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The 2 communication approaches adopted by Gap are:

• Internet advertising applications

Most people ate IT savvy and tend to find information about things on the Internet. Hence, it create more awareness for this group of people. Most companies have their own website nowadays eventhough they have physical stores. Having multiple channels help to generate more awareness and thus, adds up to their sales.

Other than that, by having their own company’s website, GAP can convey more information to customers about many things. For example, company’s profile and information about the clothes that they want to purchase that customers might want to know. The information that the get would be useful when deciding to purchase items from GAP as information on the internet can be quite in-depth and is almost accurate eventhough it is impersonal.

Furthermore, new arrivals can be easily found out when it is published on their website as some or maybe most people do not pass by the store very often.

• Salespeople

Sales people are always upselling and telling people of promotions when the customers walk into the store. For example, like when you buy a pair of pants they will tell you about a shirt that matches, which is going at discounted prices too. They inform, persuade and remind the customers regarding the company's products.

Answers to the questions related to the Retail video:

a) Describe the retail sector as spoken by Lynn Bavage.

• Flexible sector
• Pick hours to work to fit ur life
• Job fit around lifestyle/ lifestyle around job

b) Why did Lynn Bavage say that retail is the best job in the world?

• It's an exciting, enjoyable job.
• No two days are the same.
• You will be working with people.
• You will be working with different products.

c) Briefly explain what Tilly's coffee shop looks for when employing staff.

• Not necessarily qualification
• Experience
• Ability to communicate

d) Name the other retailer showcased in the video.

Jobcentre Plus. Tesco.

e) Briefly describe the important skills that are outlined in the video. What are the benefits for the retail employees in the video?

Important skills

-Experience & not qualification

In retail, not only qualification is important but experience is also as important too. It simply because it takes time to build self-esteem and confidence to deal with customers and not only qualification.

-Ability to communicate & working with people

Communication is one of the key to success in retail. This is due to the fact that communication is essential not only among customers but even colleagues. Your colleagues would be the one teaching you things especially when you are new and you would need their help at times. Furthermore, customers can choose to switch brand anytime. They tend to be loyal to a company that can create a relationship/bond with them. This will stop them from switching as they are already comfortable speaking to the service providers from that company.

-Good at working with products

Service providers must know the product they are selling so as to promote better and are able to answer any enquiry made by customers. Customers will then be more convince to purchase the product as the know more about it compared to products from any other brand/company that does not provide sufficient information about the products.

Benefits of employees

-Flexible hours

Employees can choose when and how long they want to work according to their availability. There is no other job that offers the same kind of flexibility.

-No 2 days are the same/New daily experience

Unlike office jobs that have similar daily tasks, everyday is different in the retail sector. Daily, service providers tend to meet different customers, tasks and situations. This shows that retail is a fun industry.

-Helps to build confidence

By dealing with many and different customers everyday, service providers in the retail sector tend to gain confidence easily as they have to find a way to deal with the customers properly so as to meet their customers’ needs and wants.

f) Outline any two retailing careers that are available at the retailers that are mentioned in the video.

The manager of the floor and team leader of the retail assistants.

The manager of the floor is in charge of the shop or store floor where the products are on display and retail assistants are working. He supervises the floor’s operations.

The team leader is in charge of the retail assistants, taking care of their working schedules and making sure they get to work on time. Part of a team leader’s job is to also keep track of the sales and to lead the team into hitting their target.

Overall, the floor manager and team leader
• supervises the assistants,
• needs to be good at working with people in order to have a good relationship with a customer,
• have confidence to learn quickly to pick up skills along the way,
• reliable and trustworthy.



SIRS

• Stands for Singapore Institute of Retail Studies
• Jointly established by Singapore Workforce Development Agency and Nanyang Polytechnic
• Is the first national retail training institute
• SIRS focuses on continuing education and training for the retail industry

SIRS aims to build a world-class and customer-centric retail workforce for Singapore through various skills-upgrading programs and services for the industry.

SIRS offers services to retail businesses, retail professionals and individuals (unemployed or from other sectors) who wish to join the retail industry.

