How I became ‘A Visual Merchandiser’?

As I was at the last semester of my Fashion Apparel Designing degree, I got an opportunity to work with a renowned company ‘Shoppersstop’, a campus placement. I started working for the interview lined up with the company, there were many rounds to clear.

As I got the confirmation from my college about my placement in the company, I was on Cloud-9. My last semester still had a month to go, the excitement was increasing to work as it was going to be my first job. The days were passing so slow & excitement was at the peak. I had got an option between two major cities – Ahmedabad & Mumbai.

( Image Credits – Shoppers Stop )

 Finally, my joining day was there 6^th June. 2016, a day to mark forever. The city of dreams was where my first job began – Mumbai. I was hired as an Intern on an experimental project “Expert Visual Merchandiser”. First of all,  Retail a new concept and never heard of this position. Was it easy to go ahead? I never knew it would be totally a new experience waiting to challenge me.

    (Image Credits – Mumbai Skyline by Riteshsaini)

The fun began when I completed my joining and started searching for stay & many more. There were many things that I was coming across for the first time. I started going to my job, the training session were amazing start to this unknowing journey. Almost after a week, I got a stay and my training sessions also ended good.

I was working as an Expert VM, whose job profile had to visit three major stores – Malad, Bandra & Juhu. The Shoppers Stop brands like Stop , Life , Vetterio Fratini , Kashish , Haute Curry were to be made more creative and innovative sections. I used to explore each day new ideas with new challenges.

                                                  “Every Day is A New Day”

I started enjoying my work , visiting different stores, working in different brands , coming up with new ideas , tracking performance on weekly basis , meeting new people.

(Image Credits – Shoppers Stop, Malad)

The journey of being an Expert Visual Merchandiser continued for 6months, where-in I was also given an opportunity to work for Head Office renovation project. You must be thinking , everything going too smooth, wasn’t a twist required?

Later on, looking at my over-all performance I was given an opportunity to work for Shoppers Stop, Kolhapur – D.Y.Patil Mall. It was again a great experience of 7months. It was a new challenge as I was lacking with resources, vendors & still delivering work on time within budget. I made many friends & second families while surviving my days.

Shoppers Stop – Kolhapur

A turning Point…..isn’t it? I was given transfer to Mumbai – Kalyan store. I started working there as well, as the culture was very familiar to me till now. I was unfortunate to get good Boss and Team to work with. There was again a new challenge waiting for me like, very less budget store but lot more to explore. Even Sales used to get affected due to location of store & mall having less customers. I did a new store opening of Shoppers Stop too – Big Thane Store.

Shoppers Stop – Kalyan Store

All together Shoppers Stop was a roller-coaster start to my unknowing journey of Visual Merchandising. I have learnt a lot of things, exploring many places & brands, came across new people. Visual merchandising itself is a destination made valuable to me by an opportunity. I have worked for almost 2years with Shoppers Stop & had to come back to Pune.

“Success Is A Journey, Not A Destination”