The History of Marshalls

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1 Date: December 11, 2014 To: Judy Bello From: Joshua Blackwell Subject: Research Report on Marshalls Throughout my research, I have learned about the history of Marshalls and how Marshalls and its parent company, TJX Companies Inc., operate. This report focuses on Marshalls, but also includes information on TJX Companies Inc. It will cover background information on the history of Marshalls, background information on Marshalls and TJX Companies Inc., the day-to-day activities of Marshalls and its inner communication, how Marshalls and TJX Companies Inc. handles the public, and the future of Marshalls and TJX Companies Inc. The History of Marshalls According to Wikipedia, Marshalls was created by Alfred Marshall in He wanted to create a department store that could compete in the growing economy. He and his fellow businessmen opened their first Marshalls in Beverly, Massachusetts. Within fifteen years, Marshalls was the number one store in America that was an off-price retail type of store. Marshalls offered home items and clothing, and the reason they were so successful was because they offered their merchandise at prices other stores could not compete with. They would buy other stores items that the stores had too many of, items from stores that were closing down, and items that were not in season. Then, they would sell the items anywhere from 20% off to an extreme 60% off. Other stores could not compete with these discounts. They remained unbeaten and kept growing until a store named T.J. Maxx was able to compete with their prices. T.J. Maxx was owned by TJX Companies Inc., and in 1995, TJX Companies Inc. purchased Marshalls. Background of Current Marshalls Marshalls currently has stores in 42 states in the United States, Puerto Rico, and Canada. They have small stores and large stores. The large ones are called Marshalls Mega Stores. As of 2013, there are 942 Marshalls stores. Together, Marshalls and T.J. Maxx make up the 3000 off-retail department stores owned by TJX Companies Inc. Marshalls offers a sizable range of products. On their store site, they: Have toys like barbies, cars, and mini-pool tables Offer helpful children items like backpacks and lunchboxes for school Provide home items like dishware, drink glasses, towels, pillows, sheets, and cookware Supply beauty items like makeup, perfume, and stuff to style your hair with like blow dryers, curlers, and straighteners Sell tech items like phone cases, speakers, headphones, and covers for items like laptops and tablets Provide designer shoes, slippers, boots, sandals and heels

2 Offer designer purses from Michael Kors, Kate Spade, Dooney & Burke, and Coach Have designer apparel such as Max Studio, Cynthia Rowley, Michael Kors, Calvin Klein, and Polo Information About TJX Companies Inc. Their parent corporation, TJX Companies Inc. has its headquarters in Framingham, Massachusetts. The current CEO is Carol Meyrowitz. Marshalls and the rest of TJX Companies Inc. are doing very well. According to the TJX Companies Inc. website, they have had consistent growth over the past 37 years with only one year of significant decline. The company stock is doing wonderfully, as well. Outside of the recession in the late 2000 s, it has been on a constant rise over the past 10 years. It is currently priced at $ Day-to-Day Activities and Communication at Marshalls For my research, I interviewed two employees from Marshalls. Danielle Cerrie is a sales floor associate and has been working at Marshalls since November Luz Hernandez is a manager and has been working at Marshalls since May Danielle and Luz have some similar duties, but they have different ones as well because of their differing employee rank. Combined, their duties reflect the typical daily activities of a Marshalls department store. As a sales floor associate, Danielle has duties such as: Providing customer service constantly

3 Maintaining a clean sales floor Pricing items for customers Stocking the sales floor with new merchandise Training new employees Leading the night crew in the womens department Throughout her shifts, Danielle is constantly communicating with fellow employees and her managers. When she is leading the night crew, she has use face-to-face communication every hour to make sure the girls in her department are making progress on their duties. She has to keep track of their break times and tell them when to take them. Nearly all of Danielle s communication in the workplace is made face-to-face. Marshalls policy for meeting with managers is very informal. She can walk up to them, tell them she has a concern or need to discuss something, and they can either go speak in the office immediately or step away from customers if it is a quick request. Some communication does happen over radio. Since employees work in different departments, it is easier to send a quick message or warning over walkie-talkie. Walkie-talkies are usually used for announcing breaks, requesting something to be done, or sending confirmation that a task has been completed. Marshalls does not require associates to use Word for reports or send s to their managers. Any type of progress report can be made through a text, a note, or a quick face-to-face conversation. Marshalls does require all employees to be skilled in team communication and group projects. They have to communicate their progress in their department often, and if it is close to closing time and someone has not finished their duties, they need to let another department leader know. Then, associates from that department will help them complete their assignments. They also have teams to complete jobs like go-backs which is taking returned items back to the floor or stock rooms. Department team members must tell each other when they are taking their break, so the other members can cover their areas. As a manager, Luz has responsibilities such as: Dealing directly with customer complaints and requests Manages entire womens departments Gives tasks to team leaders Puts out new merchandise Price codes merchandise Verifies customer returns over a specific amount Markets the merchandise according to season Gives associate reviews Does a pull on the registers