SIRS provides services which retail businesses can tap into, including:

• Nationally-recognised continuing education & training to retail workers under the Retail Workforce Skills Qualification (WSQ) framework.
• Executive development programmes (e.g. seminars and workshops) to senior and mid-level managers in the retail industry.
• Consultancy to retail businesses (e.g. advice and guidance on customised training programmes).
• Career counselling and job placement to workers in the retail industry or jobseekers considering retail as a career.
• Market intelligence on retail strategies trends.
• Best practices and standards for the retail sector.

Retailers
For employer-sponsored workers who are Singaporeans or Singapore Permanent Residents only:
•Course Fees (after SDF Funding)
•$15.00 (plus prevailing GST) per module / per participant
•Skills Redevelopment Programme (SRP) Funding
•In addition, employers are entitled to claim for salary costs if they send their staff for training during working hours. The following rates apply :
•For workers below 40 years old -80% of hourly basic salary, capped at $10 per hour
•For workers 40 years old and above with "A" Level Qualification & below -90% of hourly basic salary,capped at $10 per hour

Person interested in a retailing career

SIRS's Training Programs
As an institute for the retail sector, their training programs are aligned to meet the national standards - Retail Workforce Skills Qualifications (Retail WSQ).

The Retail WSQ confers national recognition on the skills acquired through its qualifications. It complements the pre-employment training delivered through our national education system by focusing on job competencies (i.e. having the abilities to do the job well) that encompass employability, occupational and industry skills.

Retail WSQ details skills, knowledge and attitudes required for various occupations at every level in the retail industry. These competencies are developed by the Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA) and endorsed by employers, unions, industry associations and training providers in the retail industry. It is also translated into training modules to enable a worker to develop the required competencies to do his job well.

Courses Offered
•Singapore Workforce Skills QualificationsCertificate in Retail Operations
•Advanced Certificate in Retail Supervision
•Diploma in Retail Management

Career Services Centre

SIRS provides career guidance for individuals seeking a career in retail and those considering a career move from another industry or within the retail industry. This includes facilitating placements for individuals trained by SIRS, so that they can gain employment in the retail industry after training.

Individuals can obtain information about and advice on issues like the current retail employment situation, job opportunities within specific professional specialisations and alternative job opportunities. We have a team of professional career consultants who will advise and guide potential jobseekers, even plan a training programme and work together to bring these trained jobseekers and potential employers together.

SIRS' career guidance is a free service.

5 Pitfalls of inadequate or poor customer service given by retailers:

Lack of Product knowledge
Every customer service provider/ retail assistant has to have in-depth knowledge of their products in order to help customers make their decisions. Lack of product knowledge will cause customers to lose interest in the products as they do not know much about them, and ultimately cause them to switch to another brand.

Lack of respect
Lack of respect in customer service refers to the fact of not giving the customer full attention or treating customers like a “king”. Examples include ignoring the customer whether they are in need or not and could be basic things like not greeting them.

Insensitive to customer’s time frame
This simply means that the customer service provider lacks the sense of urgency when serving customers. Even though the customer is not in a rush, he/she would still want to be served as quickly as possible.

For example, there was once when I went to Isetan and had a bad experience. I was only greeted after 10 minutes. When I asked for assistance, the 2 sales associates there totally ignored me.

Impersonalized service
Nowadays, customers have high expectations of the service provided to them. Basic expectations that are met are just a norm and it takes more than that to build relationship with customers. Things like taking note of regular customers and their purchases, calling them by their name are examples of personalized service. More can be done to improve on it eg updating customers about upcoming promotions and/or new arrivals.

Insufficient responsiveness
It is normal for customers to give feedbacks/complaints every now and then whether it is in a good way or not. The fact that they are trying to find out or tell the retailer what went wrong etc. This should be received positively by the retailer.

Other than that, the retailer should take the time to respond to the customer as quickly as possible to show that they are care about every one of their customers.



