Aéropostale, Inc. Case Study

Description of sponsoring firm

Aéropostale, Inc. is a mall-based, specialty retailer of casual apparel and accessories, principally targeting 11 to 18 year-old young women and men. The company provides customers with a focused selection of high-quality, active-oriented, fashion basic merchandise at convincing values. Aéropostale maintains control over its proprietary brands by designing, marketing and selling all of its own merchandise. Aéropostale products are currently purchased only in its stores, on-line thorough its website (www.aeropostale.com) or at organized sales events at college campuses. The first Aéropostale store was opened in 1987 and as of June 2006 has over 700 stores nationwide.

Recently within the past few months a new store has opened in the Eagle Ridge Mall located in Lake Wales, FL. I chose to apply for an internship at this location based on the conversation that I had with the manager, and the research that I had done on the internet. Seeing as though Marketing is a very big part of their organization, I was excited and willing to gain new experience in the area of my major. In other jobs that I had done there was very little concerning this concept if any at all. I was set up in an initial group orientation in which we were informed of the rules that were outlined in the employee handbook. Then almost immediately I began to learn the concepts that would make a huge impact on how marketing plays a role in this organization.

Internship Position

My internship position was just a sales representative. The internship with Aéropostale consists of several things in which I have to learn. I have to remember and be able to apply the acronyms B.A.A.S.I.C.S (Begin with a sales pitch, ask for sizes, add on, size and recover, immediate floor supervisor, cashiers that kick butt, say thank you) , TBLA (tops, bottoms, layers, accessories), and M.O.M.S (make suggestions, offer solutions, moms buy most clothes, sale). Along with these I also have to learn the marketing terms for how the store is set up, what certain display techniques were called and how to fold to specifications.

My first goal will be to learn the different acronyms that are so vital for success in this business. In order to do this I will be quizzed daily by others at work including the managers. This is so that I will memorize these concepts so that I can apply them to customers in order to market the store properly.