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Retailer Face To Face
Some Fine
Tayloring
The middle of May saw Bentalls’ greeting card department being ‘put out to grass’ as part of the Kingston department store’s themed Summer Garden Party. While the tops of its fixtures were ‘laid out to lawn’ (the grassy tops attracting attention from the thousands who make their way down to the department in the atrium on the lower ground floor), Jenni Taylor, Bentalls’ card and wrap buyer, made the most of its new free-standing feature areas, by creating a floral ‘bouquet’ of products. PG enjoyed some ‘summer loving’ in this Retas award-winning everblossoming card department. For many people, a ‘Monday morning feeling’ is not something they necessarily look forward to, but for Jenni Taylor, card buyer of Bentalls department store in Kingston, it is a highlight of her week. The reason being that this is when she hot-foots it to the card and wrap department to see how the new designs that are always put on the racks at the end of the previous week had fared over the weekend. “I love the fact that we can respond so quickly, but then so do our customers,” says Jenni. “We stock cards from over 100 different greeting card and wrap companies, but I am always open to new ideas, be it on the
design or caption front, as our customers expect it from us.” New card collections, in drops of eight cards, are introduced into the card racks several times a week, but it only takes Jenni a few days to gauge their success. “Our customers have an uncanny knack of knowing where the new designs are. As I am driving to work on a Monday morning, I can’t wait to find out how many of the new designs have sold. I go straight to the department and then up to the office and order more of the designs that have done well. It is a great feeling to know that you have understood the tastes of your customer,” admits Jenni. Although she only took on the role as Left: Jenni Taylor, card buyer, with one of her current favourite cards, a fashion design from English Graphics.
card buyer for the venerable department store two years ago, Jenni is no stranger to the store or its greeting card department. She has been working at Bentalls for 16 years, having joined as a part-time sales assistant while still a student. She worked her way up from the shopfloor, latterly managing the greeting card department, before moving into buying, initially china and glassware. Then, when the previous card buyer went on maternity leave, Jenni applied for the job and has not looked back since. “I love it; it’s my baby. I want to stay buying cards and wrap forever,” she says enthusiastically. She has little understanding why department store buyers generally see it as a progression into buying fashion clothing. “I just don’t get it. Greeting cards are fashion, but fashion with a heart,” she says philosophically. Bentalls has long held a strong reputation for its card department. Part of the Fenwick group (since 2001), in keeping with the other stores, Bentalls buys independently. Not just independently, but fiercely so, with no intention to move to brokerage or a publisher planned display model. “It’s our job to find the cards our customers would like and create a Above: Bentalls began as a drapery shop in 1867. Inset: Able to be seen by every customer using the escalator, the greeting card and stationery department is a popular department on the lower ground floor.
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