Thinking about Econ 200 at work!

The concepts cover in our economics class are not just something we have to learn for school it is something we have to learn to be able to understand the world around us. I know at first I struggled attempting to learn the principles covered in lecture, until I realized it was much easier to apply these concepts to my life. I currently work in retail as a sales associate for Victoria’s Secret. And yeah I know you are all thinking how am I going to tie economics into a company that mainly just promotes half naked girls, but it actually has a huge affect on the company. Victoria’s Secret however, has way more to offer than the nude models in their ads. The company is owned by The Limited Brands Inc, and just so happens to be the number one selling Lingerie Company. Although like all other retail the company is struggling to make a profit because of the economy right now.
Everyday at work I have to review the sales plan to see how many bras must be sold every hour. If we are unable to accomplish the number projected for sales, then our store is unable to make sales plan for the day. This is due to the fact that bra sales are 50% of the sales plan for a day. If we can’t make the sales plan it dramatically affects our ability to be able to make plan for the week or even month. And yeah it doesn’t sound that bad because everyone is thinking well it’s still a number one company and it’s still always busy. However, that is only because the company does make bra sales plan most of the time and because the company has expanded its product to allow for a bigger consumer market. By offering more products for different age groups it allows for the company to carry multiple lines which brings consumers in which allows us to then expand the sale.
Victoria’s Secret has decided to make a few changes to help keep the company going strong. They have introduced coupons which offer a free product with a purchase and also have added more benefits to their store credit card to attempt to get consumer loyalty. If the company can build an even bigger consumer base it will help raise sales as well. The increase in profit will also help to allow the company to employ more associates who can help cut down on theft and that too will help increase the profit. All of these things are tactics which the company is doing to help ensure they make a profit and not let the economy bring them down. So I use economics daily when seeing how much I have to do in sales to help my company make plan. It’s all about supply and demand when it comes to selling bras.