Retail Internship

Company Overview: Small women’s apparel bou que

Company Name- Modern Society Apparel

Loca on- Springfield, Missouri

Job Descrip on and Title- Store Associate, taking care of customers, clienteling, selling
product, managing the store in day-today business

Supervisor’s Du es- direc ng me and other employees, managing/running/owning the

business, buying, planning

Mission Statement- to create a warm, welcoming environment that invites guests to explore
their style and feel beau ful in their clothing

Target Market- 25-40 year old women with disposable income

Type of Merchandise Carried- women’s apparel & accessories

Loca on of Headquarters- n/a

Terminology specific to your company or industry- size runs, clienteling, styling, visual
merchandising, RTV, markdown, markup, cost of goods, purchase orders

Future opportuni es with this company- con nuing to work in the store as an associate,
management posi on

What was the chain of command in the department you were in? Where do you fit in? (Make
your own hierarchy) - store owner - store manager - store associate, I was a store associate

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Addi onal Retail Ques ons:
1. Did you a end any events or contribute to any projects? List all. What was your role in
each?

a. I a ended one buying mee ng, which was so much fun and cool to see! I just sat and
listened so I can learn more about buying in a small business se ng.
b. I helped plan a Mother’s Day event for the store where I called local businesses to see
if they wanted to contribute to our 15 VIP gi baskets. I was in charge of going to the
local businesses that decided to work with us and pick up the gi cards/merchandise
that they were going to give us.

2. Was your internship formal or informal? If it was informal what did you do to make sure
you learned something from the internship?

a. My internship was formal, but I think the se ng of the store made it seem more
informal. I also typically worked on my own in the store, except for the first two
months when we had a store manager. Working on my own did give me the chance to
learn how to run a store on my own and what it would take to have my own business.
My internship was excep onally helpful in the sense that I got to realize that this was
what I wanted to do for my career.

3. Give an example of a problem solving situa on that you encountered during the
internship. What was the problem and outcome?

There was one situa on in my internship where we had sent the wrong size out to the
customer, but unfortunately we didn’t have any other sizes in that style because it was the
last one.

4. Who did you learn from the most? – What did you learn?

I learned the most from the store owner and my store manager. I learned concepts of buying,
visual merchandising, opera ng a small business, event planning, clienteling, styling,
marke ng.

Give insight into any specific departments you gained experience in.:

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Visual- I learned how to set up table displays, window displays, place merchandise on
the floor in the most effec ve way to boost sales

Customer Service- I learned how to give customers the best experience possible, handle
situa ons in which customers weren’t 100% sa sfied

Loss Preven on- I learned how to handle situa ons which involved suspicion of the , how to
give customer service to make sure that no one would feel that
they could get away with stealing in the store

Human Resources- n/a

Marke ng- I learned how to market on Instagram specifically

and how to grow an Instagram following, boost your content, and create content that will
draw your audience in

Other- n/a

Reflec ons:
How did this internship help you with your career goals?
It helped me realize what I want to do in the future, which is star ng my own online clothing
brand. I got to learn what it is really like to run a small business, the supplies you need, how
to get started

Do you feel like this internship benefi ed you? Explain

Absolutely! It helped me realize what I want to do and how to get there. Working in a small
business and doing day-to-day ac vi es gave me the opportunity to see what it is like to
have your own business and what it takes to do so. I enjoyed doing the li le things, which
showed me that I would be able to be successful in this se ng.

Would you recommend this internship to another student?

Yes! The owner, Andrea, is an awesome person to learn from!

What would you change about the experience?

I wish I could’ve go en more one on one me with Andrea and social media experience, but
besides that I wouldn’t change anything!

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What are 5 helpful hints you would give to a future retail intern, knowing what you know now?
1. Mentally prepare yourself every day to have a great day! A tude is everything!
2. Communicate with your supervisor. Show them that you care and you are paying a en on to what is going on
in the business. Give them sugges ons on what we could improve on, how we could market be er, items we
should get for the store, etc.
3. Always be 15 minutes early. Give yourself me to prepare for your shi s and it shows that you care since you
are never even close to being late.
4. Learn the merchandise like the back of your hand. You should be able to answer almost any ques on on the
spot and be able to give sugges ons to customers when asked.
5. If you are planning on star ng your own business, learn the behind the scenes as much as you can. How does
online purchases work, shipping, purchase orders, etc.

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