I first started my blog way back in 2012. It’s mad to believe I’ve actually been doing it for this long. When I started out I was at college, it was just a little hobby after reading and obsessing over Lily Melrose. She use to be the queen of the bedroom wall outfit shots, and wow she still is now with her @whatlilywears instagram. While I was at college I really enjoyed doing my blog it was just a hobby back then. Until the following began to grow and I began to catch on to how the blogging world in-fact worked. After college I decided university wasn’t for me. I wanted to go into styling, I didn’t need a £25,000 debt for a degree I could do off my own back. So I went into retail. I got a part time sales advisor job at H&M at the age of 18.
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Within 6 months at H&M as a sales advisor I was then able to progress to a trainee Visual Merchandiser. Being a visual merchandiser was intact something I would have learnt at university on the course I got into. The course which would have taken me 3 years, and then I would have had to find a job. While I was a fully trained Visual merchandiser after a year in a retailer. So do I regret university? I regret that I didn’t get the experience or to move away, but for my career not at all. So yes here we are, outside of my blog I’m a full time visual merchandiser at H&M. I did go to Riverisland for some time however the company and their values just weren’t for me. So this year I went back to H&M. And that again will never be a decision I regret. H&M has always supported me in my goals to progress further. I’ve only recently joined the company again. However I’m already looking towards my next steps within the company and becoming a Visual Manager.
So, what’s it like being a Visual merchandiser? well it can be stressful, you need to be on it, think fast, and make sure you read all the little details. Brands have high expectations of how they want their stores and displays to look to their customers. There needs to be a reason behind everything you do. When I’m at work planning is essential. Every Monday we plan our week ahead, with floorpans, and sample picks for the new trends for the week ahead. We basically have our own visual manuals which tells us everything we need to know when it comes to building, and merchandising. You’ll be shocked exactly how much goes into the job role of making the stores look presentable to the public.
It’s amazing really, when you actually break down the role of a Visual merchandiser and everything we actually do, what goes into every table, window display, fixture. I think as a customer it makes you think, oh wow. yeah. All of this detail does into is for a reason, may it be commercial or as a buying suggestion. However at work I do sometimes wish we had multilingual manuals this way, sometimes to information may speak out more to us and allow us to focus on the key jobs that need to be done. It’s like reading instructions and come on we all hate doing that, so by using a Manualise manual I think the instructions will then appeal a little more appealing.
THIS POST CONTAINS PAID LINKS, HOWEVER ALL OPINIONS AND IMAGES ARE OF MY OWN
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