4 Performs a sales read every hour Luz uses a lot of face-to-face communications as well. Since she is a manager, she has to tell department leaders about tasks that the specific departments need to finish. She meets with employees to discuss their needs. She does use written notes for lists of department duties. Managers use more written communication than associates. They do send other managers s about employees, concerns, and daily accomplishments However, managers are not required to use programs like Word and rarely use written communication when voiced communication is easier. When the managers of a store need to talk to corporate or other stores in the area, they will often use conference calls. During these calls, they will discuss issues in-store, store-to-store cooperation, sales reports, how to improve sales, and to set up upcoming special events like store-wide sales. Meetings like these are crucial in keeping stores across large areas in sync. Marshalls Use of Social Media to Interact with the Public Marshalls uses social media as a major way to market their products and to keep in contact with customers so they can provide feedback. Luz mentioned that some of their biggest focuses in social media are Facebook, Instagram, and Yelp. Their Facebook page currently has 2.5 million likes. That is an excellent number of likes on Facebook for a department store. On their Facebook page, they have posts promoting upcoming sales, promoting current merchandise, and contests. Like many other businesses, they use hashtags on their Facebook page to consolidate opinions and questions into an easier place to read. For example, their current hashtag is #BestGiftEver. From a marketing standpoint, this is an excellent hashtag to use as it is in-season with Christmas, makes people think of buying gifts from Marshalls for their loved ones, and associates Marshalls products with terms like best. They have a place for people to leave comments on their page. This gives customers an easy place to leave a complaint or compliment that Marshalls social media workers can read and thank them or point them in the right direction for fixing their problem. Another item on the Facebook page is the option to write a quick review of an experience a customer has at the store. Their current average is 4.4 out of 5 stars. This is an excellent rating and helps show their standing with customers and provides potentially new customers with some confidence in the store when they view the page. Marshalls Instagram page currently has 151 thousand followers. For an Instagram page, this is a substantial amount of followers. On Instagram, they post pictures with little messages about

5 their current sales and followers can leave comments displaying their pleasure or displeasure for what they see or on the company itself. Yelp is an excellent use for determining the view of a local Marshalls. On Yelp, customers can leave reviews and star ratings for their local Marshalls. This is easier for local stores to pinpoint what they need to fix about their store and what they are excelling at. Goodwill with the Community To give back to the community and create goodwill, Marshalls has several programs that involve working with charities. They have a program called Shop Til It Stops with the National Domestic Violence Hotline. Every time a customer buys shoes during the month of October, one dollar goes to the charity. They have raised over one million dollars with this program. Another program they have is with St. Jude Children s Research Hospital. During the month of November, cashiers ask customers if they would like to donate $1 to the hospital after every purchase. Through this program, they have raised over two million dollars. The final charity they give back to is the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. They have worked with this charity for 17 years and have given them over 14 million dollars across all TJX companies. Goodwill with the Customer To maintain goodwill with customers, Marshalls is willing to work with customers in order to satisfy their needs. For example, a customer bought sheets and took them home and discovered holes in them. They brought them back, and Marshalls provided them with a refund and gave them other sheets at a discounted price. They also provide a credit card for customers that gives them benefits like exclusive discounts, money back for every five dollars spent, and gives the customers rewards for using the card more. The Future of Marshalls As mentioned earlier, the stock prices for TJX Companies Inc. are constantly on the rise, and they are growing daily. Recently, they opened two stores in Hollywood within blocks from each other. According to the TJX Companies Inc. website, to maintain their rise, they plan to focus on the younger audience which will give them a strong consumer base well into the future. This can be seen through their excellent use of social media.

6 Marshalls has unmatched prices which backs their slogan, Never pay full price for fabulous. From what I have seen during my research, Marshalls has shown no signs of decline and will continue to be a dominant off-retail department store. Better Understanding Marshalls As seen in my report, Marshalls has a solid background, an excellent grasp on day-to-day activities and how to effectively communicate, a mastery of how to properly use social media to market their products, and a strong use of goodwill for the community and to its customers. I believe Marshalls will continue to grow as a very successful company.