MEGATHREAD Hang Me (The Softlines Thread)

[sher]

We have no problem keeping up on the carts as our FRO is chained to the FR... we don't have a cordless phone so she/he has to stay in reach of the desk. Most of our FROs don't have any trouble keeping up with the hanging and folding.

Our FR attendant doesn't have to do phones all day, but there's usually 3-6 hours of each day where there's no one scheduled in there at all, so during that time, we're falling behind on sorting and rehanging/folding people's no items. So on weekends, it's a perpetual game of catch up, we'd be fine in the fr during the week if it weren't for a recent string of call outs.

 

[greydot]

Does anyone have a setup guide for a P-prototype target? That's a target where there is only one entrance and softlines is on one side of the store and hard-lines is on the other? (Not one where softlines is in the middle and hardliners wraps around the perimeter). On workbench today there was only one available for City Targets.

 

[BullseyeBabe]

Could someone please tell me why the tables and racks have to be overstocked to the point that they look horrible no matter how hard you try to make them look nice. I'm usually on the sales floor so when I work soft lines it drives me crazy!

 

[NeoDarikona]

It's generally a sign of poor training on both the flow and/or salesfloor.

 

[crazysoftlinescloser]

At our store we are only allowed to backstock active items. anything discontinued has to be out on the tables. That said overfill is often b/c flow and team don't check. For racks... we don't have storage for hanging anymore.....so no back stock. Sometimes people forget to pull out the fixture lengths.

 

[findmeharry]

I can't wait for Fathers Day to be over. If I get 1 more pair of shorts, I will have to start hanging them from the overhead lights!!

Surprisingly, I've had more bathing suits then shorts.

 

[findmeharry]

Could someone please tell me why the tables and racks have to be overstocked to the point that they look horrible no matter how hard you try to make them look nice. I'm usually on the sales floor so when I work soft lines it drives me crazy!

I agree - it's usually poor leadership. However, I worked for a Target where we had to have everything out because the ETL-Softlines wanted to make sure the guests would be able to get the size they needed. In other words, it's a bunch of a crap that they come up with a reason for.

 

[mrknownothing]

because the ETL-Softlines wanted to make sure the guests would be able to get the size they needed.

Isn't that why we have an automated replenishment system which includes softlines?

 

[sigma7]

Old school style was "stack it, rack it, and pack it." Or the phrase "pack it out." We don't want stuff sitting in the backroom. Of course, you also don't want it so full that guests can't shop it.

 

[MisterTrickster]

Seeking some answers here;
How do you guys get Softlines team members/flow team members to push to adjacency? It has became nearly impossible at my store.
Also, How do you guys maintain basic areas? Infants,Shoes,intimates,hosiery,boys and girls,mens basics? It seems like theres barely time to zone the floor pads much less basics.

Also, does anyone have any organizational methods around reshop at the fitting room?other then the zrack. it seems like there is always a clutter of buggies

 

[crazysoftlinescloser]

Seeking some answers here;
How do you guys get Softlines team members/flow team members to push to adjacency? It has became nearly impossible at my store.
Also, How do you guys maintain basic areas? Infants,Shoes,intimates,hosiery,boys and girls,mens basics? It seems like theres barely time to zone the floor pads much less basics.

Also, does anyone have any organizational methods around reshop at the fitting room?other then the zrack. it seems like there is always a clutter of buggies

 

[crazysoftlinescloser]

As a tem member I do what they tell me too. lol At our store my TL has one of us superzone a basics are 1-2x / month. not a favorite job but once its done its easy to maintain. we also have 2 brand TM one works almost exclusively on adjacencies on maintaining brand. We're limited on the # of carts we can have in the frm. We also.take out supplies for on spot maintenance.

 

[Noiinteam]

As a flow team member I use to push to adjacency but that stopped about a year ago. STL made it clear truck needs to be done. I guess she felt it was taking too long. Works for me! I move stuff around as needed to get stuff out.

 

[NeoDarikona]

It needs to be pushed out because they're rarely ever enough hours to ensure adequate audits can be done in the back to pull the overstock. Honestly just get creative about pushing it out.

Is it street date? No? Push it out and just make sure the brands and pricing are matching. The only areas you should avoid dicking with are the strike points and sales racks/tables.

 

[crazysoftlinescloser]

Question about phones. We just got an update and now have a fancy system the brand is Cisco. Our old phone was so much easier! anyway anyone know where the "release" button is? (when you paged on the old phones you pushed release so there wasnt a audible click when you hung up.) Nobody can figure out how to avoid the "click" with the new phone... lol.a goofy question but...

 

[sher]

I thought I responded to this before, but eh, I don't know the answer. We have Cisco phones, but since we started doing operator, we've always had a Cisco phone.

On another phone note, our side-panel that allows you to see what lines have calls parked on em has been missing for months, so they ask us "is that call still on 80?" and we're like "i don't know..." and they're all "girl, what?" because they've never seen the phone to know how it works. It's a pain.