Retail workforce skills qualification (WSQ)

WSQ, or the Singapore Workforce Skills Qualifications, is a national credentialing system that trains, develops, assesses and recognises workers for competencies they need to stay employable. Based on standards developed by the Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA) and various industries, WSQ ensures workers acquire workplace skills needed by employers.

With clear career progression pathways, workers can also use WSQ to:

• Upgrade their skills
  
• Plan their careers

As training and assessment are competency-based, not academic-based, workers have to demonstrate the right competencies before they are certified. Experienced and competent workers however, can opt for WSQ certification without training, as its entry criteria are skills and knowledge, not formal qualifications. Therefore, WSQ is accessible to all workers.
The quality of WSQ is assured by WDA, from the development of competency standards, accreditation of training providers to the award of qualifications.

Objectives of WSQ
1. To professionalise the industry:

• Where the industry lacks CET qualifications and the support of a Pre-employment Education and Training (PET) system.

2. To enhance labour market

• flexibility and skills portability: Where growing industries have high demand for skilled workers (high potential of skills conversion).
• Where movement between companies within industry is expected.

3. To establish skills standards for workers:

• As objective benchmarks for the skill level of workers.

Let's now look at how WSQ helps the:

1. Retailer
2. Retail Industry
3. Person who is interested to start a retailing career

Retailer

As an employer, your organisation can reap the benefits of WSQ by sending your staff for training and assessment under the WSQ.

These benefits include:

• Benchmark against best practices across the industry;
• Guide job description development;
• Improve performance management systems and training programmes;
• Establish employee career paths;
• Guide training needs analysis;
• Facilitate recruitment of competent staff; and
• Provide skills assessments.

An employer can either send its staff to an external Approved Training Organisation or provide the training internally if they meet the required criteria as an Approved Training Organisation itself. For workplace literacy and numeracy skills (WPLN), you could obtain the current competence of your staff and seek recommendation for appropriate training level for your staff from the Centre for Employability Skills. For employability and industry-related skills, you can assess the training needs of your staff and send them for relevant training at any of the approved training centres under the WSQ.

Retail Industry

The Singapore Workforce Skills Qualifications (WSQ) for the Retail Industry helps you get the competencies you need to get and keep a job in the retail industry. WSQ is recognised by industry and provides useful career pathways for workers interested in career mobility and progression in the retail industry.

Training Modules

The Singapore Workforce Skills Qualifications (WSQ) for the retail industry offers a total of 76 modules grouped under three qualifications. The qualifications are offered at three levels: operations, supervisory and managerial. Depending on what you think is suitable for you, you can choose to either:
•Do one or more module/s; and/or
•The full qualification

Person interested in a retailing career
For basic work skills, you can be trained and assessed for your employability through the Employability Skills System.

With a WSQ certification, you:
–Can upgrade your skills
–Can assess your skills against established work standards
–Have credentials for your existing skills that is recognised by other employers in Singapore
–Can plan your career path

Service Excellence WSQ
The Service Excellence WSQ aims to professionalise customer service skills as well as to raise the level of customer service standards in Singapore through training. The training will equip aspiring or existing service professionals with the relevant core competencies needed in a wide range of service related jobs. These competencies were validated by industry partners and benchmarked against international best-practices. They form the basis of the Service Excellence WSQ and are set to shape the way in which organisations, regardless of industry sectors, train and mould their staff to deliver excellent service.

One of the Service Excellence WSQ modules, "Provide GEMS Service" was adopted as a core training module to increase service level in key tourist touchpoints for the IMF/Worldbank event held in September 2006. The training programme was named "The Singapore 2006 Customer Service Training Programme" and it has effectively trained some 30,000 service staff that may serve the IMF delegates.

This is an encounter by one of their customers:
"I like their customer service because they do not fuss over you like some stores do. They give you the space you need to browse through without being stalked - means we had the freedom to roam around the store with ease and of course they're ready to help when you need them."

From the statement above, we know that Gap is always ready to serve their customers when they need help. From these good comments they receive from their customers, Gap is able to know and maintain their service standard. They know where they are at and what the customers think of them.

