Background information on Jo Malone London Essay Example for Free

Background information on Jo Malone London Essay 1.1 JO MALONE LONDON Jo Malone London was originally founded by Joanne Lesley Malone, in her kitchen in 1983. She is a British perfumer and is particularly known for her scented candles. Joanne Lesley Malone had severe dyslexia and left school without any qualifications that, however, did not stop her from creating the company with her mother Eileen. In her early twenties, Joanne Lesley Malone followed in her mother’s footsteps and became a facialist. Unable to afford her own workspace at that time, Joanne Lesley Malone had to work out of her apartment. As her business grew, Joanne Lesley Malone came up with the idea of gifting her clients a small token of appreciation and came up with her very first concoction â€Å"Nutmeg and Ginger’ by mixing batches of bath oil on her stove. Her clients loved it and went back to her to purchase more of her products which made her business grew. Despite having no substantial training, Joanne Lesley Malone began making perfumes as well. Most fragrances would have a complex blend of light, medium and heavy notes, Joanne Lesley Malone’s scents only had one or two notes. After the fledging business took off, Joanne Lesley Malone and her husband found and renovated a London retail space, that became the site of her eponymously named store. Lines of customers formed down when Jo Malone London opened its first outlet at 154 Walton Street, London in 1994. Jo Malone London became popular after Joanne Lesley Malone made an appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show. In 1999, Joanne Lesley Malone launched her flagship store in London’s Sloane Street. In the same year, although initially reluctant to give up a company no matter what the price, Joanne Lesley Malone eventually sold Jo Malone London to Està ©e Lauder. Joanne Lesley Malone continued to work for the brand as the creative director until 2006, where she sold the company to Està ©e Lauder in its entirety and was barred from creating a new fragrance or skincare line for 5 years due to a non-compete agreement. 1.2 HIERARCHY DESCRIPTION OF LEARNING EXPERIENCE 2.1 JOB RESPONSIBILITIES: DEMONSTRATE THE ABILITY TO PROVIDE INSPIRATIONAL, AUTHENTIC AND PERSONALIZED CUSTOMER SERVICE / IDENTIFYING CUSTOMERS’ NEEDS: Every customer has different needs and wants when they step into the store. As every customer has different preferences, it is essential to personalize the experiences for different customers. To find out what the customers are looking for, we need to ask TED questions. Through the answers the customers give, we will have better insights and understanding about what they are looking for. PROVIDING INFORMATION ON PRODUCTS / EDUCATING CUSTOMERS: Fragrances: As important as sales is, educating the customers is equally crucial. What makes Jo Malone’s colognes so unique is that it is light so it can be layered. They are good on its own but when layered, you will get truly individual effects. Therefore, customers can come up with their own bespoke scents. Candles and diffusers: For every customer that buys the candles and diffusers, our job is to teach them how to use the products. For candles, the customers can only burn for up to four hours and then extinguish it and after burning, the wick of the candle must be trimmed to prevent the candle from tunneling. ASSIST IN DAILY RETAIL OPERATION: Co-ordinate and check merchandise on display: Except for the testers, the products on display are not displayed pieces but actual selling stocks. In Jo Malone London ION Orchard, it often gets busy and customers are always rushing in this fast-paced city so we often do not take the stocks from the cabinets and just sell the products on display instead.During our free time, we will replenish the merchandise on display. By doing so, it would also minimize external theft as we would be able to immediately realize that the product is missing and then report to our superiors and request for them to check the surveillance cameras. By coordinating and checking the merchandise on display, we will also have better insights on approximately how much of each product needs to be reordered. Handle exchanges of merchandise: A lot of the customers that comes to Jo Malone London are customers that are looking for gifts for their family, friends or loved ones. They often do not know what to buy and often purchase the options between our recommendations.To successfully close these deals and not let our potential customers slip out of our hands, we would persuade them to buy by letting them know that we will issue them a sales memo so that the receiver may bring the unused products to exchange for something they like should they not like the gift. DISPLAY PROFESSIONAL IMAGE AND ETIQUETTE: In Jo Malone London, we are required to wear our uniforms, wear formal footwear and put on our aprons and name tags once we are on the sales floor. Grooming is of great importance as it will not only portray our professionalism, our customers will also place their trust in our recommendations when they see how well-dressed we are. What we say to them will seem more professional and convincible to them too. Other than attire-wise, makeup is also required as it would add colors to our face making us look more refreshed and it will also positively affect the perception people has on us. PERFORM DAILY HOUSEKEEPING: As our store is an open layout store with no automatic doors that opens and closes when a customer walks in and out, there is a lot of dust in the store. What adds to this issue is that we have many spotlights in the store which makes the dust a lot more visible. Therefore, it is essential that we wipe the shelves and the tables every morning. On Sunday mornings, we would wipe all products, shelves, and tables. I do not wipe the shelves and tables, it would make our store look dusty, deserted and unsanitary. 2.2 GOOD OR BAD MOMENTS EXPERIENCED GOOD: Seeing the reactions of my customers when I tell them that I am merely an intern. After a few days of the internship, I feel more confident with the amount of knowledge I have which really played a huge part in my ability to persuade customers to purchase. BAD: During our orientation, we were thought to ask TED questions. And then further suggest scents or products to customers based on our insights. But there often are customers that ask what the best sellers are when they step foot in. What makes this situation tricky is the customers because what may be the bestseller may not be what they like. â€Å"May I know what kind of scents you like, miss? Because what may be the bestseller may not be what you would like† would earn me some glares and angry customers that would stomp off. I often encounter such customers and as much as I want to stay unaffected, I really am. 2.3 COLLEAGUES, I HAVE WORKED WITH Stella (Assistant Boutique Manager) Shieh Ling (Senior Stylist, Second In-Charge) Siew Fong (Senior Stylist) Daryl (Senior Stylist) Cheryl (Stylist) Victoria (Intern converted to part-time) Jasmine (Part-timer) Jamie (Part-timer) Sim (Previous stylist) Ivor (Previous part-timer) Ryan (previous part-timer) REFLECTION ON THE LEARNING EXPERIENCE 3.1 THOUGHTS ABOUT THE INTERNSHIP 3.2 POSITIVE OR NEGATIVE THOUGHTS 3.3 WHAT I LEARNT 3.4 SIGNIFICANT LESSONS LEARNT REFERENCES: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jo_Malone_London APPENDIX