Retail Insights

Interesting night at work last night.  Generally, my job at Kohl's has been to work with the team on intake:  accepting loads of merchandise and getting it ready for sale.  The guys unload the trucks and we open the boxes, etc.  However, just before and after Christmas we've been working on other jobs:  restocking shelves and racks to get all of the winter stuff out on the floor for sale, identifying the merchandise that needs to be put on clearance, and last night I was working on going through all of the merchandise that has been collected in the fitting rooms and in returns over the past week.  I was shocked at how much stuff was on racks and in baskets in the "returns room" -- all of which had to be scanned so the things that are on clearance could be weeded out, marked appropriately, and put on the clearance racks.  Then, the "active" merchandise could be sorted and the day people could return the new stuff back out to the floor.

Using a hand-held scanner, I spent 8 hours scanning clothing, sorting the clearance from the active, printing labels as necessary, and setting the racks up for the day staff.  After 8 full hours, there were still two complete double racks of men's clothing that I hadn't gotten to.  Amazing how much there was!  I really kind of enjoyed the task, though; it was a bit like a treasure hunt as we looked for clothing that needed to be marked for clearance.  There were some amazing deals with mark downs of 60, 70, 80 and 90%.  The best deal I saw was a really cute wool winter coat -- originally $160 now 90% off on sale for $16!  Unfortunately, it was a Medium and I wasn't sure it would fit anyone that I knew or I would have grabbed it up.  I did pull out a winter vest for myself -- burnt orange nylon shell with a sherpa lining.

Slept like a top today.  Went to bed immediately upon arriving home (around 6:30) and slept until around 2.  Tonight I'll be back to intake as we're expecting a truck with new merchandise tonight.  During break, I may take a spin around the clearance racks to see what other really good deals there might be.  I've been finding shirts for the kids for $3 and $4.