By knowing that Gap does good customer service, this results in the customers coming back for more in their next visits and they will also spread good word-of-mouth.

Merits of customer service approaches adopted by GAP:

• Greeters at the door
• Stock transfers/ reservations
• Training
• Communications mix
• Advertising
• Sales promotions
• Web sites
• Store atmosphere
• Publicity
• Personal selling
• E-mail
• Word of mouth

Gap uses the Free-Form Layout. Their fixtures and aisles are arranged asymmetrically to create a pleasant and relaxing ambience for their customers.

Physical Store Attributes:

• Air-conditioned
• Very bright lighting
• Music in the background
• Store portrays a very clean and spotless image
• Spacious store leads to ease of movement through the aisles (wide aisles)
• Resting areas/benches for shopping partners

The clean and spotless image that Gap stores portray also tells us what kind of products they are offering to their customers.

• Gap sells smart casual type of clothing & also very casual type of clothing.
• The kind where you can wear for formal parties as well as nights out in town.
• Trendier business clothes
• Target market: men, women, children
• They create their stores in such a way that their stores are wide & spacious to cater for their customers who are made up of women with their children in tow.

Their store layout and space planning seem like it has been thought through carefully.
It is easy for the customers to find the clothes that they want in the store:

• The front is made up of more of their casual items such as shirts.
• Deeper into the store, you can find items that are more for formal wear such as trenchcoats and dresses.
• One side towards the wall consists of shoes.

Gap places their mannequins in front and in their store. For example, the Gap store at Wisma Atria places its mannequins in the centre of their store besides the front of their store. This could be to attract the customers' attention. The mannequins are dressed in Gap's latest and best selling clothes.

Gap is also flexible:

• Able to physically move store components
• Able to modify components
• Able to respond to seasonal changes
• Able to renew without large-scale renovations

3 HR practices carried out by retailers which are unique in Singapore:

(1) Retraining employees

Successful Asian economies have concentrated on retraining employees and providing new job skills to enhance long-term employability rather than life-time employment.To provide competitiveness in their staff so as to compete with other companies, they send their employees for courses to enhance and upgrade their skills.

By retraining employees, companies are not sacking their staff. Instead, they are giving a chance to their staff to learn something new that will be of importance to them, especially in this highly competitive retail environment. Everyone has to know and be updated on the latest retail information and be IT-savvy at the same time. They also have to know what the current consumers are like so that they can serve their customers better.

Characteristics of the new & current consumers:

• Sophisticated
• Informed
• Want a variety of choices and options
• Pressed for time
• Value
• Convenience

Thus, by retraining their employees and staff, they understand the current consumers better and will therefore be more aware and serve their customers better.

(2) Hiring temporary workers

Due to the nature of our business and the long production cycle which requires head count flexibility, the hiring of temporary workers is seen as the most creative, cost effective
method to increase efficiencies around the flow of the production cycle.

Pros: Temporary workers can be a win / win situation. They come in handy when you need them, their work (ideally) is based on specific deliverables, they may be paid a lot more than other staff in exchange for their short term work schedule but they do not become eligible for benefits and therefore do not contribute to claims or rewards.

Cons: Temporary workers are denied benefits, training and other perks under this status when actually they should probably be considered for a more full time position after a certain number of months (six was the suggestion) or be deemed no longer temporary. It is not considered ethical to deny them benefits and other perks as temp
workers after a certain period of time has passed and they are clearly no longer temporary. Most temporary staff might not want to commit fully to the job and therefore do it half-heartedly. Other than that, they might not have the enough knowledge required for the job. All these reasons might affect the customers' perception about the service provided by that company.

(3) Bonuses, incentives & encouragement

Paying our bonuses or having any kind of variable compensation plan can be either
an incentive or a distraction, depending on how it is administered and communicated. Bonuses
must be designed in such a way that people understand that there is no payout unless the
company hits a certain level of profitability. Then, additional criteria can be the team’s success
and the individual’s success.

Pros: It is based on performance andcriteria is consistent for everyone, it
motivates employees to do the best of their ability and makes people more team focused.

