Jack
Video transcript
My name's Jack Wellby and I'm on the Merchandising Graduate scheme at John Lewis. I joined in September 2010, so I've been here nearly a year and I was part of the first intake of merchandising graduates.
A lot of people get confused between visual merchandising and merchandising. Visual merchandising‘s all about how product looks on the shop floor. Merchandising's very different; it is all about the stock management and the risk management within the John Lewis buying offices.
I think the most challenging aspect of the job is forecasting the quantities of stock to buy; you don't know what's going to be the big success over the next Christmas or the next trading periods but in the end you've got to plump for a number and you've got to order that product and if it sells out too early or you're left with vast quantities of it at the end, that's a problem but if you get it right then that's great.
The one that stands out to me is taking forward the Olympics' range in John Lewis. John Lewis is the official Olympics' department store and with that comes a lot of opportunity and also a lot of challenges. Trying to manage the stock through an Olympic trading period and 900 different products which are going to be incredibly popular during the Olympics; big challenge but something where you really work together with buying, merchandising, press, PR, finance and LOCOG, the Olympics' organising committee to try and achieve the results.
I applied for the scheme in the first place as a result of my mum saying, “I think you should apply for John Lewis”. I was a bit hesitant at first because my perception was that John Lewis was a little bit old fashioned, a little bit slow. But I thought I'd give it a go and I went along and actually at the interview stage when the people I met who both worked there and who were applying completely changed my perception of what John Lewis was all about.
I'm not just a graduate, I'm not just a Merchandising Administrator, you're a Partner and you therefore feel part of everything in the business. It's not you and Head Office and the store, it is them together and you're all in it together and when you meet someone outside and you find out they're a Partner, you've got something in common and that just stays throughout.
To someone who's considering applying, I'd tell them to give it a go, if they're interested in retail then John Lewis is the best place to work. It's incredibly fast moving, it's the market leader and it's where people want to be, so if you can get involved now, then do.
