Secrets of Next! Excellent blog post, really worth a read

sarahlouisexo

I found this blog post online, thought it might be useful to anyone who frequents the Next Sale - I know theres one next weekend!

Next sales are a highlight of the retail calendar, and for customers who are particularly devoted to the retail giant, it can even be the biggest event of the year. As an ex-employee of Next, I have a unique insight on the sale madness, and I’m in the mood to share.
There are four Next sales in a calendar year, and there are two different types – two ‘end of season’ and two ‘mid season’. The end of season sales are summer and winter, with the winter sale always falling on Boxing Day. ‘Tis the season, right? The summer end of season sale usually falls in the middle of July, and the two mid season sales vary, but typically fall around the third weekends in March and September. If you ask staff from around mid February, or mid August depending on which mid season sale you want, they can give you definite dates – but they aren’t allowed to confirm the summer until two weeks before.
Mid season and end of season sales differ because of their length, the amount of stock that goes into the sale, and how much of the store is moved around to accommodate them. Mid season sales have only a small amount of the store moved around, and some full price stock will remain on the shop floor – end of season sales have all full priced stock removed, and the whole shop floor will be devoted to sale, both merchandise and signage. End of season sales also have a lot more stock go into them, and a lot more of it is full priced stock reduced, mid season sales have less stock overall, less newly reduced stock and more stock from previous sales, brought out again.
Each store will start to prep for the sales at a different point, which depends on the size of the store, the size of the stock room they have available, and how many staff they have available. Sale preparation is mainly done by identifying items as early as possible, the ones in the back will have sale tickets attached straight away, whereas the items on the shop floor will have a pencilled code written on them, something like B14, DP20 and so on. The letters stand for the colour of the sale ticket that will be attached for the item, and the number on the ticket is the price that the item will go down to – it will always be at least half price, but will often be more. That is how you identify sale items, although staff cannot tell you this, or confirm this, on pain of death, and if you ask them the answer ‘Oh must have been done by the warehouse’, or something similar will be given.
Even if you explain that you know what the codes mean, the staff cannot confirm this, agree with you, or tell you that you’re right, this would amount to gross misconduct, and they can be disciplined or dismissed for this. You also absolutely cannot be given things at sale price, even if you know what the price will be.
The day before the sale, the store will start to move stock around, and parts of the store will be cordoned off with curtains – you cannot go behind these, and once they have been erected you cannot have stock from behind them. In addition, if you are looking for an item you cannot see, it will be exceptionally difficult for the staff to find it during sale preparation – everything will be moved from its regular spaces and the normal system of ordering the stock will be completely gone – don’t have a go at the sales assistant, there is honestly nothing they can do. Ideally, don’t visit Next the day before the sale, or even the day before that. I can guarantee it won’t be a productive shopping trip.
Next stores tend to open early on the day of the sale, with many opening at 5am. Even if they don’t open that early, they DO open earlier than they typically would. Sale items can be returned, but usually you are given less time. At the moment returns must be done within 14 days, but check this EACH SALE as it does change frequently. In addition, during end of season sale weekend, you cannot bring directory returns back, it’s worth remembering this as its NOT worth queuing to be turned away at the till!
I’ll post extra blogs as I think of other secrets to reveal.

Pookie82

Thanks for posting this. I do love next and most of my wardrobe is from there.

team-cullen

i've been going to next sales since 2002 and i just look at my diary from the year before to know what are the sale dates, they have always been right, at the summer sale this year we saw a lady trying on clothes in the store as the changing rooms are closed on sale days, which was fine but she had pulled off paper next staff had stuck over the mirrors so she could see how the clothes looked, which i had never before noticed that next cover the mirrors, but a SA had come over and told her she had to cover the mirror again, i really could not see what the problem was

sarahlouisexo

team-cullen wrote: »

i've been going to next sales since 2002 and i just look at my diary from the year before to know what are the sale dates, they have always been right, at the summer sale this year we saw a lady trying on clothes in the store as the changing rooms are closed on sale days, which was fine but she had pulled off paper next staff had stuck over the mirrors so she could see how the clothes looked, which i had never before noticed that next cover the mirrors, but a SA had come over and told her she had to cover the mirror again, i really could not see what the problem was

Its all to do with Health and Safety, because of the amount of people in the store they can't have someone stood trying things on, surronded by bags of shopping and so it - bit silly, but they offer full refunds so just take it home and try it on in comfort of your own home IMO!