Cons: If not communicated well, the success of one team and therefore larger payout, can be
perceived as unfair treatment. People can feel that they are not in control of the external factors that may impact the bonus in a given year (e.g. the economy).

Companies in Singapore have been known largely to provide their staff with incentives as a form of encouragement and motivation for better work rate and efficiency. Incentives can be in the form of monetary or non-monetary. Monetary incentives could include bonuses, holidays (vacation), hotel stays, etc. Non-monetary incentives could include praises that are given to their staff for their commendable effort at work, not forgetting their hardwork in which their staff has put in. Highlight those who have performed well in their work through Reward Ceremonies or during company's Dinner & Dance.

With these incentives, for example giving their staff a 3 days 2 nights stay at a hotel or giving them a free accomodation for a vacation, the company is actually helping their staff to de-stress themselves. When they return from their vacation, they will be all freshened up and relaxed and will start work with a fresh mind and body. In this way, they can work better and have a happier and relaxing mood. This helps their staff emotionally and physically (state of their body and mind).

The 2nd component of the Marketing Mix is price.

Gap adopts the High-Low Pricing Approach. In high-low pricing, a retailer charges high prices but then runs frequent promotions in which prices are temporary lowered. Gap does the same. They have frequent promotions every now and then to lure their customers into buying their products. One of their shirts can cost $40+ but during a promotion, it is significantly lowered.

At Gap Inc., they offer discounts at all of their brick & mortar locations. For example, they may offer a buy one shirt and get the 2nd half off sale. Gap is always using this type of advertising to increase sales. This brings loyal customers and new customers into the stores. The new customers get to try the product at a discount and if they like it, they can buy more.

Gap also does relationship pricing. With relationship pricing, customers have incentives to be loyal - get price incentives if you do more business with one firm. As for Gap, they focused on getting their customers to be loyal; meaning they are focusing more on retaining their customers than getting new ones. For example, the credit card case. This relationship pricing occurs in a nonprice competition, where firms focus more on building brand equity and relationships with customers. In this relationship pricing, Gap uses price as a method to build long-term relationships with their best customers. Gap focuses on giving better deals to better customers. The goal is to price relative to the value of the customer to the firm, while building loyalty and stimulating repeat buying. Like in Gap's case, they usually have sales and promotions every now and then to attract their customers to purchase their products. Gap sets their price at quite affordable prices for their customers.

Gap succeeds in the huge variety of style that it offers. Whether it is a simple classic black t-shirt or a more modern example, complete with logo, Gap consistently supplies quality at an agreeable price.



For today's post, we will talk more about how category management works for Gap as a retailer.

• Women
• Men
• GapKids (Boys, Girls)
• BabyGap (BabyGirl, BabyBoy, ToddlerGirl, ToddlerBoy)

• Shirts & Tops
• Sweaters
• Dresses
• Skirts
• Shorts
• Pants
• Jeans
• Hoodies & Jackets
• Yoga & Sport
• Swim
• Scarves, Hats & Belts
• Handbags
• Shoes
• Socks & Leggings

Under GapMen, products are further divided into:

• Jeans
• Pants
• Shorts
• Swim
• Shirts
• Polos
• T's & Tanks
• Graphic T's
• Sweaters
• Fleece
• Blazers & Vests
• Outerwear
• Underwear & Socks
• Sleep & Lounge
• Fragrance

The products are also further divided for GapKids & GapBaby and they are quite similar to the ones for GapWomen & GapMen, according to the gender. For example, for GapKids for Boys, the products are also further divided into jeans, shirts, pants, outerwear, underwear, graphic t's, and so on.

3 Elements of Gap's Retail Store Strategy:

(1) Target Market (customers' needs)

Gap has three distinct brands; each with its own target market and unique challenges. Banana Republic offers higher-priced clothing, Old Navy offers lower-price, and Gap falls in between. In 2007, Old Navy accounted for 42% of sales, with Gap responsible for 40% accounting for about 40%.