Whenever they try to change things we all make bets on how long it'll be. They had us stop folding in my store at night and throughout the day in the midst of some sort of focus on reshop. Someone folds in the morning, I guess. And we all think this week we'll go back to normal. It's been about 2.5 weeks. In their attempt to deal with the reshop problem, we have way more folded reshop than we ever have had sitting around. Can't put it on top of the mess that is the tables. And we're all snarky assholes who like to follow orders to the letter just so they can see how dumb they are, quickly.

I really don't wanna go back to work tomorrow. I'm on tbr, in hopes it brings me back down to reality.

 

[sher]

It wasn't horrible. Super busy for a Wednesday,but then I remember people who don't work retail are getting ready for tomorrow's BBQs. MyTime is actually giving us more fitting room coverage than ever, and we had a crazy storm last night so I got most of the reshop sorted before I was called (by the person closing the floor) to help clean clearance and rtw.

Lots of reshop still, though lol, it's just sorted now.

 

[RightArm]

I notice that some stores actually have a Softlines Adjacency Team. Um, we're not so lucky. We have Softlines salesfloor people, two brand team members, operators, and then two TLs. That means that our TLs are setting all POGs in softlines and doing the adjacencies themselves. Plano comes in for major work like resetting bras in intimates or resetting shoes and they reset infant hardlines. They used to help with the back walls but no longer do that. Our brand TMs take care of shoes, accessories, intimates (bras/panties) and hosiery with salesplanners/signing/maintaining/pogs as needed for those departments. Brand TM's are also responsible for problem solving on the floor in all departments when the TLs are not available and they help with ad signing on Sunday mornings. The TLs take care of everything in all the other departments and set all adjacencies. There never seems to be enough time, hours, or TMs to get everything done and you just have to roll with it on a daily basis. The real problem always seems to be getting dedicated TMs who actually care about their work and take pride in what they do. Get that and together you can move mountains. Have to think a bit more on the "routine" questions. Too many thoughts coming to mind at once. Oh, and welcome to the insanity.

 

[Noiinteam]

Shoe reset. Why oh why did someone think it was a good idea to puts womens c9 sneaks with men's. When I go shoe shopping, I don't go to the men's area. Put signage up on the wall or something. Dumb imo.

 

[SoftlinesSerf]

It seems like half of our shoe department went on clearance once back to school shopping started. Shoes went to a easy area to zone to an absolute nightmare. The person who is closing fitting room usually zones it, but lately that job is pushed aside until the next morning when it's quiet and easy to get away from the fitting room for a few minutes.

 

[Deli Ninja]

It seems like half of our shoe department went on clearance once back to school shopping started. Shoes went to a easy area to zone to an absolute nightmare. The person who is closing fitting room usually zones it, but lately that job is pushed aside until the next morning when it's quiet and easy to get away from the fitting room for a few minutes.

Last night, all we did was throw the shoes back on the shelves, not even worry about boxes, and ran. We're in a college town and it was BAD. It was all over the floor and we just didn't have enough people to zone. I feel bad for whoever gets to actually zone shoes next.
Edit: I work at a Super so the Fitting Room/Operator rarely gets to do any zoning, between guests, rewrap, and carts from Guest Services and zone carts.

 

[Deli Ninja]

As far as I can tell, they're still just brand TMs, they're just being allowed to focus on one area all the time. We have some of that going on at my store and it's OK. People get grumpy when a "specialist" decides to zone their area when they're closing, before even looking at the other areas, though.

 

[RightArm]

Shoe reset. Why oh why did someone think it was a good idea to puts womens c9 sneaks with men's. When I go shoe shopping, I don't go to the men's area. Put signage up on the wall or something. Dumb imo.

Aren't all the c9 together on one row with the converse? Like mens/womens/boys/girls/toddlers? It is an absolutely dumb idea... so dumb that we haven't yet figured out how to manage it. Because in order to put the c9 in that one aisle they want it in we sort of have to know where the boys shoes are going to go.

 

[RightArm]

Shoes has been insanity lately! Thankfully one of our brand team members is going to be our shoes specialist going forward, so it's been a lot easier with someone who focuses soley on maintaining zone and assisting guests there.

Side note: I was under the impression that specialist positions were no more - anyone know if/why they might be bringing this back? Have any other stores had this happen? Not that I'm complaining! It's a big help. I just thought it was weird. Especially since we had someone from district come in and do a teach out with our TL for the area and the specialist TM - it's not like an unofficial thing we're just doing as a store...

In our store the job never went away. The title did. The pay raise did. But the job never did. So basically instead of saying "specialist" it's just a responsibility of the brand team member to take on an area. I don't think the positions are coming back but if they're really serious about guest service they ought to imho.

 

[RightArm]

As far as I can tell, they're still just brand TMs, they're just being allowed to focus on one area all the time. We have some of that going on at my store and it's OK. People get grumpy when a "specialist" decides to zone their area when they're closing, before even looking at the other areas, though.

Bad when you have them working nights. Usually they work days so that when the closers come in they can tell that the area the specialist/brand TM holds has been well cared for. Makes the night zoning a cinch. When ours was in back in the day of the "specialist" we could always tell. She maintained the zone and the signing and set all the salesplanners. By the time we got there at night it was soooooo easy to fix anything the guests touched.