The Analysis Of A Canadian Based Women’S Clothing Store Franchise "Aritzia"

Aritzia is a Canadian based women’s clothing store franchise. It was founded in 1984, in Vancouver, British Columbia by Brian Hill. Since Aritzia’s debut, it has expanded across all of North America; today there are 63 stores located in Canada, and 21 in the United States. Stepping into an Aritzia store, isn’t the same as any ordinary clothing store. Each and every location is designed exclusively, and is solely dependent.

The clothing sold is made of the highest quality fabrics from the top designers around the world and does not come with a small price tag. An important component to Aritzia’s everyday operation, is its reliance on its Retail & Wholesale Buyer. A Retail and Wholesale Buyer has many job responsibilities, they may include:

• Making sure that all sales and clerical staff are properly trained.
• Decide what brands/designers will be sold in stores, as well as used in advertisements.
• Monitor trends within the market as well as economic viewpoints, in order to be properly qualified to select which merchandise to bring in.
• Must oversee of all the shipping and handling of merchandise to selected stores.
• Work together with sales and category managers in order to achieve the highest quality of customer satisfaction with the products.
• Must set or at other times recommend reasonable prices for the goods being sold.
• In charge of all approvals of merchandise orders and returns.
• Organize meetings with sales managers in order to introduce new merchandise to be implemented in stores.

A job responsibility that caught my attention is the decision making processes for the brands and designers that are implemented within the stores and advertisements. Another responsibility that interests me is the overwatch of market trends and economic situations in order to make the correct decisions to keep the company up to date. The reason behind my interest in these job duties is because of their dire importance to the company, their relevance to the economy and awareness of current trends.

Although most of the job responsibilities do seem quite appealing to me I would say that the ones dealing with coworkers and people under me would be the most aggravating and difficult to perform. For example, organizing meetings and collective teamwork with sales managers would be difficult because it is very time consuming, and not all managers may agree with my own or each other’s points or thoughts. Another job responsibility that would be difficult for me is the training of new workers around or under me. Again this is another time consuming activity that can result in negative outcomes for myself, the store, and in extreme cases, the company as a whole.

The same basic responsibilities will hold true for all companies because they all need goods to sell, and all need someone in charge of organizing and implementing the correct amounts and brands. The differences may be due to geographic locations (different cities have different average incomes) or even just company reliance on the individual within that job. For instance, larger companies with more brands and higher total numbers of goods being sold will have more responsibilities for the wholesale buyer than a smaller company would.

Personally, I do not think I would pursue this job because there are too many requirements and responsibilities to be held accountable for. I find that monitoring the market and economy is very interesting and even selecting and counting the correct merchandise to be implemented into the store could be a very enjoyable career. But, I think that the major downfall to this position is the fact that I would need to deal with all other managers within the company, both above and below my paygrade, and would need to organize several meetings in order to achieve my responsibilities. On top of all that being the retail and wholesale buyer for Aritzia would be a lot of pressure since I would be dealing with very expensive goods, and the consumers of those goods expecting the highest quality and service.

Personally, I would not accept this salary if the job of retail and wholesale buyer at Aritzia was offered to me. The reason being that I do not think it is enough money for the amount of responsibilities and expectations that are included in the job. Also, being the retail and wholesale buyer for an upper-class company like Aritzia there is more pressure since the goods are of a higher value. If this pay was for an entry level job and I worked under a manager, then yes, I would accept the position as most of the requirements and pressure has been lifted and placed on someone who deserves better pay.

Layout Strategy

Stepping into an Aritzia boutique is truly a one of a kind experience. Each and every store is designed individually and like no other. Aritzia’s architects and interior designers extensively plan out the layouts of locations by mixing together local inspiration along with Aritzia’s unique and spirited clothing style.

Location Strategy

Aritzia uses very little in the way advertisement strategies, making the geographical search for the new ideal location of every boutique, even more significant. Their motivation is to have stores in elite shopping locations; therefore stores can be found in high end malls, and on busy streets of major cities.

Managing Quality

As included in Aritzia’s mission statement, they are “obsessed” with quality. One of the things that Aritzia prides themselves on is the quality of their inventory.

Supply-Chain Management

Aritzia is a huge candidate in global employment, and through that being advocates for human rights. They choose their manufacturers and partners carefully, making sure anyone they’re affiliated with uphold and abide by their Vendor Code of Conduct.