I have just finished my work experience at All Things Analogue and it has been amazing. I have to say, in three days Nicki and Abel have managed to teach me more about retail and business then I have learnt in ten years of school. I am so grateful for this incredible opportunity that has been presented to me and I would like to say a huge thank you to both Nicki and Abel for being so kind and welcoming over the past week.
Monday
Monday was my first day here and we got a lot done! Firstly, Nicki showed me how to pack up online orders which was extremely detailed. There was a lot stamping tissue paper and string but I eventually got the hang of it. I did a couple of orders on my own before having a break and a snack.
Then we started doing some advertising for some new diaries that had just arrived. Nicki helped me make an instagram post advertising these new diaries, which I wrote the caption for. Then I was left with my creative flow to make a display of in the shop! Alongside all of this, I was pricing stock in the shop, restocking items and learning how everything works.
Tuesday
On Tuesday I started off the day doing some screen printing onto tote bags. It was quite a messy process but I really enjoyed it! Thankfully I was wearing an apron otherwise I would’ve been covered in ink. However, no mater how hard I tried, I couldn’t stop it from getting all over my hands!
For the remainder of the day, I was making goodie bags for stationery store day, which will take place on the 2nd of August. I made some envelopes out of old maps to put everything in and I selected some items from around the shop to go inside.
Thursday
To start off the day on Thursday, Nicki and I had a chat about marketing and advertisement which I had previously shown interest in. We discussed using social media and google ads and which was the most effective. We also talked about target audience and how you can target advertisements at certain types of people, for example, an advertisement in an artists magazine for art supplies.
Then for the rest of the day, I started making a window display. My inspiration for this was new adventures, especially with the summer holidays coming up and lots of people I know going on holiday. I walked around the shop thinking of things I could incorporate into it and I eventually gathered some things I thought could work, along with some props from the basement.
To be honest, at first I had no idea where I was going with this. I had a vague idea of what I wanted to do. I knew I wanted to incorporate summer into it but that was about it. However, with some encouraging words from Nicki, I started randomly playing about with everything and eventually, it started to come together! Once I was happy with how everything looked, I took some photos of it to make another instagram post.
I would definitely recommend work experience at All Things Analogue to anyone who asked. On top of everything I have learnt about retail and business, it has taught me to appreciate a good set of stationery.
