to look up and record the uptrends and downtrends (specifically focusing on downtrends) of the products polo sold last week compared to this week at the Southpoint Belk store location. The percentage downtrends read: Pants, down 11.7%% -- Dress shirts, down 84.1% -- Knit tops, down 40.4% -- Denim, down 75.3% -- Sweaters, down 33.8% -- Shorts, down 44.4%.  With this knowledge we were able to discuss possible reasons of why the products were down and what we could do to increase sales.  Therefore, our morning task comprised of moving the downtrending products to other spots of the floor so that they would be more accessible to the incoming customer in efforts to increase sales in the downtrending Polo products.  As well as fixing product placement (of the downtrend items) in the store, we worked on merchandising the two main fashion groups – Head of Charles and Beach Shop.  While working with these two main fashion groups we made sure the display tables matched the corporate directives from New York in terms of where to place the shorts, pants, and shirts on the table and also how to arrange the manikins so the products were adequately displayed.

     After our work in the store (rearranging products and merchandising fashion groups) we visited Macy’s to view their Ralph Lauren products, specifically the Denim and Supply line that is exclusive only to Macy’s. The product line was comparable to the Rugby line and we were able to view the line and price points of other Polo merchandise as well. Along with looking at Macy’s the team visited a sundry amount of stores including: Urban Outfitters, Anthropology, Free People, Eddie Bauer, and J. Crew.  During those store visits we compared the product lay out of Ralph Lauren and how much the corporate structure of the company dictates how Polo is to exhibit products.  The store comparisons allowed for insight into how non-corporate driven stores displayed their products and the free-range creativity they are given. Overall the store visits were interesting/informative because we had a different mindset when walking in each store.  

"Head of Charles" fashion group (below)

"Beach Shop" fashion group (below)

Week 19 (Our second week)

Cary Towne Center (Tier 3)

The start of the second week landed the team in Cary Towne Center where we, like Southpoint, reviewed the stores numbers and percentages of uptrends and downtreads and where the store was in sales compared to the previous day.  After review of the numbers we began to move certain products to hopefully increase sales of the downtrending products.  While moving products, we were introduced to Karen Greager, the Regional VP of Stores at Belk.  Karen inquired about the internship and then about our opinions of how Belk could reach a younger market.  We discussed the use of social media from Facebook to Twitter and how more integration of these social media sites could further help Belk reach the younger buying market.  When we returned to the merchandise we learned how Polo arranges their pleated pants – by hashing.  Hashing consists of sizing the pants and then arranging the colors from black, khaki, navy and stone.  Later on, we visited both Dillard’s and Macy’s and discussed market share amongst the stores in comparison to Polo merchandise.  The verdict rendered Belk as having the most market share with sales of Polo product, which is the portion of a market controlled by a particular product or company.

Hashed Pleated "Ethan" Pants (Right)

-Will