Malled
My Unintentional Career in Retail
By: Caitlin Kelly
Published: April 14, 2011
Format: Hardcover, 240 pages
ISBN-10: 9781591843801
ISBN-13: 978-1591843801
Publisher: Portfolio/Penguin
"And so I decided to join a populous, if largely ignored, tribe - the fifteen million Americans working in retail, one million of whom sell apparel", writes renowned reporter and feature writer Caitlin Kelly, in her eye opening and engaging book Malled: My Unintentional Career in Retail. The author describes her experiences behind the cash wrap as a retail sales associate for internationally known outdoor apparel retailer The North Face, and shares some important insights into the world of the retail employee.
Caitlin Kelly enjoyed her early retail sales experience at The North Face, but over time the pressure, remote corporate bureaucracy, and lack of career advancement gradually removed her enthusiasm, The author expresses with honesty and compassion the important role of the retail sales person in the national and international supply chain. Despite their personal contact with every type of customer, including the good, the bad, and the downright ugly, sales associates conduct their employment duties professionally and with dignity. Unfortunately, these crucial links to the customer base, and their ability to make or break the company bottom line, sales associates are all too often treated as disposable and unimportant by the corporate executive suite. For the author, this lack of regard for retail sales people is a huge mistake on the part of the retail organization.
Caitlin Kelly (photo left) makes a powerful case that improving employee relationships with retail employees would enhance company sales revenue and improve the corporate public image. For the author, retailers are missing a valuable opportunity to increase their organizational profitability by ignoring and failing to capitalize on the talent and skills of their retail staff people. Retailers pay very low wages, offer limited benefits, and often oppressive work environments. As a result, half of new hires leave the job within three months, increasing hiring and training costs. The entire retail industry, according to the author, is using a failed personnel management model that is costing them money in terms of lost sales, wasted brand potential, weak customer service, and the benefits of long term engaged employees. Instead of squeezing their sales associates, retailers would be well advised to increase wages and improve work environments to gain the untapped brand ambassadorship potential of the staff.
For me, the power of the book is how Caitlim Kelly shares both her personal story, and that of the million strong apparel retail employees, into a seamless narrative description of the retail industry. The book exposes what amounts to a broken business model, where overworked and underpaid staff provide herculean effort for little thanks, recognition, or appreciation. As a lesson in failed personnel management practices, the book is a veritable treasure trove of how not to develop an engaged workforce. The incredibly high turnover rate of sales associates is evidence that the system is not working. Through the current management practices, productivity is lost, revenue is left on the floor, brands are tarnished, and many retailers face bankruptcy.
Caitlin Kelly recognizes that high retail staff turnover rates are not carved into stone. The author provides examples of improved retention rates through changes in management practices, more engaging workplaces, and improved staff compensation levels. While retailers may point to high fixed costs, the evidence of retail failures despite low wages, points to other problems in the management strategy. Retail employment is an honorable profession. Retail staff people work hard, take pride in their work, and very often transform dissatisfied customers into brand evangelists. These successes could be multiplied many times over, and the retail industry could be much stronger financially. All it would take to improve the outlook for the retail sector, regardless of economic conditions, is better treatment, better pay, and deeper appreciation for for the retail sales associates.
I highly recommend the deeply personal and must read book Malled: My Unintentional Career in Retail by Caitlin Kelly, to anyone seeking an insider view of the multi-trillion dollar retail industry. This book provides unvarnished insights into what it's really like behind the cash wrap, through the eyes of the people who work in the retail industry. This book will open people's eyes to what is really happening as part of the shopping experience, and the true cost of the goods on offer.
Read the fascinating and worldview changing book Malled: My Unintentional Career in Retail by Caitlin Kelly, and discover what it's really like to be employed in the retail sector. This book also provides evidence of an industry business model that is outdated and ineffective in achieving overall company goals. Changes that engage and empower sales associates will boost the success rate of retail companies, while also improving the lives of their valuable and under appreciated sales people.
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