Gap has stores in Singapore at 4 major locations; Wisma Atria, VivoCity, Centrepoint and Suntec City. The Gap's brand main focus is on casual attire and targets consumers between the ages of 18 and 25. These are the places that most families and young Singaporeans like shop in. Additionally, Gap has store utilizing the brand which target narrower segments of the retail apparel industry, including GapKids, BabyGap and GapBody. Through narrowing down segments, Gap is able to cater to the different segment needs better and easier.





Company Background

The Gap Inc. is an American clothing & accessories retailer based in San Francisco, California, and founded in 1969 by Donald Fisher & Doris F. Fisher. The company has 5 primary brands: the namesake Gap banner, Banana Republic, Old Navy, Piperlime and Athleta. As of September 2008, Gap Inc. has approximately 150,000 employees and operates over 3,100 worldwide. Gap Inc. remains the largest specialty apparel retailer in the U.S., though it has recently been surpassed by the Spanish-based Inditex Group as the world's largest apparel retailer.

Despite its publicly-traded status, the Fisher family remains deeply involved in Gap Inc.'s business. Donald Fisher served as Chairman of the Board until 2004; when he stepped down, he was succeeded by his son, Robert J. Fisher. Both Donald & Doris Fisher remain on Gap Inc.'s Board of Directors, and the Fisher family collectively owns a significant portion of the company's stock.

Glenn K. Murphy is the current CEO of the company. Previous Gap Inc.'s CEOs include Millard Drexler and Paul Pressler.





In an on demand world, specialty retailers face many different challenges. Below, we explain in more depth regarding 2 challenges specialty stores encounter.



2 Challenges Specialty Stores Face:


(1) Maintaining Customer Loyalty

• To broaden their customer base without neglecting their core customers and lower-income group.
• For every retail stores, it is only normal that they want to expand their customer base & try to reach out to other segments of customers.
• For example: From only targeting working adults, a company might now have the intention to attract youths to use their products in a bid to expand their customer base.
• However, when doing so, we tend to ignore our core customers, who are the working adults, in our previous example.
• In addition, specialty store tends to have products with prices that are quite steep and this actually have an impact on the lower-income group. They will tend to avoid from patronising specialty stores.
• One solution to help build customer loyalty for specialty stores could be to have wireless kiosks that allows consumers to browse a "virtual inventory" or learn more about in-store offerings.
  

(2) Productivity Level

• Retail store specialty customers expect high quality service but employee turnover often gets in the way.
• This is due to the fact that every time a new employee joins the store, training has to be carried out every now and then.
• This leads to inconsistency in the service provided.
• For example: Service from a trainee might be totally different from an employee who has been working for 5 years.

• It is rather obvious in terms of product knowledge.
• A trainee would have to slowly adjust to the working style, how to serve, etc, & also has to learn more about the product knowledge; whereas a 5 years of experience employee should already be comfortable with the working style & knows about the products at the tip of his/her fingers.
• This could also minimise time & money that has to be spend on training.
• Upon serving, the 5-years-experienced employee can already apply all the value-added customer service & also gives suggestions & opinions wherever needed.
• This is important as customers that patronise specialty stores tend to ask more questions as they have quite an adequate knowledge of the products through the internet and might already have done some comparisons with other stores.

Definition of a Specialty Store

A specialty store is a store, usually retail, that offers specific and specialized types of items. These stores focus on selling a particular brand, or a particular type of item.

For example, a store that exclusively sells cell phones or video games would be considered specialized. Sometimes, it includes chain retail stores that sell a specific brand of clothing. This would make retail outlets like Gap and Victoria's Secret specialty stores, because all the clothing sold there is manufactured specifically for that store. For example, if you buy something from Gap, the product will have a Gap label.

In this definition, the specialty store can carry a diverse range of products. Though Gap specializes in clothing, their clothing is marketed for children, teenagers and also adults. You might also occasionally find Gap shoes or socks.

the Fashion Lurver

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Here, we talk about our take on retailers and what's been going about in the retail industry. We will also be focusing on a particular group of retailer and their Retail Store Operations and Management.


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Nur Sakinah Bte Hashim
Nurezzati Bte Jumadi
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